Abstract

"The Homosexual Steer: Buller Syndrome and the Role of Cross-species Cooperation at the Feedlot"

Chris Deutsch, University of Missouri (crdkf9@mail.missouri.edu)

Steer Buller Syndrome was a problem faced by postwar feedlot operators, which started becoming a serious problem in the 1960s as both feedlot sizes grew and synthetic estrogen injections became standard practice. A buller is a steer that others mount and they are an economic and managerial problem for operators. It has been the third-most common cause of loss for the industry. Operators and medical practitioners struggled to diagnose its cause and searched in vain for a cure. The initial thoughts were that it was a hormonal thing, in that the feeding of synthetic estrogens caused buller steer to exude sex smells attractive to others. Subsequent research has found a different cause: social hierarchy. Male cattle mount as a means of sorting themselves when they meet new animals, so, in the crowded and socially heterodox world of the modern feedlot, buller syndrome is caused by cattle reasserting themselves.

This paper will explore the effect that cattle asserting their social order has had on the feedlot as a site of economic activity, including the cooperative dynamic that served as an undercurrent at the feedlot. The feedlot, despite its vast output, exists because of cross-species collaboration. This means that steers’ actions and choices shape how the feedlot operates, despite what the owners might have wished. For the feedlot industry to stay profitable, owners have had to address the causes of buller syndrome or to accept losses. In this way, the feedlot is a place to see cattle homosocial relationships construct the potentials of the beef industry.

This paper will rely on resources from the USDA archives in College Park, MD, veterinarian and animal science research, and industry publications. Because of our shared approach, this paper would work well when paired with Abeer Saha’s paper.