DS Family Farm
Worried about what you are "really" eating? Have peace of mind with pasture grazed meats.
Firstborn
Our cattle arrived as yearlings in July 2011, ten heifers and one bull. May 9, 2013 our first calf was born. This firstborn calf was a true miracle, a gift from God, which has now been repeated a number of times over the past three calving seasons.
In the Old Testament the firstborn refers to animals and belong to the Lord. Firstfruits refers to what comes from the soil. Both the firstborn and firstfruits are a gift from God, we cannot create livestock or crops, only God. To claim a calf or a grape is the result of evolution is not observable science. It has been observed over the past 100 years, billions of chicken eggs have hatched in the USA and every time a chicken comes out, no evolution into a different “being”.
Sure we work to be good stewards of this cow herd. We plan daily access to water, mineral and forages but beyond that, God and the cows do the rest. When we have intervened, with good intentions, the results have been mixed. What looked like benefits of our intervention at the time, long term has resulted in handicaps. For one explanation of this reality see “Antifragile” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. We are always trying to move toward the natural order that God has designed. This is difficult, we humans like to get involved and think we are doing some good when we just cannot anticipate all the variables.
Back to our Old Testament discussion. This claim by God for the firstborn was to point people toward the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Prior to Jesus death and resurrection, people had God’s promise of a Savior to look forward to for their salvation. Today we have the historical truth (evidence based on manuscript, archeological, prophecy and statistics) to look back that the promise has been fulfilled for our salvation.
On October 13, 2015 our firstborn calf will be butchered as a 29 month old steer. We thank God for the opportunity he gave us to raise these animals and pray that the harvest will reach those who are in need of the nourishment provided. All glory to God, Amen.
2015 Pasture Walk
Sunday October 4, 2015, from 3 PM to 5 PM. Doug and Sheila Garrison invite you to a walk in our pasture. Meet in pasture located one-quarter mile North of US HWY 34 and NW 140th Street, Lancaster County Nebraska (east side of road). NW 140th Street is the Lancaster – Seward County line, about ~12 miles West of Lincoln or ~10 miles East of Seward on US HWY 34. Street Address: 7650 NW 140th Street, Malcolm, NE.
Pasture Walk Topics:
- View our pasture raised 100% grass-fed beef herd:
Herd grazing eastern gamagrass July 2015. 
Stockpile grazing with hay supplement spring 2015. - Cows with 2015 calves
- Yearling steers
- 2-year-old butcher ready steers
- Herd bull
- Pasture grazed 365 days per year
- Low stress nose ring weaning
- Stockpiled forage – no crop residue grazing
- Supplemental hay fed on pasture
- Eastern gamagrass planting
- Warm season CRP grazing July-September
- Mineral program
Late August CRP, grass on right grazed mid-July and regrowth ready for another graze. 
Grazing stockpile, fall 2014, behind Batt Latch automatic gate opener. - Organic fly control
- Solar powered fence and water
- Tire tank year round frost proof water
- Poly wire temporary paddocks
- Automatic time controlled Batt-Latch gate release
- Native grass, forb, flower identification
- Pollinator, bird, wildlife observations
- Monitoring forages and soil carbon
- Other thoughts and ideas…
Dress for walking in a tall grass prairie. Bring your ideas and questions. Let’s learn together. Share our successes and mistakes.
If questionable weather comes to our area on October 4th, check this blog post for latest updates or call 402-796-2208.
Looking forward to seeing you soon. For more information about our pasture walk, feel free to drop us an email.
Grazing ice cream grass
In our solar powered steer post we described how cattle will select the tips of plants first, grazing to capture the highest amount of energy available. We call this grazing off the “ice cream”. Here is a video link from this past weekend of the herd entering a new patch and grazing the tips off what some would call weeds (we call them forbs and our cattle love them) – Instagram Video – Grazing Plant Tips For Energy @dsfamilyfarm.
Almost all plants have some part of “ice cream” (high energy) but one native plant has been nick named the “ice cream grass” – eastern gamagrass (tripsacum dactyloides). I first became interested in eastern gama during the summer of 1985 while working in Falls City Nebraska for the Soil Conservation Service. This area of the state still had small native stands of eastern gama. The story goes that grazing ice cream grass by early settlers cattle almost wiped the grass out. Since the 1990’s seed has become readily available and we have reintroduced this native grass in higher moisture soils that were previously invaded by non-native bromegrass and reeds canary grass.
In the photo above the cattle are milling around waiting to move to a fresh patch. Note this almost solid stand of eastern gamagrass has been evenly grazed to about cow shoulder height. The herd has grazed the highest energy part of the leaves and left the rest. We could “force” the herd to keep eating down the remaining leaves but if we move, two good things happen:
- The cattle move to fresh grass and eat the “ice cream” (high energy part) of the ice cream grass.
- The grass we leave behind as shown above, has good leaf area ready to capture photosynthesis and start regrowth.
In the above photo we have let down the temporary poly fence to allow the cattle to move into a fresh paddock. A win-win situation for the cattle and the grass.
Greg Judy of Missouri has a chapter devoted to eastern gamagrass in his book “Comeback Farms“, which is worth the read. He describes using a mob of dry cows to graze eastern gamagrass down further than what we show here. It just depends on your goals. In our herd we have cows with calves, yearling steers and grass finishing beef (2-year-old steers). So we are now grazing with animal condition in mind. This winter after the grass finished beeves are harvested, we will graze a little more with the land in mind.
As we have stated before our herd is 100% pasture grass-fed, no grain feeding. One unique note about eastern gamagrass is that it is believed to be related to maize (corn). The root systems are not similar at all. The leaves of eastern gama are wide like corn and take a look at the seed head in the photo below. Note that above the seed, the male portion of the plant is similar to a corn tassel. The seed is large but harder than a kernel of corn. None the less I am sure our cattle consume some of these ice cream grass seeds:
- It helps spread the plant around the pastures
- It is the closest thing to corn our cattle will ever consume!
Solar Powered Steer
Cows have been described as “starvation” animals. Meaning that about every waking moment they feel on the verge of starving to death. So their natural instinct is to eat like it might be their last meal. When they can’t eat anymore they rest and chew their cud. Then back to eating!
(Video: solar powered steer getting his ice cream just clipping tops of plants for sugar)
Like you and I, when given the choice, cows will eat the “ice cream” first. Ice cream to a cow is the best part of plants. The best part of a plant to eat depends on the individual cow. Either Energy or Protein. For the most part, our pastures have plenty of protein, so cattle are usually seeking energy when they graze. Energy is found in plant parts closest to the sun. Energy from ongoing or recent photosynthesis is a cows first choice, so they cream off the tops of plants first.
To sell beef we need cattle to get fat. Before an animal will get fat, their basic requirements to live must be met (energy). Most beef sold today is fattened on corn requiring large amounts of fossil fuel energy (see the link to NY Times Power Steer article). Here at DS Family Farm we use Solar Energy through the miracle of photosynthesis to fatten cattle.
Some folks have even said they can “taste the oil” in regular beef. I don’t know about that. What about the taste of corn? Personally I don’t know if anyone knows what corn tastes like these days. Corn is in everything, just look at the ingredient label. Everything tastes like corn and corn tastes like everything!
We urge you to TASTE the difference between an oil/corn powered steer versus a “solar powered steer”.
Animal Impact – reed canary grass example
Planned pasture grazing requires orchestrating cattle movement. Yep we think of our cattle moves like making music but we are really trying to get some desired effect applied to the land. Here is an animal impact example from this past spring. In an area invaded by reed canary grass our cattle were able to “open up” the land and allow broad leaf arrowhead (a native wetland plant) to express itself:
So what were the steps to make the above effect on the land? It began in March with a trail setup through this area to move cattle to stockpiled pasture on the other side of the wetland area.
When the trail fence was first setup, the wetland was frozen. Over the next week the wetland thawed and the animal impact started to appear. The cattle trailed through this area before “green up” for a couple of weeks. The area looks kind of nasty in the photo above.
With our continuous move pasture grazing system, we knew this area would “bounce” back in some altered state. Note in the trail photos above we have “open water” areas predominately in the trail. This open water provides a “habitat” as a result of cattle impact.
The red arrow in the photo above points to the location of the broad head arrow leaf plant photo at the top of this blog post. The photo below is a close up of reed canary grass next to the trailed area:
Wetland sites are very forgiving when it comes to trying animal impact scenarios. As we move to upland (drier) sites, animal impact becomes a little more scary. The main difference is planning the recovery time or how long we have before we can bring the cattle back to the area.
Take another look at the photos above. What was the difference in total production? Obviously the solid stand of reed canary grass produced higher forage levels. What was the benefit provided by the higher diversity of the affected area? From our observations, cattle enjoy diversity in their diet and wildlife prefer the diversity in habitat. Feel free to give us a call if you would like to stop by and see our cattle herd impacts… we are always happy to listen to other ideas!
2015 Grass-fed Beef Progress Report 2
Update on the grass-fed steers we will be providing you fall 2015 (Report 1). Remember our “grass-fed” beef is also known as “pasture grazed” beef. The term grass-fed is pretty well-known, but we also refer to our beef as “pasture grazed”. Why pasture grazed?
- Cattle pictured below have lived their entire lives on pasture, never confined to a feed lot.
- During the non growing season our cattle are on stockpiled pasture, never confined to dirt lots.
- Yes these cattle are 100% grass-fed, never fed corn, any other grain or grain by products.
- Our pastures contain diverse covers of grass, forbs, shrubs and trees.
- Cattle choose the diet they need, want or crave.
- Diversity is important, more than just “grass”-fed.
Pasture grazed beef steers offering fall of 2015 with photo of mother cow following each steer and the bull used (last photo):
WARNING – Flavor comes from two primary sources, diet and age of animal. These steers will be harvested the first of October, around 28 months of age. The flavor should be pronounced! The beef from these steers will have a flavor unique to our farm. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Not fearing fat
We promote eating healthy fats (pasture grazed animal fats) to improve ones health. A few examples: Oct. 2013 – Apr. 2014 CLA – Apr. 2014 Omega3s – May 2014 – Dec. 2014.
So would I take my our own advice when complaining about tight clothing from this past holiday carb season and deciding to loose a few pounds?
Before trying my turn at not fearing fat, I needed a system to track what was going on, how much fat was I consuming? Here at DS Family Farm we track different things in the pastures to monitor progress, but how would I watch my eating habits?
A coworker introduced me to myfitnesspal, a free cloud based fitness system to track diet, exercise and watch progress. To be honest, before starting this project I had no idea how many calories would be healthy or what my daily calorie intake was!
To begin, the recommended calorie intake for me ~2200 calories per day. What was my current intake? First four days of tracking:
At the start of my experiment, daily calorie intake was about 300 calories high, enlightening! Note the steady intake of first four days tracked. No reason to burn any stored body fat, a healthy dose of calories coming in daily. The wellness program I enrolled in to help me lose some weight was already warning me about FAT intake. The “FAT is bad” mantra was clear in my training. Ignoring the pleas to cut my FAT intake, I focused on overall calorie intake, take a look at the first 3 weeks (daily charts):
First three-week average was 2170 calories per day, not much variation and no weight loss. Steady day-to-day calorie intake is an excellent way to maintain your weight. The body has no reason to burn stored fat. My system anticipated a steady daily intake. Ignoring calls to cut FAT intake, it was time to shock my system. Have you ever tried a fast? Rather than reduce my intake to ZERO calories for a day, I liked the idea of just getting down to around 600 calories for a day or two (Dr. Mercola Intermittent Fast 5:2 Diet). Here is my attempt over the next 3 weeks to hit a day around 600 calories (daily chart): 
Two days per week around 600 calories, sounds too difficult and I am not ready to go there yet. My 6:1 Diet, 1 day per week around 600 calories isn’t too bad. Compare the two graphs above. End of first 3 weeks, no weight loss. End of next 3 weeks = 5 pound weight loss! My body was no longer able to expect that steady intake. Continue shocking the system, next 3 weeks (weeks 6 to 9 daily chart):
Weight loss for weeks six to nine = 5 pounds lost again (same as weeks 3 to 6 shown above). It appears varying my daily intake works to activate my body to burn stored fat. RESULTS in 20 lbs lost over 4 months.
Did I attempt to lower my FAT intake? No. To my surprise, my weekly average percent Fat intake was steady around 25% (Fat Grams/Total Grams). I would like to try to increase percent healthy fat intake in the future. Here are weekly average charts for the first four months (charts shown above were daily):
Recommendations to limit FAT gram intake to around 40 grams per day were ignored. I did make an effort to eat only Omega 3 type fats and when possible, from pasture grazed animals. Fearing carbs, omega 6 fat (vegetable oils), processed foods along with a shock to the system now and then seems to work. Now can this diet be maintained?
Concerning exercise, my activity level has been fairly constant. Very little sitting around watching TV. Walking and daily pasture moves keep me active!
Bringing Back The Pollinators!
What are you doing to help pollinating creatures big and small? At DS Family Farm we celebrated “Pollinator Week” by setting aside a large patch of Milkweed! In the photo below our cattle herd is moving through this paddock on daily moves. When they reach this section of the paddock, we have installed an extra temporary poly wire fence to prevent the cattle from grazing off this patch of milkweed. At any one time, most of our pastures are ungrazed using daily moves, so we have milkweed protected across the farm. Since herd moves were coming up to this milkweed area during Pollinator Week, we made the extra effort to keep the cattle out.
Our cows desire milkweed for some reason that we don’t understand. Maybe it is nutrition or maybe the plant aids in digestion, some other reason? Diversity in their diet is important and rarely do we consider any of the vegetation growing in our pastures as “weeds”. So why keep the cows from our largest patch of milkweed? Monarch butterflies, are in need of conservation and require milkweed to complete their reproductive cycle. Within the past two weeks we have observed about 20 Monarch butterflies during our paddock moves. How does this compare to past years? Unfortunately this is not something we have tracked in the past but plan to record our observations into the future.
For a good source on pollinator conservation, check out the Xerces Society. Following is a list ideas to help protect pollinators, things we try to do here in our pastures:
- Increasing the availability of milkweed seed to help create monarch butterfly habitat;
- Would you like to come harvest milkweed seed at DS Family Farm?
- Work with farmers to create pesticide-free, flower-rich habitat on farms;
- DS Family Farm has taken the “Bring Back The Pollinators” pledge.
- Assisting in the search for rare native bumble bees;
- We identify native bumble bee nests and protect them from disturbance.
So go ahead, take the challenge to Bring Back The Pollinators!
Healthy Diet
Review of this blog’s past posts will show “Diet” is one of the main topics. My failing health brought me to the realization that things had to change. Finding out pasture raised animal products were a key part of a healthy diet was a fantastic fit, animal agriculture has always been a passion of mine.
This past January I whined a about my weight swing up after the Christmas Carbohydrate Season. A month or so after that post my health insurance company sent a notice that I could take an online health checkup. Guess what, based on my responses to the survey I was overweight. This surprised me a little. Turns out that a 6′ 0″ male of my age should weigh 185 pounds, not 199 pounds. 
The good news, I could enroll in an online Virtual Lifestyle Management – VLM (TM) course to help me lose weight. So I signed up and in the future will share the experience of taking my advice from earlier posts while completing the VLM course. As you may imagine, the online course makes the point to avoid fat! Fat has more calories per gram and VLM recommends a diet that has no more than 25% of calories from fat. How do you think I took this advice based on my earlier posts???
What about you? Where are you on your quest for a healthy diet? Who’s path have you crossed on your venture?
On my journey towards a healthy diet I have had the privilege to make acquaintance with Danna Seevers, a local “busy mom with 5 kids navigating her family’s way on the ‘Health-Nut Highway’.” Check out her Good Life Naturally blog. A good post to start with is “The ‘Diet’ Mentality” which sums up our cultures fixation on diets and the irony of it. Danna is well known in her community for healthy eating and has given talks at local schools. Check out this Prezi presentation posted on the local Concordia University website: Health-Nut Highway. (The Prezi thing is just cool and Danna’s information is great!).
So what Exit are you on?
(Photo credit: http://www.morguefile.com/)
2015 First Calf
It is that time of year. The time of year that all Cow-Calf producers work for year round, calving time. We are happy to share the 2015 first calf photos below.
Please share any comments on our Facebook page and feel free to stop by during the next few weeks as more of these little guys show up on the farm.
