Hi I’m Mike.
The ranch life has been pretty quiet here for a bit, cold temperatures that dip as low
as 20 below have drove us inside, but there are a few things that are time sensitive,
and some time frames don’t wait for weather.
The overall business of ranching is all about beef, and we have steers that have a very
important appointment coming up that we have to get them ready for, as we start finishing
the steers, on our Wyoming life.
Welcome back to Our Wyoming Life, please subscribe and continue to join us as we explore the
ranch life and escape the ordinary, and hit that little bell so that you don’t miss
a thing.
The ranch is a place where life and death happens every single day, but as you know
we weren’t born and raised here.
So when we came to the ranch, there was not only the learning curve of figuring out how
to run a ranch, but there was also the process of learning the emotion of the ranch, and
the toll it can take on you.
Our first winter here, I fed the cows, that spring, we had a much smaller herd than we
have now and I helped them calve and luckily we didn’t lose a single calf that year.
In fact, our first year here, I didn’t have to deal with the death of any livestock, and
it was probably a good thing, because I am not sure how I would have handled it.
Oddly enough, I didn’t have much connection to the animals that first year here, we weren’t
really planning on staying so it was just a job to help out family, but when my father
in law passed away, the entire game changed.
If we would have lost a cow or a calf in that first year, chances are I would have just
brushed it off, mostly because I didn’t have that connection, or know the importance
of it as we do now.
Since Gilbert died we have became more and more involved in the ranch life.
We have given up on other careers to concentrate on the ranch and how we can build a life out
of it, not only for us but our kids and Erins mom who lives here as well.
With Gilbert gone, I lost that safety net, all of a sudden I was ultimately responsible
for every life out here.
At that time, it was just cows and calves, maybe a few chickens, but they were all under
my care, day in and day out.
Chickens were raised just for egg production, we didn’t butcher any, if a chicken died
it was due to old age, or a predator.
Cows are raised as breeding stock, yes their calves are sold at the end of the year but
their fate was out of my hands.
They went on to possibly become part of someone elses herd, or to feedlots where they were
raised for butcher.
At that time, I didn’t have a direct hand in the destiny of any animal that was headed
to your dinner plate.
But now that has changed.
Erin at some point decided she wanted to sell local beef at our farmers market.
Beef that was raised right here on the ranch.
That opened up a whole new avenue for business for her and the ranch and we both agreed that
in the long run it would not only help the ranch but it would help our community and
our customers.
Allowing them to purchase beef that they knew exactly went into it and where and how it
was raised.
This began a few years of trial and error.
First we talked to a our customers about what they would prefer, grass finished beef, or
grain finished.
Put simply, grain finished means, cows that have eaten hay and grass most of their lives
are then given a grain supplement for the last 60-90 days of their lives.
That grain adds fat and marbling to the meat that some people find desirable.
Grass finished beef means that those cows only eat forage, hay or grass, until they
are ready to butcher.
Because of the plant-based diet, grass fed beef is leaner with less fat usually.
We also had to take into account our area, climate and capabilities, It generally takes
3 times longer to finish cattle on grass than on grain, adding to the cost of grass finished
beef.
If we had year round grazing that might work but it turned out to be a cost we couldn’t
absorb and may account why only 3% of US Beef comes from grass finished cattle.
So we decided to grain finish our cattle, but we market it as grass fed and grain finished
because unfortunately when people hear grain finished or grain fed, they think that’s
all that cow ever ate, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The steers that we choose to keep back for this process, are hand picked out of last
years calves.
For the past year they have been eating pasture grass and hay over the winter, that by definition
makes them grass fed cattle.
But now as they grow its time to begin the finishing process.
Through trial and error we have come up with a program for our steers and the finishing
of them.
The health of our animals is very important to us, as is the health and satisfaction of
our customers.
None of our steers are given antibiotics or growth hormones.
If one got sick, of course we would care for it and if it needed antibiotics, it would
get them, but then it would not be sold to the public.
We always begin by graining our steers slowly, in fact we don’t even start them on grain.
We want them to get used to other food in their bellies and we will start the finishing
process with a feed that is usually fed to show calves called accelerator.
It includes not only processed grains for improved digestibility but trace minerals
and vitamins to combat stress.
Moving these steers from pasture to corral, will cause stress and this feed along with
blocks that are given to them to combat bloat, which is a gas pressure that can be caused
by a change in feeds it the best way to introduced them to this new environment.
This supplemental feed is given to them once a day, at the rate of only a few pounds for
each steer.
They still have access to hay, which will compose a major part of their diet.
After a few weeks of transition, these steers will then be switched to their grain ration.
We don not feed them straight corn, but a mix of corn, oats and barely.
This is what is going to add the marbling and fat to the meat, increasing the flavor
and tenderness.
They will be started on it very slowly, only a pound a piece, an slowly ramped up to a
max of grain ration of about 20lbs per day over a period of about 90 days.
Starting slowly is the key, too much grain to fast and the cow cant digest it at all
and it moves right through them.
Their system needs to adjust to it.
Currently these steers weigh about 800lbs to a 1000lbs, in 90 days they will tip the
scale with the heaviest around 1200lbs.
Then it will be time for them to go, and for the first time on the ranch, I have direct
involvement in moving an animal from the ranch to your plate.
But now I am invested, I have cared for these steers since the day they were born here on
the ranch, I’ve lost sleep, I’ve been cold, and sometimes even bled to give them
the best life I can.
At the same time I am proud to be able to provide not only for your family but my own.
In a way, your family is mine, we eat the same beef and I would never do anything that
would harm my family, so why would I do that to you.
I’m not here to snowball anyone, its true that grass finished beef has a higher level
of vitamin A, Vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids.
But I will say, is beef the best place to get these nutrients, salmon or walnuts are
much higher in omega-3 and I guess for vitamin E or A, have a salad.
Really, all beef, no matter how its raised, is an excellent source of B vitamins, Protein,
Zinc and Iron and as long as you are eating beef, I’m happy.
Soon, we will have beef jerky back up for sale on our website, and we are playing with
the idea of how to ship beef directly to you, although shipping will still be expensive
and we urge you to find a local producer in your area, but if you want to bring home some
of the ranch, you hopefully soon will have that option.
With this process started, begins a new era of the ranch, one of production but also reality,
and thanks for being a part of what it really takes to get food to your table.
Please subscribe, we are only weeks away from calving and then spring and things will start
to heat up fast, and you don’t want to miss a thing.
Thanks for coming out today, until I see you again, have a great week and thanks for joining
us, in our Wyoming life.