We've had these two boys munching on our pasture for the last month, and they're doing great. I've been thinking about adding a ruminant to the mix of animals and pasture rotations for a while now. The basic logic: pigs aren't very efficient at converting grass to energy, and if the grass is moderately mature or tall, they won't touch it at all. If I want to fully utilize my 5 acres efficiently, I need to get something to eat that grass. Enter the cattle.
These two steers are a Jersey/Holstein mix. They started their life on a dairy farm in Arlington, were bottle fed at a hobby farm in Mount Vernon, and came to us at about six months old and about 350 pounds. I'm grazing them ahead of the pigs, and experimenting with moving the hogs in after the cows have eaten the grass down a bit. With the lush growth of spring, it's actually been difficult for these guys to keep up with the grass, even in the small paddocks I create with electric fencing. I wanted to start with a small number of cattle to make sure I didn't get more than the land could feed. As the season continues, and the grass slows down in growth and gets less nutritious, I'll be curious to see how much land they need.
These steers are destined for the table, and I have been wavering on when to slaughter them. If I slaughter them in the fall, I won't have to provide winter housing and hay, but they won't have grown to their full size and may not be as fat as is ideal. If I wait, they'd get slaughtered in early summer of next year to maximize grass fattening on the spring flush. I think I'm probably going to slaughter in the fall,so that I can have the pigs and the cattle done on the same day and minimize the work and stress for me over the winter. Since I'm unsure how the meat will end up, I'm going to selling the beef that we don't use at a reduced price and asking buyers for feedback. It's going to be nutritious grass fed beef, but it might be quite lean.
If you want to reserve a half (or whole) beef, just let me know. I'll be doing a more formal announcement a bit later in the summer.
These two steers are a Jersey/Holstein mix. They started their life on a dairy farm in Arlington, were bottle fed at a hobby farm in Mount Vernon, and came to us at about six months old and about 350 pounds. I'm grazing them ahead of the pigs, and experimenting with moving the hogs in after the cows have eaten the grass down a bit. With the lush growth of spring, it's actually been difficult for these guys to keep up with the grass, even in the small paddocks I create with electric fencing. I wanted to start with a small number of cattle to make sure I didn't get more than the land could feed. As the season continues, and the grass slows down in growth and gets less nutritious, I'll be curious to see how much land they need.
These steers are destined for the table, and I have been wavering on when to slaughter them. If I slaughter them in the fall, I won't have to provide winter housing and hay, but they won't have grown to their full size and may not be as fat as is ideal. If I wait, they'd get slaughtered in early summer of next year to maximize grass fattening on the spring flush. I think I'm probably going to slaughter in the fall,so that I can have the pigs and the cattle done on the same day and minimize the work and stress for me over the winter. Since I'm unsure how the meat will end up, I'm going to selling the beef that we don't use at a reduced price and asking buyers for feedback. It's going to be nutritious grass fed beef, but it might be quite lean.
If you want to reserve a half (or whole) beef, just let me know. I'll be doing a more formal announcement a bit later in the summer.
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