Name: Walter Species: Bovine Gender: Bull Breed: Registered Miniature Hereford Walter wants you to know he’s kind of a big deal. People know him. When I decided to swap my mini cow herd from commercial cattle to registered, Walter was my first purchase. I was so excited to find a bull fairly close to home – he was in south Missouri. I was also pumped that they had started working with him on a halter. Y’all know I tend to treat everything like…
Thanksgiving is upon us, and when we give thanks for the food on our dinner table, maybe we should include thanks for the for farmers and ranchers that raised and grew our food.
When it comes to calving season, twins are an unusual occurrence, but not necessarily rare. It’s estimated that anywhere between 1-2% of beef cattle pregnancies will result in a twin birth. That number tends to be slightly higher in dairy cattle. While 1-2% may seem like a small number, in large herds, this means the likelihood of having a set of twins any given year is decent. The potential good and the likely bad In theory, a cow providing you…
Being an animal lover and livestock farmer, I understand that vet bills are just part of life. Part of my responsibility to my animals is to provide care for them and to insure they are living their best life. I’d also like to start off saying we are lucky to have an amazing vet, but four trips for 4 species of animals, within three weeks, is entirely out of control. With that said, April 2019 will henceforth be known as…
Record keeping. Most people groan at the thought, but I love it. I love lists and notes and calendars and…well, you get it. But aside from my obsession, why is Record keeping so important on the farm? One word: Profitability. In order for a farm to be profitable, at least to its highest potential, farmers need to know what’s being spent, what’s being made, and what assets they have. I know some farmers that never look at receipts until tax…
Name: Loretta Species: Bovine Breed: Registered Milking Shorthorn I thought it only right to dedicate our first “Meet the Herd” post to Loretta, seeing as it’s her birthday! Loretta came to us just under a year ago as a sweet, 10 day old bottle calf. You know how they say alcoholics shouldn’t go to a bar, and shopohics shouldn’t go to a mall, because the temptations are too high? Well, “cow-o-holics” probably shouldn’t be in cattle Facebook groups… I was…
I love our farm. It truly makes my heart happy to be home, no matter if I’m in the pasture, barn or the house. But my porch…my porch is a little slice of heaven. My porch is where I spend a lot of my time. My porch is what gets the most compliments from visitors. Like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory, my porch is my spot. My porch is the most important part of my house; here are a few…