Cows

Our cows have it as good as can be! For 9-10 months out of the year they are moving daily to a fresh paddock full of fresh greens, fresh air, and direct sunlight. By imitating herbivores in nature we manage a healthy herd that has no need for vaccines, antibiotics, or pharmaceuticals of any kind. Wellness is nature’s default, and when herbivores are mobbing, mowing, and moving they get optimum nutrition from fresh greens which are all they need, excluding our only import which is salt blocks.

During the winter months we split the herd into three classes (by size and age), and are still able to move the cow group around the pastures as long as the ground isn’t too wet. We bring the cows hay when needed and continue to let them put their fertilizer directly on the fields where the chickens will spread it around evenly about 6 weeks later. Our calf and yearling groups go to the hayshed where they have dry, deep bedding and free choice of hay we made from our fields. They also get outside paddocks to enjoy direct sunlight, and we rotate the calves and yearlings in paddocks centered around our sacrifice areas to minimize disturbance in the cold and wet months. When the weather is nasty you’ll find them under the roof on dry wood chips and straw that we bring in to catch all of the goodies they drop out of their back ends. This bedding pack builds up and the ground level rises, so we have their feeders on
pulleys to raise the feeders as well.

In the beginning of spring when the cows go back to daily moves around the farm, we use pigs and/or a tractor to aerate the bedding pack. After the bedding pack (that is saturated with manure) composts, this living material is what we feed to the fields. Centered around daily moves most of the year, this entire process has significantly improved the pastures since we started, even in the short amount of time we have been properly managing the grasslands (since 2016). You can walk across an entire field by stepping on earthworm castings every step.

Healthy grasslands are biodiverse in flora and fauna; it is fascinating to witness the plethora of plant species, worms, insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals that enjoy the pastures alongside our farm animals. Our local wildlife benefits, the animals get the nutrition of the grassland, the fields get the animals’ nutrients, the soil builds over time, and we get the bonus of the healthiest and most nutrient dense wagyu beef in the universe.

All of our operations go with the flow of the seasons. We let our bulls breed the cows mid-summer so they calve in the spring. We harvest in the fall when the number of available greens and re-growth is declining. Wagyu (compared to most other breeds) need a longer life to grow to optimum size for harvest. This extra time is also what lets them put on marbling to get the excellent quality “grass-fed and finished” we see on the table. So our steers are harvested in the fall at 28-30 months. Sometimes we’ll have a few smaller ones that we hold over for a spring harvest, but the majority of our beef are sold by the quarter, half, or whole in the fall.