IMO, what would make raising cattle appealing to myself is if we had a magic bullet health tool.  Something that would make cattle farming as easy as grain farming since the invention of chemical weed, disease and insect control.  If keeping them alive and healthy was as easy as jumping in the climate controlled, air suspended cab of a high clearance sprayer at the first sign of trouble.  (or in my case, at least I have a pull type and a tractor with a cab, AC if I open the windows...., low clearance, and manual fold)

This farm has always been primarily cattle until the past 6 years, which have been the other way, I expanded the cow herd back to 100 last fall, first expansion in years, but still a fraction of what we once had.  I don't mind that they are a lot of work, I can accept feeding them, helping calving/sucking, cold, fixing fences, keeping cows in/out, handling, loading, sorting, getting dirty, wet, slimy, dealing with bad tempers, but I don't like not being able to leave them alone for more than a few hours without a catastrophe, trying to keep everything alive and healthy can be a 24/7 job, and still not be very successful.  It is depressing, heart breaking, often futile, usually expensive and always time consuming.   Example, 2 cows decided to cast themselves earlier this spring, laid down on hard packed snow where they were fed all winter, snow must have melted a bit(weather warmed up and body heat), and they were stuck in a hole.  Vet says they are dead within an hour when they get on their backs, you would have to check more than once an hour 24/7 to prevent such a thing( happened to alot of neighbors this spring too).  Calving cows in bad weather, have to go out at all hours, even though nothing is happening most of the time, but the one time you don't......   Calves  getting scours, pneumonia, navel ill, coccidiosis, to name a few.  Some years nothing we do will help, but still have to try, some years they all live even in spite of our efforts.....  Nearly have to check every calf for all vital signs many times a day when they get an outbreak.  If they were a grain crop, the solution would come in a jug and application would be quick and painless.  Catching and treating a few hundred 200lb calves, not so painless quick or easy.

If there were a method of viewing the vital signs of every critter remotely, with alerts when someone is in distress, calving, temperature, stuck between two trees, or bales or in mud(all happened to a neighbor), stuck in a hay feeder( happens a lot here, never lost one, but have cut apart a few feeders) stuck on her back, lacking in something, ate something metal or poisonous, or is somewhere she is not supposed to be, then we could actually sleep at night, have a life outside of cattle, go places, have more cattle, or other interests.  The technology certainly exists, humans are already being equipped with similar devices, GPS is well established, ankle bracelets exist for criminals.  For a price, it could all be put together and installed on every cow and calf.  

As for treatment, if there were a way that didn't require gathering livestock from every corner of the farm, separating cows and calves, running all through for individual injections, pour on, pills etc.,  or better yet, catching calves and administering boluses, shots etc., while Momma expresses her displeasure....
Could there be a "spray" that goes on the grass, in the water, in the salt, or even right onto the cow, the way a crop farmer would do it.  Vaccines that would be effective against everything, and would be easy to administer.  Maybe train dogs to recognize and report on cattle in distress?  

To be appealing, it either has to be like a pig barn where health and environment are controlled, or we need a magic bullet, the GMO and glyphosate for cows so to speak. Maybe we can GMO cows to be resistant to everything.  Or maybe we just need smarter cows who don't calve in blizzards, lay in holes, have backwards calves, call their calves out of the warm dry sheds, step on them, lay on them, try to kill the people trying to keep them alive, and don't communicate how they are feeling, till it is too late.  Maybe breeding has been selecting for all the wrong traits, and we should have been concentrating on health, instincts, and intelligence instead, never keep a cow or bull that needed help of any kind?  Then all we need to deal with are the coyotes, cougars, wolves, bears, hunters with bad eyesight, and farmers with big equipment and even worse eyesight.

Agree or not?