Happy New Year!
We all hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and are refreshed for the New Year!
As we head into the new year, we thought to catch you up on what has been happening around the ranch, and what we have to look forward to in the coming months.
Through October and November we sold and shipped out a majority of our 2021 calves and sold quite a few cows. The drought we saw throughout 2021 has left us short on feed (hay and winter pasture)- so it was a necessity to sell some of our herd. This is not all bad, as we took it as an opportunity to “clean up” our herd. Any cows that we did not feel were an asset to our program, were sold. Cattle with poor dispositions or mothering ability, poor body condition, a tall frame, or poor udder composition were culled (removed from the herd/sold). This leaves us with the top of our herd, increasing profitability.
By mid November we tend to have a “lull” in our ranch work through the end of December. As a family we try to be very intentional about resting up and spending time together. This year we had a family wedding in Kalispell. We took advantage of this and spent a few days skiing Whitefish Mountain. This was the first time we had skied in 15 years!
Our “break” doesn’t mean we get to sit around too much though! We feed our barley fodder every day, as well as any other feeding that needs to be done, and work on maintenance projects that always seem to be put on the back burner. Once mid January hits we are petal to the metal and there are very few days off until late summer.
Looking forward to later January we have some exciting things coming! We will be shipping beef nationwide! After a few years of working through countless kinks, we are finally ready! Being able to provide our 100% all-natural, grass-fed, and sprout-finished beef is immensely exciting. To our knowledge, we will be the first ranch to ship sprout finished beef in the USA! We will start taking online orders for shipping mid to late January. Follow along on our Facebook or Instagram to stay up to date.
As far as ranch work goes, we will start working all of our cows that are set to calve February- April. They receive a vaccination 3-6 weeks prior to their due dates that increases antibody production in their milk that protects against diseases such as rotavirus and E. coli which cause diarrhea, and coronavirus which cause respiratory distress. This gives us a good chance to really go through our herd one more time before calving to evaluate body condition. Based off how our cattle look we make any necessary adjustments in feed or supplements to ensure they are in top shape for calving.
Thank you for reading through our first official newsletter! If you have any questions about our beef or ranching operation, I would love to answer. Any feedback is appreciated as well- especially concerning any content you would like to learn or read about.
Have a wonderful January!
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