I get this question a lot. “Are your cattle fed grass or grain?” The question that usually accompanies this is, “Isn’t grass-fed beef healthier?” One common misperception with meat-buying is that organic, natural or grass-fed beef are healthier for me. No matter what type of beef food-eaters choose, they can be confident all types of […]
Identifying our cattle is how we know who they are. Sure, we get to know their personality when we are out with them everyday on the ranch. 1103Y is the bossy cow always to the feed bunk first. I would know that if she had a ear tag or not! But since we work […]
Most of our snow has melted and things are looking more and more like spring around the ranch. Even though we started with about 30 purchased bred heifers having their baby calves in February/March, we are now officially into “calving season” on the ranch. Since we Artificially Inseminate (AI) all of our heifers and cows, […]
Today is National Ag Day during National Ag Week! So I thought I’d celebrate with a few cattle pictures and updates from the ranch. This was our first calf born on Valentine’s Day – so you can guess what his nickname is. We typically do not start calving until first part of April, but we […]
My mom and I had the awesome opportunity to “appear” together in a video about how we care for our cattle. In being a CommonGround volunteer and speaking about farming and food, the national coordinators of CommonGround brought a camera crew out to the ranch on a snowy, COLD December day to get a glimpse […]
With raising cattle, my Uncle Mark would say, “We are grass farmers.” When it comes to raising cattle, the health of our grass is imperative to the health of our cattle. On our ranch, we practice “holistic grazing” or rotational grazing, which means we mimic the natural herd grazing where cattle graze and keep moving. […]
Part 10: Finally, the final post to this series of the 10 Greatest Beef Innovations, originally posted by Farm Progress in their Beef Producer section. I saved this one for last because I believe it rings clearer today than ever before: Stockmanship. At least it should. Our not-so-much-friends from the animal rights groups are pointing […]
I’ve had some questions about branding cattle, so I thought I would share some facts along with pictures from our recent branding cattle work with weaned calves. What is a brand for? A brand is a permanent identification marker. Each ranch or cattle-owner has their own unique brand to identify their cattle. My state doesn’t […]
While others I know are vacationing in Cabo, Padre or back East, Ronny and I spent a “vacation” last week helping my family in Colorado artificially inseminating (AI) our cowherd. It was great to spend some time at home and with my parents – even if it was pretty hard work! I think this is […]
Part 2: This beef innovation has a special interest to me and my family, as we are very involved in A.I.ing our herd. Also, my husband’s profession is helping ranchers make good genetic decisions for their herds and A.I.ing thousands of cows each year. To read the full article, click here. Artificial Insemination Has Rich […]
