Farming, it's not so easy

Farming is one of the hardest, most challenging things I have ever done. It is also one of the most rewarding, running a close second to being a Mother. I love taking the best care of God’s earth that I can. I love the animals and the relationship I have with them. I take pride in what I do and always strive to do my best as a farmer.

We have been retailing beef for four years now. No, I do not know everything about grass fed animals. I do know that cows like grass and that is what's best for them. Luckily, I have 230 acres for them to enjoy. No, our farm is no where near what I think it should be. However, I can see how far it has come since we bought it in 1995.

Our farm is the largest parcel of what is left of a 7,000 acre cotton plantation. It was in terrible shape when we purchased it. I don’t think it had been limed in 35 years. I don’t think it had been bush hogged in about 5 years. The thistle and dog fennel were taller than I am. The old black gentleman that worked for us in the beginning and myself dug thistle by the truck load and hauled them away. To this day, we still dig thistle and/or cut the heads off to try to stop them from multiplying. Thistle is one thing I’m now sure I will never get full control of. That is until I can introduce multi-grazers.

We are trying hard to be a sustainable farm by doing what we can as we can afford it. Our plans are to break up larger pastures into the paddock systems. Each paddock will have its own water supply. We also want to introduce other grazers to help manage the forages we produce.

This year we had a soil scientist analyze the soil to make sure we could produce the grass and forages that we desire. Great results were uncovered! We have the ability to produce and meet our goals. So, I guess to sum this all up we are striving to meet the goals we set before ourselves one day at a time. And to take a piece of what most thought was used up cotton fields and make it a sustainable grass farm.

We may only retail beef products, but that's because it's what we know best. We will use other animals to meet the goals we have for pasture production. We are still a work in progress and we strive to do our very best with what God has entrusted upon us.