Quality Water
Well managed grasslands capture water that falls as rain and reduces or eliminates run off and soil erosion. These well managed grasslands also allow for water infiltration into our soils which replenishes our aquifers and provides clean water to our rivers and lakes through the soil.
The key to Sustainable Farming lies in understanding how the whole system interacts. Farming becomes more sustainable when the services of nature, such as nutrient recycling, replace reliance on external inputs.
Cattle are an important part of the cycle of nutrients on the farm. They convert plants to protein for us to eat. They provide manure and bacteria to feed the soil to allow healthy, biologically rich soils to continue to produce healthy, nutrient dense plants. We concentrate on growing energy and protein rich grasses for our pastures and winter feeding programs.
Our goal is to build these soils to reduce and eliminate the use of pesticides, chemicals and commercial fertilizers. Feeding cattle a diet of grazed grass also requires much less fossil fuel and impacts the environment in a positive manner.
HEALTHY SOILS produce HEALTHY PLANTS AND ANIMALS which provide HEALTHY FOOD for HEALTHY PEOPLE.
Sustainable Farming
Healthy Soils
Our Production Cycle
Our commitment is to provide our customers with great tasting beef from healthy cattle.
Selecting animals that naturally produce great tasting, well marbled beef is our goal on the farm. We are continuously selecting from our herd the best genetics to give us that highest quality beef.
That process starts 3 ½ years earlier with the mating of proven genetics of Angus and Angus cross cows with the best proven bulls we can find. We use the proven genetics of Angus bulls from North America and Argentina and Devon bulls from New Zealand. This brings us genetics from generations of natural selection for 100% Grass Fed and finished beef.
Cows do best when they are allowed to follow the natural rhythm of Nature. So we breed our cows on pasture in July through September. We do rotational grazing as a part of managing the land for sustainable farming. Well managed forages help to sequester carbon and humus in the soil and rotating pastures keeps the nutrients evenly spread across the land to recycle them to the following crops. In 2015 we will be using a new ranching technique of grazing to further improve our soils while maintaining excellent growth on the calves. We graze alfalfa grass mixed stands all summer and in the fall move to very high quality grass stands. By early December we move the cattle back home to their winter pastures where we feed baled hay on the pasture. The cattle are provided with portable wind breaks that we move slowly across the pasture all winter and the cows can be moved to a bush in a blizzard.
The cows give birth to their calves in May and June at the same time as the deer give birth. We almost never have problems with sick calves as the weather is favourable at that time of year and there is plenty of fresh clean pasture. The cows thrive on the new growth of grasses and produce high butter fat milk for the calves, an important step that leads to healthy calves.
Great tasting 100% grass fed beef is like a great wine – you can’t rush it!
Guarding the Herd
In 2012, we lost 7 calves to coyotes. Every night we could hear the coyotes howling across the pasture. It struck fear into our hearts. So much so that I, who hunted since I was a lad with my father, sat up late nights and early mornings with my rifle hoping to stop them. No such luck. While I did see them in the pasture I could never get a shot off that actually counted. At our wits end, my wife suggested we get a donkey. She had heard donkeys were great as guards and were able to keep herds safe from coyotes. Upon investigation, we learned there were several ranchers in the area using donkeys as guards with good success.
Luckily, we found a young “ Jerusalem” donkey named Snoopy. These donkeys have a cross of two black lines, one down their shoulders and another on their backs.
When we got Snoopy she was 1½ years old and had never been loaded into a trailer. What a sight with four of us trying to push her up the ramp. But when we got her home it was a completely different story. She immediately showed she was no Nervous Nelly - she had what it takes to be the leader of the herd!
Now every time we move the cattle, Snoopy comes to the front of the herd and is the first to be loaded. This way, she can greet every group that arrives at the new pasture and there is no question who is “boss.”
Snoopy has also proven to be a great “guard donkey” as we have seldom lost a calf since her arrival. And she has now become a valued member of the farm family!