U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., met Danny and Sue Wiese, owners of Flying W Ranch in rural Pequot Lakes, and their children, Dustin, 14, Cody, 10, and Amy, 8, when the family traveled to Washington, D.C., in February to lobby for R-CALF USA, an association that represents U.S. cattle producers on domestic and international trade and marketing issues.

Oberstar didn't forget them.

While the Eighth Congressional U.S. representative was in the area Friday, he scheduled a one-hour tour of the Wiese operation. Oberstar, his staff assistant, an intern in his Brainerd office and this weekly newspaper editor piled into Danny's pickup truck for an up-close look at some of the Wieses' Black Angus cattle. A convoy of other Wiese family members, including Danny's dad, Eldon "Barney," and area cattle ranchers followed in other vehicles.

The cattle looked on platonically as the convoy drove through, while their mooing betrayed their nervousness. They sense when strangers are present, the ranchers said. Danny looked at the bright yellow tag in one calf's ear - No. 687 - and with a glance at his notes told Oberstar the calf was born April 23 and weighed 84 pounds, along with other information.

As he drove down the road to his father's home, Danny told Oberstar the area has good grass for cattle, but it's difficult to grow corn. He told him about the ranch's annual spring production sale and the contingent got out of vehicles at the elder Wiese's home to see where the auction is held.

In a barn, Oberstar stepped onto the scale used to weigh cattle before getting an impromptu lesson on frozen bull semen. The congressman saw and smelled the heated tool used to brand cattle with the cursive W of Flying W Ranch, as well as ear tags used to label cattle. Ranchers gated a cow to show how they brand or put ear tags on them and Oberstar bent low to talk to the cow.

Ranchers were relieved the animal didn't decide to buck its head up at that point, or blow its nose.

As the pickup and its occupants then bumped across some of the Wieses' 19 pastures on their 3,000 acres, Danny showed Oberstar where they calf cows and found a bull he'd been searching for earlier that morning to show Oberstar another way cattle are marked. He stopped the truck momentarily at a picturesque setting before returning to his house.

At the Wiese home, Oberstar said the value of the tour was to see firsthand what ranchers are doing. That was the Wieses' and other ranchers' goal - to educate Oberstar on the process of raising and selling cattle.

The Wieses and other ranchers at their home Friday are against a proposal for national identification of cattle. They contend the plan doesn't work in Canada, and say they already do enough to track the cattle they raise and sell.

In the Wiese home, the family fed the contingent beef. One pot was labeled "origin known" and listed the day the cow was born, where it was born (Flying W Ranch), its tattoos and tag numbers and when it was harvested. The second pot was labeled "origin unknown" because it was bought at a local grocery store and could have come from a number of countries.

Guess which pot the guests chose?