We had a baby!

A baby calf that is.

On Monday, Feb 24th we welcomed our first birth on the farm. We didn’t know mama cow was giving birth until CJ checked on her in the late morning and found a little bull calf cuddled up in the bedding and mama still shedding her afterbirth.

You may wonder how this can be our first calf when we’ve been raising cattle for 5 years. We have always been a “stocker operation” which means we buy calves from other farms once they’re weaned and raise them for 18-20 months for beef. We made this choice very consciously because…

• We are first-generation farmers and the learning curve for running a farm and raising cattle is steep enough on its own without adding the complication of breeding, managing a bull, or addressing health concerns that can come up with births.
  
• We have a limited amount of pastured acreage (about 50 acres) so by adding brood cows who we’d have to keep fed year-round, we would reduce the amount of beef we produce because there’s only so much grass to go around.
  
• When you’re breeding on the farm, you have to manage multiple groups of cattle in separate spaces. For example, when you don’t want the cows to be bred, you have to keep the bull somewhere else. Or when heifer calves are born and raised, you have to keep them separate once they’re fertile so that the bull doesn’t breed them when he’s in with the herd to breed the other cows (cause they’re his daughters, gross).

That being said, we’re ready to take the plunge and start breeding some of our stock on the farm! In early February, we purchased a small breeding herd of 1 bull, 4 bred cows, and 3 calves. All lowline angus. Why are we ready to breed now? Because…

• We are renting neighboring pasture, which gives enough extra acreage to maintain some cows and a bull.
  
• We are more experienced graziers now who can manage multiple herds, ensure that our bred or lactating cows have adequate nutrition, and deal with health complications.
  
• We need some independence from the expensive cattle market. While we are a direct-to-consumer farm, the cost of cattle that we purchase from other farms is still based on the greater national cattle market. And it’s very high right now! After all, if the farmers who sell to us can make a certain amount on their stock at the livestock auction, then they need to ask that price of us too - which we understand. But it means we are now paying twice what we were paying for calves in 2020 (due to drought in the American west decreasing the national cattle supply). Since the margins are already narrow in farming, this squeezes our profitability even more. Having some of our stock born on the farm will help us weather the ups and downs.

So there’s the full story behind the cute picture of the baby calf! Thanks for following along with how we make decisions here on the farm.