The Factory on our Farm

Raising Pasture Grazed grassfed beef from conception to table is not an easy task.  We may have four different animal classes in our herd at any one time.  But it all starts with the COW, the factory on our farm!

We make our cows work, they must:

1. Conceive and raise a calf each year
2. Raise that calf providing milk for 8+ months
   1. Refer to Weaning Weight Post 2015
   2. Weaning at an older age fully develops the calf’s rumen for grass based production.
3. While milking a calf for 8+ months, she is developing her next calf inside her.
4. While milking this years calf, she will watch over her previous two calves in a low stress herd environment.
5. Graze our pastures in nature’s pattern to improve our pastures soil and grasses!

WOW!

We ask a lot from our cows, but they love their job from what we can tell.  They are definitely a factory when you look at all they crank out.  The cows do all the above listed items and all we give them are:

• Free choice minerals.
• Fresh water & sunshine.
• A fresh portion of pasture nearly every day.
• Supplemental hay at various times through the year.
  • Hay is provided to keep their rumen functioning properly when our forages slump or go dormant.
  • We are importing some ENERGY and PROTEIN for the Factory to work at full capacity.

If a cow cannot do all five functions listed above (calf every year while grazing every day) she is removed from the herd.  No slackers allowed.  There are very few cows that can do what we ask of our girls.  We are just trying to mimic how nature works here in our small pastures.  There is a movement underway across this country with more folks farming in natures image.  This movement is called Regenerative Agriculture.  We are not just “sustaining” our natural resources but IMPROVING our soils and grass while creating product!  If you would like to support the Regenerative Agriculture movement,  seek out products from these growers.  Will these products be higher priced?  Most likely yes.  For the higher price you will get a better quality product and your health will thank you for it.

Let’s just say it takes an amazing Factory to deliver a product while at the same time improving its environment to repeat the cycle in the future.  Take another look at what is happening in the photo.  This photo is a great way to display why we are “Animal Welfare Approved” and “Grassfed Certified”.  Farming in nature’s image, trying to work within God’s design (without messing it up too much).