DS Family Farm

Happy New Water Year

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Doug Garrison

Well I guess it is actually New Years Eve of the Water Year. October 1st marks the start of a new water year. As grass growth slows down and becomes dormant over the next few months, the moisture we have in the soil now and what we get over the winter will greatly influence what kind of grass growth we can expect next spring and early summer.

With that said, our area has very good soil moisture at the beginning of the 2015 water year. Below is a map of the 48 states showing the actual rainfall from September 1 to September 29 COMPARED to the 30 year average (1981 to 2010).

precipitation anomaly — First 29 days of Sept. 2014 rainfall compared to the average rainfall for the same time period over the 30 years 1981-2010.

Our farm is located in an area that has received around 150% of the rainfall we would receive compared to the 30 year average. When I downloaded this image on September 30th, we were getting another good shower, over an inch total for the day. Grass needs moisture and sun for growth. We are always sure of the sun light, moisture is more variable. One always needs to be an optimist to farm/ranch. At this point things are looking good for being a perennial vegetation (grass/forb) farmer going into 2015 based on where we are starting the 2015 water year.

Source of information: http://prism.oregonstate.edu/

For current weather information that includes long-term average data in an easy to view format try: http://weatherspark.com/

Colors From Our Pasture

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Doug Garrison

With fall approaching, will share some recent photos from our farm.

Through the summer we noticed a few Monarch butterflies. Our pasture contain a nice stand of milkweed which Monarchs need to complete their life cycle. Just this past week the number of monarchs have increased. They are preparing for migration?

purplecone flower monarch butterfly — Monarch butterfly on purplecone flowers (Echinacea purpurea). Actually a photo from early August.

prairie restoration new england aster — New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), this is in an area seeded to a prairie restoration.

dotted gayfeather — Gayfeather, maybe dotted (Liatris punctata)?

Sagewort (Artemisia frigida) white plant and Wild Licorice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota). Brown burs are on the wild licorice.

roundhade lespedeza — Roundhead lespedeza (Lespedeza capitata). Not much color but our cows will nip the flowers off.

Since we are in Nebraska, here is our State Flower – Goldenrod (Solidago).

stiff goldenrod — Another goldenrod, stiff or rigid (Oligoneuron rigidum). These flowers were covered with mating lightning bugs.

easternti ger swalowtail — Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, a dark female. We did see some males earlier in the summer.

We hope you enjoyed these photos displaying different colors from our pasture.

Feel free to stop by if you would like to stroll the grasslands.

2014 Monitor Update

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Doug Garrison

Monitoring of our grazing animals and the impacts on the grasslands we manage is something we do daily. What does the pasture look like ahead of our herd? What does the pasture look like where we just moved from? How do the cattle look (body condition) compared to a week ago? Based on these observations we can make decisions during the current season and anticipate decisions for the upcoming grazing season.

What about the long-term monitoring? We started some basic monitoring activities prior to the cattle arriving in 2011. This includes soil, water and forage sampling. In 2009 we established a photo monitoring site along with collecting detailed forage data at the site. We return to this site each year near the same date and collect photos and forage data. Please share any thoughts you may have after reviewing the photos through the years below.

2014 monitor update, looking back through 2009:

Photo Point Monitor 2014 — August 4, 2014. The site was grazed twice since the previous photo; mid-November 2013 and early July 2014. The brown forage is mature yellow sweet clover.

July 2013. The site has been grazed five times since the cattle arived in July 2011. Usually not for more than a day or two during each grazing event. — July 2013. The site has been grazed five times since the cattle arrived in July 2011. Usually not for more than a day or two during each grazing event.

Where is 2012? Not sure what happened in 2012. A major drought developed after mid-June that year. I probably decided it was to much of a downer to take photos. Of course now I wish we had a photo.

Photo Point Monitor 2011 — August 8, 2011. Cattle arrived on farm July 2011, but this site has not been grazed yet. It has been 30+ years since cattle have grazed this site.

Photo Point Monitor 2010 — 2010 – July 23. This site previously had thorny locust tree invasion. From 2000-2009 trees were removed with hand cutting, spot spraying, multiple burns and some bulldozer work.

Photo Point Monitor 2009 — 2009 July 30. Camera is pointed toward house on far hill in background. House serves as a permanent feature for future photos.

Just happened to take this photo in the spring 2009 prior to establishing the photo point near here. This was following a spring burn. The white spots on the hillside are glacial till boulders, most are just at soil surface level.

2014 Fall Broilers On Grass

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Doug Garrison

Well it’s not quite fall yet, but our second batch of pasture poultry for the year went to grass this week. We start the day old chicks in a chicken coop to control the temperature and keep them dry. After three weeks they have good feather growth to withstand temperature swings and dampness from the elements. By no means are they exposed completely to the outdoors. A “chicken tractor” provides shelter and protection. Plenty of fresh grass and fresh air without the worry of predators or weather.

Three week old broilers in their "chicken tractor" ready to move to fresh grass daily. — Three week old broilers in their “chicken tractor” ready to move to fresh grass daily.

Contact us if you would be interested in trying a chicken. The taste is unlike anything you will find in a store. Why? Very few chickens grown in the USA and sold in stores actually have access to grass at any point in their life. Grass is not required to keep a chicken alive, but when given the opportunity a chicken will readily consume grass as part of a normal healthy diet.

Feel free to stop by to see what we are talking about.

Our first beef – one year to go

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Doug Garrison

In the last post we noted that we are three years into our beef operation, yet we have not shipped any beef yet. Last year we had our first calf crop, 5 heifers and 4 bulls. The 5 heifer calves were shipped off to be developed into future momma cows. We kept the four bull calves and are “finishing” them out, fattening them in our pastures to sell as pastured grass-fed beef. Our first beef – one year to go – will be ready to butcher mid summer 2015. Could we speed things up? Sure, the industrial agriculture sector does it all the time. Just bring in an outside energy source (oil) and you can compress the growing to finishing process. Calves put into feed lots can be “finished” in less than 18 months, fed corn, corn by products and provided other growth promoting technologies. Our farm uses very little outside inputs (minerals and stored forages). The main energy source used on our farm to create beef is solar.

So what does a solar fattened one year old beef look like. We are happy to share the photos below of our pastured only fat yearlings. These cattle are just over one year old. We need one more year to get these animals to “fat cattle” that are ready for your table. Join us over the next year to watch these animals turn into gourmet pastured beef!

grass fat yearling — Where the tail meets the rump we can see a roll indicating good fat cover. Also smooth along back and folds along neck and behind front shoulder indicating good fleshing.

This yearling is also showing good developement on grass. We look forward to next year with good anticipation.

pasture fat yearling — Here is the same animal shown above from another view. The hind end is full and smooth indicating good fat cover.

Three Years And Counting

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Doug Garrison

This 2011 photo was taken shortly after our herd of 10 heifers and a bull showed up on our farm. Three years seems like a long time but in the process of turning a startup beef herd into a product you can ship to consumers, well we still have a year to go!

starting a beef herd — July 12, 2011 shortly after we started pasture grazing our herd of beef.

Prior to the herd arrival there was about six years of on and off work to prepare the farm. Pulling old fence, cutting unwanted trees and building new fence. Reading, attending grazing conferences, research, meeting folks and networking with people willing to give us help and advice along the way.

That is correct, four years to manufacture our first product, we hope. Fortunately, this has been somewhat of a labor of love for us. One good friend told us early on that to take on something like this almost requires a “calling”. Is this our “calling”? We are not exactly sure but God has not closed the door on this adventure yet. Three years (1095 days) may seem like a long time when building a widget, but when working with nature this has only been 3 growing “seasons”.

Setting your clock to work on natures time is totally different from the American 8 hour day. Feel free to contact us if you would like to visit a working grass farm and enjoy some time away from the day and take in our current season. Three years and counting…

Spring Flowers 2014

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Doug Garrison

Now that summer has arrived and in celebration of pollinator month, we would like to share with you photos of spring flowers 2014. This is a sample of some flowers we came across in our pastures this spring. Feel free to drop us a note if you would like to stop by for a walk through the pastures in search of native flowers, grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees. We manage cattle grazing to allow for as much diversity as possible. Some of the flowers you see below were trampled, stomped and grazed by our herd over the past few weeks. Some flowers have been safe behind our portable fences and allowed to produce more flowers for the future. Cows prefer a diverse diet just like we do, they eat more than just grass, that is why we call them “pasture grazed” and not just “grass-fed”.

Tap a photo for larger view:

April 22, first flower noted of the year, some kind of Violet. Prairie Violet (Viola pedatifida) but since leaves are not dissected, this might be Downy blue violet (Viola sororia, perennial) or wild pansy (viola bicolor, annual).

May 3, Plainleaf Pussytoes (Antennaria parlinii). Kind of drab white but at this time of year we are anxious for any kind of flowers.

May 6 – Narrowleaf Puccoon (Lithospermum incisum). Edge of the flower is “crinkled” rather than smooth.

May 9, Ground Plum (Astragalus crassicarpus). Do an internet image search of this plant to check out the interesting “plum” seed pod that is formed.

May 10, White-eyed grass or Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium campestre). Not a grass, an iris.

May 11, Plains Wild Indigo (Baptisia bracteata). Our cows will not graze this plant any time of year. Note in the photo, on ground below the foliage you can see the dead leaves from the previous year growth. I am sure the pollinators appreciate this plant at this time of the year.

Narrowleaf Puccon cattle grazing in background — May 11, another angle of Narrowleaf Puccoon showing the “trumpet” like flowers. This plant is safe from grazing, there is a portable fence between the flower and the cattle in background.

May 11, Prairie Ragwort (Packera plattensis).

May 28, Porcupine Grass (Stipa spartea). Not a flower but a native cool season grass found in our prairie. When the seed heads become mature and dry you can watch the awns expand and twist the seed head (self planting) by placing the seed heads on a wet paper towel.

June 9, Sulfur Cinquefoil (Potentilla recta). A non-native plant but does not seem to cause a problem in our prairie at this time.

June 9, Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). Is this a weed? If pollinators utilize it we don’t mind. Diversity is important to us.

June 9, Pale Dogwood (Cornus amomum), a shrub. Our cattle will browse the leaves from this shrub most of the year. We do shred some of the larger patches but leave plenty of growth for our cattle to graze and rub on. Quail and other wildlife readily utilize this plant also.

June 9, Yellow Sweetclover (Melilotus officinalis). This is an early growing biennial plant our cattle enjoy. It was used as a manure crop when this area was first cropped in the early 1900s. When we see this plant we think “free nitrogen”, it is a prolific legume.

June 9, Red Clover (Trifolium pratense). Another introduced legume but this one is an annual. Legumes are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil while operating at field temperature. This occurs through a symbiotic process with soil bacteria.

June 9, Prairie Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha). Again, not a flower but a showy grass. After flowering the seed head becomes compact and will stand upright well into winter.

June 9, Daisy or Rough Fleabane (Erigeron annuus). Though small, this flower will always catch your eye.

June 15, Plains Larkspur (Delphinium carolinianum). These flowers receive night-flying moth pollinators.

June 19, Wooly Verbena (Verbena stricta). We, along with the pollinators, will enjoy this purple flower from June to September.

June 25, Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Our cattle love this plant almost as much as the Monarch butterfly. Our cows will readily eat the leaves from this plant any time of the year. We leave plants ungrazed for seed production and butterfly use.

June 27, Wild Licorice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota). This is almost a woody plant, note the spiney seed pods on the right side of photo. Our cows love this plant and this plant loves our cattle.

June 27, Blackeyed-Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). Here is another eye catching flower in our prairie.

Thanks to my co-workers at NRCS, Ritch and Shaun for their help with plant identification. Hope you have enjoyed these photos. If you think we have misidentified a plant or have any other comments, please share your thoughts.

Last Calf – 2014

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Doug Garrison

Calving season ended June 4th this year with the last calf – 2014. Our herd of 8 cows all calved within 3 weeks.

newly born calf — Newly born calf resting in fresh paddock.

Being born is hard work for both the cow and the calf. Both animals have a depressed immune system right at birthing. Under any conditions we feel it is important to keep the herd moving to fresh paddocks away from soiled areas to prevent potential disease issues. Calves will creep ahead to the freshest available grass and rest away from the herd. This is easy for them to do with our single wire poly fence. Calves simply walk under the fence while the larger herd members stay in the current paddock. Calves will rest often over the first few days of life away from the herd but close enough to get back to mom for a meal.

resting calf — New calf resting as mom keeps watch.

Feel free to contact us if you would like to visit the farm to view the new calves. This is a great time of year to visit with fresh grass growing and rambunctious calves bouncing around.

First Calves 2014

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Doug Garrison

The first calves of 2014 have arrived. We found these two bull calves today. Enjoy the photos.

First calf 2014 resting. — This calf had crawled through the fence to an ungrazed paddock to relax in some fresh grass. Momma was keeping watch from just across the fence.

First milk - colostrum — This calf was still wet when we arrived. Within 30 minutes the calf is up and getting that first important meal of colostrum (first milk).

Calf travels with herd on first day. — Later in the day, bath time. Within 30 minutes the calf was up for first milk. Here he has traveled about 300 yards with the herd to a fresh paddock.

Calves are born with a summer hair coat. Calving this time of year closely matches our local wild animal birth schedule, such as deer.

What a miracle! God Is Great!

Animal Fat Hits Mainstream

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Doug Garrison

OK, one more item on animal fat. Just had to share this article posted recently on The Wall Street Journal. Now that the information is hitting the mainstream media, I urge you to check our earlier post on Traditional Food and continue your own research.