Spring Farm Update

It has been a while since my last farm update.  I believe we were getting ready for calving season to begin. Now we are just finishing up with calving, working on spring planting, and starting our grazing season.

We had 21 calves born this year, all without assistance from us.  All our calves were born in a 54 day time period, which is 16 days shorter than last year’s calving season. A short calving season is a sign of a healthy and well functioning herd. We use the length of our calving season as one measurement of how well our holistic management is working.

Our planting season has not gone as well as our calving season. We only have one 6 acre field that we needed to plant. Unfortunately, the wet spring has not allowed us to get it planted. We had it all worked up and planted the cover crop, but just as we were ready to put in the alfalfa, the rains started again and shut us down. The plan now is to just graze the cover crop off this summer and try again with the alfalfa this fall. Oh well!  You win some and lose some.

One benefit of the wet spring is that our pastures are lush and growing fast. We did finish fencing in the 16 acres that we rented and that’s where we started our cattle grazing this year. It worked smoothly moving the cows from our farm across the river to the new pasture. We will be moving them back home to our pastures later this week. I will try to get some video of the cows crossing the river and post it on the website.

The relationship with The Main Street Farmer Eatery has been going well. We have worked out most of the kinks and have worked out a system of routine butcher dates to keep them supplied with fresh Beef. We do still have 1/4’s, 1/2’s, and whole beeves available for our June harvest date. Reserve yours today before they are all gone.