A cattle drive in Minnesota? Make no mistake about it. In 1932, the Baer family lost their farm in Wyoming, Minnesota, due to the Depression and several years of bad crops. This land adjacent to the western shore of Comfort Lake no longer provided the promise of a good living as it once had.

Eleven Baer children, plus their parents, Henry and Margaret, were forced to pull up stakes and move to a rented farm in Hamel, Minnesota. There, they hoped to put down their roots and start again.

Fifty head of cattle remained in their stock. Two of the older Baer boys, Gene, seventeen years old and Lee, then sixteen along with their father, Henry, began a 45-mile cattle drive southwest to Hamel, MN. The young men saddled horses at dusk and drove the cattle flanking Highway 61, which started the two-day trek to the anticipated rich and fertile ground.

At the end of the first day, the men and cattle rested in a gravel pit halfway toward their destination. As the western sun shrunk into the red sky, I can imagine the camaraderie in that gravel pit between father and sons. The campfire aglow, the beef jerky and lard sandwiches savagely eaten before a short rest and then heading out again.

The hope for better farmland kept their spirits high and determination intact as they persisted in the rest of the journey. Not to mention the pure adventure of an old western cattle drive was exciting for Gene and Lee. By the end of the following evening, they rounded the last turn to the 85-acre farm in Hamel.

Will and persistence were prevalent in those days, just like the Old West—Come hell or high water, things got done. Pursuing the American dream continued on with the Baer’s new location. Again, they would prosper on this new land.

Prepare to insert a candy corn joke here:

I caught this story yesterday (thanks to Judith from the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance for putting this out there) and I couldn't help myself. Feeding candy to cows? For one man in Kentucky, that's his solution to providing calories in the face of skyrocketing corn prices. Perhaps because corn is already an unnatural part of a cow's diet, candy can't be much worse? At any rate, here's the original article in full:

Kentucky Feedlot Manager Feeds Candy to Cows

While my initial reaction is just this side of horrified, feeding candy to cows brings up a host of questions in my mind:

- What's the difference between a rancher and someone who operates a feedlot? The article describes the latter by the former's title, is that accurate?

- Is corn expensive only because of drought? Or is it more complicated? What about the effect of land speculation?

- It's said another factor in the price of corn is ethanol production. What regulations are in place that makes this happen? How can they be changed?

- In the price of corn, what is the role of government subsidy programs? What do we want to see in the new Farm Bill regarding these subsidies?

- What is our role as consumers? It's easy to blame someone for feeding candy to their cows, but isn't he merely trying to produce a cheap product? Because we demand cheap meat (and lots of it!) aren't we equally culpable for the means to which that end is achieved?

- Finally, how common is this practice? Although it seems shocking, I'm curious if this occurs in pork production as well?

I'll hop off my little soap box but I'd love to hear others' thoughts. Feeding candy to cows: yay or nay?

The all-new BPX9000 Bale Processor from Vermeer combines simplicity, durability and versatility to meet the needs of today’s cattle producers. The easy to operate machine is built tough with a unique, T-style frame, the bed design and offset rotor produce even and consistent feed with minimal maintenance, and an optional large square bale kit includes enhancements to effectively process a variety of bales. The BPX9000 is built to maximize bale processing and minimize operator stress.

“When developing the BPX9000, we started by listening to producers and then designing the machine to fit their needs. They told us they wanted a simple, durable and versatile machine, and that is what Vermeer built,” says Phil Egging, Vermeer Product Manager. “From the T-style frame to the slat and chain bale rotation system and offset rotor, the components of this machine provide producers a machine that’s easy to operate, easy to maintain and built to last.”

The BPX9000’s slat and chain bed and positive bale feeding improve bale rotation, feeding bales more consistently into the rotor, while reducing the need for operators to reverse rotation of the bale when feeding. The split shaft in the bed allows for easier maintenance without removing the entire bed, and long-lasting bushings in the bed are resistant to net and twine wrapping.

In addition, the bale processor’s offset rotor feeds material with less slugging, for a consistent cut length and higher quality feed. With exclusive cut control bars in combination with the self-cleaning rotor, excessive build-up of net and twine on the drum is eliminated. The rotor can also be manually cleaned, with easy access through a side-access door.

The BPX9000 has no welds or gussets at high stress points for enhanced durability. The optional large square bale kit gives producers the flexibility to process both round and square bales, with offset loader forks to position square bales to the right side of the processor and a sidewall that lowers to effectively process square bales.

“Every component of the BPX9000 Bale Processor was designed with the producer in mind, and it’s built with the Vermeer quality and durability that they expect,” says Egging. For more information about the BPX9000 Bale Processor, visit www.vermeer.com.

This press release is presented without editing for your information. GRIT does not recommend, approve or endorse the products and/or services offered. You should use your own judgment and evaluate products and services carefully before deciding to purchase. 

North American prairie is a special natural resource.  The location of prairie on the planet makes it a mega food producer.  Our prairies get the right amount of precipitation, warm temperatures, and cold temperatures to create a unique ecosystem that can only occur in the central part of America and Canada.  And once discovered by settlers, prairie has, and is, providing food and fuel to the world.

FOOD

Rangelands

Rangelands are different from pasture lands in that rangelands grow primarily native vegetation, rather than plants established by humans. Rangelands are also managed principally with extensive practices such as managed livestock grazing and prescribed fire rather than more intensive agricultural practices of seeding, irrigation, and the use of fertilizers.

Vast grasslands remain and function as rangelands, a type of agriculture. Rangelands provide a balance between maintaining natural ecosystems while providing meat products for human consumption.Cattle thrive on the short, warm-season grasses such as buffalo grass and blue grama of short grass prairie, which are rich in protein.

European settlers brought agriculture and domestic livestock to the mixed grass and short grass prairie.   Due to a more rugged topography and less precipitation, this mixed grass and short grass prairie did not undergo the conversion to agriculture that occurred in tall grass prairie regions.   Thus great deal of the land remains in native grass, which is used as rangeland for cattle.

Crops

The principle crops of the mixed grass and short grass prairies are corn, soybeans and alfalfa.  Alfalfa is most often harvested as hay since has the highest feeding value of all common hay crops. Grain sorghum is also grown in these regions and is used as fodder for poultry and cattle.  Hard winter wheat, used to make flour, dry beans, and sunflowers are also products of the mixed grass and short grass prairies.

The deep, organic-rich soil built up by tall grass prairie is made for agriculture. Prairie grasses sink their roots deep underground.  The natural decomposition of these prairie plants, in particular their root systems, added layers of organic matter to the soils and helped create the rich, black soils in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska.  The corn-belt from Kansas to Oklahoma is probably the best agricultural land in the world.

BIOFUEL

Bioethanol is a form of renewable energy that can be produced from agricultural feedstocks. It can be made from very common crops such as soybean and corn.  These feedstocks are processed into ethanol.

Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants.   Unlike corn and soybeans, which are major food crops, prairie grasses are not used for human consumption. Prairie grasses can be grown in infertile soil, eliminating the cost of adding nutrients to the soil.  Switchgrass and Miscanthus, native prairie grasses, are two materials scientists are using to create cellulosic ethanol, due to their high productivity per acre. Switchgrass yields twice as much ethanol per acre as corn; however, corn is currently easier and less expensive to process into ethanol.

I mentioned that I’m not overly fond of cows, steers, bulls or what-have you. When I first came to the farm, I started out with good intentions. I know and love horses, but we have none of those, just cows, etc. How hard could it be?

It seems like the second my husband is away, the beasts decide that it is time to escape. We live off of a very busy road, particularly in the afternoon, as the local students go to and from the school just up the road, and busses and such go by. You know how some stories get funnier in retrospect? Well, this isn’t one of them.

One day, just as I’d returned home from work and before I’d changed out of my “dress up clothes,” I look up to see cows booking it down the lane at a rather rapid trot. We have a cousin in the area who is assigned to look out after me when my husband is away, although no one would necessarily phrase it that way. I picked up the phone called him, begging for help, and ran out of the house. I didn’t know that my little dog followed me.

Picture this: I’m running down the lane in a dress, as two cows head out onto the road. I’m waiving my arms and trying to stop traffic before they run over the cows, who are standing in the road, with stupid bovine looks on their faces. They dash toward the bridge over a small creek, and I’m thinking if they get over the bridge, I’ve lost them for good. I’m running as hard as I can and I head them off before they get over the bridge and they are now running down the barrow ditch. It’s now time for the school busses to start whizzing by and they do. Thankfully, a fellow stops and sees my distress, and offers to help with the cows, just as I look up and my little dog, evidently tired of waiting for me, is now in the middle of the road trying to come to my aid!

All thoughts of the cows are gone, as I run toward the dog, telling the poor blind and deaf dog to go home!!! Then, I look up and I see the cousin’s wife, Kay, on her way to save me … With the aid of the fellow who has now abandoned his car by the side of the road, the wife and this fellow manage to lure the cows back into the corral. But because they had to open the gate, I can’t figure out how they got out.

Further investigation, after Cousin Tom arrived, we discover deer probably knocked down an electric fence, and the cows were just strolling out. Fence fixed. My husband returns from a trip out west, just in time to miss all the action. Months later, I met a woman who told me she’d tried to stop traffic on the road that day. “Oh, that was you in the dress.” She just smiles.

Stupid cows.  

I just finished reading True Cow Tales: Literary Sketches and Stories by Farmers, Ranchers, and Dairy Princesses edited by C. R. Lindemer. True Cow Tales is delightful anthology of bovine buzz that covers the ground with more than 45 stories and poems that let you in on what life with cattle is really like – and what the life of dairy princesses past and present is all about. Lindemer’s touch really brings the anthology to life with an organizational scheme that makes sense and connects several generations of agriculturists.

Read about the champion Simmental cow named Ruby whose reward was a handful of Oreos and a heart-warming tale of excess milk, cookies and the meaning of neighborly. True Cow Tales will make you laugh, cry, think and just might make you feel good about being human. Inside these pages you will see what real bull is all about, you’ll learn about bovine love and butter-carton skirts, and you’ll experience the pain of losing the place you love. In True Cow Tales, cows have names like Patty, Dixie and Dawn – and some of them love to find holes in the fence and mix it up with their keepers.

True Cow Tales isn’t just for farmers or folks interested in keeping cows. This anthology paints a behind the scenes picture of what animal agriculture is really like and records some important history in the process. In addition to those with an agricultural focus, the book is a must read for folks interested in authentic story telling, where food comes from and in reconnecting with the agricultural roots that made this country strong.

True Cow Tales is available directly from the publisher and at various online and brick and mortar book sellers. I recommend that you get your copy today.

We welcomed a new baby to the farm yesterday morning, a cute little dun Dexter bull calf. It might have been a chilly 22 degrees when I saw him for the first time in the pasture, but he didn't let the chilly winter weather slow him down any. He was up and movin' with his mother, and looked to be a very good eater!

Due to his chilly morning birthday we've named him Pixie's Popsicle (after his mother, Pixie), and look forward to watching him grow. He makes calf #5 on the farm right now. What a fun time for babies!

Read more about my morning, and see more photos HERE.

Thanks for checking in on the farm and me!

As always, you are invited to read more about our life on the farm.

November brought several new additions to the farm. We keep a small herd of Dexter cattle, and four of our cows delivered calves in November. I thought I would introduce you to the new members of the herd!

Pixie Stix was the first calf to be born. A big, strong healthy dun! She shows lots of independence, and is always very curious about me and the camera.

Harry was the second calf to be born in November. He needed a little encouragement to find his mama's udder, but once he learned where 24/7 snacks could be found, he was good to go.

Princess delivered her calf third, and we were so happy to see that she delivered a heifer! All of Princess's other babies have been bulls, so for her to deliver a heifer was a wonderful surprise! Princess Grace (PG for short) is the biggest and heaviest of all the calves. She will grow into a beautiful cow, just like her mother.

The fourth calf to join the farm family in November was Riblet. He is most definitely the smallest of all the calves, but he seemed to have the most spunk, right from the beginning.

Welcome to the farm little ones!

On my Osage County farm, new life fuels cycles and establishes seasonal rhythms. With early spring, new life arrives as green grass and poultry. Once the grass is plentiful new life appears as lambs begin to drop and then the calves. This morning we experienced an especially compelling treat –Valentine, our female donkey surprised us with a spindly, wet, awkward bundle of joy. I don't know why Valentine chose the dusty corral as for birthing...

That's not where dinner's located!

Wet and wobbly.

Nothing like starting out the day with a good breakfast.

Only two dinner plates for three mouths.

The cool season pasture grass at my Osage County Kansas farm is alive and well, and growing so nicely that I rotated the Highland cattle onto their first new break of 2010 last Sunday. They performed very nicely through winter on the standing hay from one of my warm season, native grass paddocks (requiring hay due to deep snow only twice) but were beginning to put pressure on the fences. Although the farm’s pastures consist of mostly native warm season perennials such as big and little bluestem and Eastern gama grass, there are several sizeable patches that contain bluegrass, fescue, brome and some native cool season grass species. One reason that I like to keep the cattle on range all year is that it helps me select for thriftiness on grass. Another reason is that the cattle will work over small cedar trees and tear up various thickets that the farm’s previous managers allowed to grow and shade out the more valuable pasture grass.

Moving cattle to fresh pasture breaks is compelling work. In this case, I simply called the herd from deep in a thicket-filled draw to a gate they haven’t been through in about 6 months. Gus, my goofy, but ever so helpful, Border Collie circled the quarter mile behind the group and walked the animals up the slope and through the gate. No barking, no cattle romping, no muss, no fuss. And one by one as they passed through the gate, their heads went down – buried in fresh cool-season pasture grass.  Another rite of spring accomplished for 2010.

The herd will move many times throughout the growing season. In a month or so, they will tell me they want to move long before it is time. But moving the cattle to fresh grass on a regular basis is key to producing grassfed beef efficiently, and in a way that improves soil, pasture and water quality on the farm. With each passing of the herd, the soil organic matter content increases, soil water percolation and water holding capacities improve, and the plant matrix diversity increases. When I began grazing in earnest in the early 1990s, people thought I spent too much time with my cattle. When they saw my weaning weights and tasted our beef, they wanted to know how to do it. Grassfed and management intensive grazing isn’t a panacea by any stretch, but for me, it works – I really like spending time with the cattle.

All week at work, I was like a kid waiting for school to get out for the summer.

Finally, it’s the weekend.

First order of the day ~ Luna.

Our five-day old Irish Dexter calf.

(For more information on these adorable family cows, check out the GRIT article on Dexter cattle or the Purebred Dexter Cattle Association of North America.)

Good Mama Dixie.

Finally, temps above zero.

The sun is a welcome visitor to Russ-Stick Acres.

One huge snow cone awaits.

Happy, grinning, proud Papa.

Our registered Irish Dexter bull ~ Dexter’s Double Dippin’ Dudley the Studley.

Or Dudley.

Shiny, strong, healthy, curious Luna.

We waited 9 long months for you.

Luna enjoying the sun-drenched barn.

Dixie ~ life returns to normal.

Luna spending more time with older brother, D2.

“Are you ready for me yet, Boss?” Zip in the shadows.

Visitation over.

Rustic Russ escorts D2.

Back to some quality time with his father, Dudley.

Zip wonders if she will get to herd them anytime soon.

She can only hope.

And wait.

Until tomorrow ~ God willing,

Woodswoman

It seems like a no-brainer and revolutionary grassfarmer Joel Salatin has been saying it for decades … it’s official now though, diversity in the pasture matrix is good for grazing animals.

According to a fantastic article in the current issue of Rangelands, which is published by the Society for Range Management, as higher costs and environmental concerns about fossil fuels push more people to buy locally produced food, demand for livestock raised on pastures and rangelands—rather than in feed lots—is spurring a return to greater reliance on native rangelands and cultivated pastures.

“By focusing on a few species, people transformed the diverse world of plants into a manageable domain that generally meets energy and protein needs and limits  intake of toxins,” writes Frederick D. Provenza and his coauthors in the article, “Value of Plant Diversity for Diet Mixing and Sequencing in Herbivores.”

But this practice limits genetic plant diversity and health benefits to livestock from combinations of available plants nutrients, while threatening ecosystems reliant on biodiversity to avoid catastrophe. The researchers suggest a new alternative for livestock grazing that calls for having animals eat a variety of complementary plants. They suggest that these varied plants would provide a range of primary and secondary nutritional compounds, along with greater health and nutritional benefits. No surprise there, but good for the SRM researchers for taking a stand.

The article, “Value of Plant Diversity for Diet Mixing and Sequencing in Herbivores,” is available in its entirety, here.

Years ago, instead of making hay to carry our Angus herd through the winter, we stockpiled pasture and fed the standing hay through the dark months. This year, we decided to try the same experiment with the Highland cattle here in Kansas. The winters are milder here in Kansas than in Ohio, where we winter grazed the Angus cattle. And since the farm has way more grass than animals to eat it, I figured winter grazing the Highland cattle would work. In fact, it appears to be working quite well, so far, in spite of the snow and ice that has accumulated off and on in the last several weeks.

This morning it is already in the 50s, so it hardly feels like winter, but suffice it to say, there is plenty of good standing cool season forage (with about 25 percent green) in the lows, and more shaded areas. The warm season patches are completely dormant, and not good for much more than roughage, but the combination has been more than sufficient to keep the Highland's condition scores up and the young heifers and bull gaining and growing.

Winter grazing isn't for everyone, but I believe in letting cattle and other highly adapted domestic animals have a chance at fulfilling their genetic potentials ... I don't mind subdividing and carefully managing pastures year-round either. People are most skeptical about winter grazing because of the chance for snow cover. I have discovered that seeding some of the stockpiled pastures with small square or little Allis-Chalmers-made round bales is all you need to train the herd to look under the snow for sustenance. Alternatively, you can sprinkle some of their favorite range cubes (in front of them) in the snow on some of the tallest stockpile. In both cases, the cattle will inadvertently discover the good grass while rooting out their "treats." Once trained, the herd doesn't bat an eyelash when you ask them to get after the good grass under the snow.

Days like today make winter grazing a complete no brainer. Why on earth would I carry hay to them, when they can harvest the hay themselves? Winter grazing of some sort has the added benefit of spreading excess nutrients around. Instead of finding tons of manure around hay feeders, the Highland cattle deposit it wherever they happen to be ... the way nature intended it. When I have fed hay, I fed it to the cattle on the meadows it came from, in windrows and not in bale feeders. But that's a story for another day.

November 25^th and there’s still at least two months of good pasture left … assuming continuous hard freezes or deep snow don’t shut it down. We put up about a quarter mile of temporary electric cross fence last weekend to give the cattle and donkeys a fresh break.

The east and west boundary fences on this farm are pretty well shot. The old barbed wire hasn’t had any but the most rudimentary maintenance for what appears to be the last decade. The north and south boundary fences, on the other hand, are in good shape. So far, we have reinforced the western boundary with a couple of strands of 14-gauge low-tensile electric wire that pulses around 8,000 volts with the makeshift grounding system we cobbled together. I just wrapped the ground lead from the charger around an old copper water pipe that goes somewhere beneath the barn … this is far from the right way. That fencer will likely send closer to 10,000 volts through the wire once I get a proper ground field put together.

At the moment, the cattle are far enough from the eastern boundary that we use a single strand of 14-guage wire stretched between the north boundary fence and one of the permanent cross fences, which is still in fair condition. We charge that single wire with a Premier IntelliShock 20B battery-powered charger. This little box sends a consistent 9,000 pulsed volts through the wire … which is plenty to keep the animals from testing it.

Those who believe that cattle don’t experience joy have never opened up a fresh break of grass to the herd. This is one of the special treats for those of us who choose to manage how the animals graze the pastures. The animals know when it is coming, they appear to anticipate it, and they burst through the gate, literally kicking up their heels, as they take mouthfuls of lush growth from all corners. Eventually they get down to business, put their heads down and don’t come up for air for more than an hour. There is nothing like the sight and sounds of contented cattle doing what they were designed to do … harvest grass.

Photos courtesy of Kate Will.

Now that it is dark when I get home after work, I try to do all my animal bonding and light-requiring chores in the pre-dawn glow before heading off to town. The Highlands are on their third small pasture paddock, and they still have a couple of days of good grass left before I open up the next break. These animals are pretty serious foragers and have cleaned up the brush in the pine grove very nicely. They also have made efficient use of a small creek for drinking, even though I keep a stock tank filled with fresh clean water in the corral.

I really enjoy working with cattle on foot using a combination of the Bud Williams approach and a bit of common sense. In keeping with that low-stress approach, I like to be able to call the cattle into the corral … rather than whooping it up and driving them in. It worked with our Angus herd, so I figured it would work with the Highlands. In this case, I call once or twice (hey bos) and rattle some 100-percent-natural, 20-percent-protein cattle cake in a small plastic bucket. The stuff smells like molasses … I have been tempted to taste it myself.

This morning, even though I was out of town last weekend and part of last week, the cattle heard me feeding the Mulefoot pigs, headed to the corral and were waiting quietly for a couple of cake cubes apiece and a chuck on the chin. When the ritual was completed, they turned one by one and headed back out to the pasture. What fun. Jack the donkey, who lives with the cattle, lingered to get his treat. His rank is pretty well in the basement of that little herd. Valentine, who lives in the adjacent paddock, waited to get her cube until Jack was finished. She also got her ears rubbed.

I can’t really think of a better way to open up each day than with a glorious sunrise and some quality time with the animals whose lives so enrich ours. I cannot wait for the winter solstice to arrive … I am already anticipating longer days and more daylight on the beginning and end of the work day. I like the seasons well enough, but I thrive on daylight.

Highland cattle photo by Kate Will.

October 25, 2008

It was a glorious fall day here today – trees and meadow grasses yellow and rust-colored against the clear blue sky, with gentle breezes and the temperature around 65^o. Several small formations of high-flying Sandhill Cranes were heading south overhead, a sure sign of the approaching cold front forecast for tomorrow evening. On this morning’s two mile walk down our gravel road, we were accompanied by our three cattle dogs and seven of the barn cats.

A short while ago, we finished digging the potatoes, collecting the remaining dry beans, and removing the homemade tomato cages from the garden. Aside from the impending freeze, we needed to finish up in the garden so we could turn the bulls into the area. One pesky fence-jumping bull had already ventured into the garden, giving the kohlrabi haircuts, and chomping small heads of cabbage in half as he grazed through. It was, however, amusing to note the evidence of the effects of these cruciferous vegetables on his digestive system.

Our cattle seem to know when it’s time to come home from the large pasture 15 miles to the west. One sign is that they become increasingly difficult to keep fenced in. Since rain has been unusually plentiful this year, the pastures are uncharacteristically green and luxuriant, so we are in no hurry to bring them home. Normally by October, the pastures are nearly brown and can no longer support the herd, and it’s necessary for the cattle to be at home where they can graze the ‘after-grass’ on the meadows – the newly green grass that grows after hay is harvested.

The native prairie hay harvest, or “haying,” took forever this summer. Normally we finish up in about three to four weeks, weather-permitting. This year, however, we ‘hayed’ a day here, a day there for months, again because of all the rain. Area farmers are experiencing the same thing now as they try to harvest corn and beans. We have yet to complete the task of moving the hay home to the bale yards. This week’s 2+ inches of rain put a damper on this for the moment.

One of our fall-calving cows had twin black angus calves today. My husband, Jim, calls them “dinks” – really tiny, as is typical of twins, and adorable. They are spending the night in the barn so their mama can realize she has two to take care of. Otherwise, a tiny wandering calf might fall prey to coyotes that roam the area at night.

A far as area school activities are concerned, late October is the time for band competitions, volleyball tournaments, and post-season football. As parents of two teens, both fully involved in sports and band, Jim and I spend a considerable amount of time traveling to as many activities as time allows. We live 21+ miles from the school, and can drive for up to two hours in one direction for games – and farther yet for band competitions. We realize that this time of our parenting lives will pass quickly, so we try not to complain too loudly about the fuel bills. Watching games with other parents, neighbors, and friends is a large part of the social life of rural settings like ours. Between sets and quarters, we catch up on all the news.

In a few short weeks we will be weaning the calves and driving the herd home for the winter. It never ceases to amaze me how one or two lead cows will know the route home, and will head toward the correct gate, crossing a section while avoiding the blowouts and other obstacles. I will blog again then with a full description. Until that time, take care and be of good cheer!