Time to Wean

We don’t have many exciting things happening on the farm this time of the year so there’s not that much to write. The cows are much happier since we had rain and now it’s time to wean calves so that Mama can have a much needed break before the next calf comes along.  Some farmer’s do not wean, just trust the Mother’s instinct to wean on their own.  Well, we haven’t had a lot of luck relying on Mama. It’s hard to see a cow give birth and provide enough milk for the new calf and a 600 lb., already existing calf while trying to maintain herself!

We do practice low stress weaning on the farm.  This is where the cow and calf are separated by just one fence instead of placed more than 2 fences away. This enables the mother and the calf to come to the fence to smell each other and know that each other is safe. You can watch the mama cows come to the fence and call their calf. Both fuss at us a little, but after a day or two, calves are comfortable. They can forage and make it on their own. The calves become more trusting of us to provide what they need and Mama can focus on her task of bringing another new life to the farm.

Sometimes life on the farm can be challenging…especially when wildlife is involved. Yes, all God’s creatures have their own personality and charm, but living amongst them is not always so much fun. Especially when it’s a skunk.

For those that haven't experienced the lovely smell of a skunk, let me tell you, it's not fun. Our new neighbor sprayed everyday, sometimes several times. The smell permeates anything in it's path. Your eyes and nostrils burn, your clothes and hair take on the smell and you can't breathe normally. Needless to say, it's no walk in the park.

We have been looking for the skunk that, of course hide under the shop for about a month or so. Every morning when I got up, you could tell that we'd had a visitor, a smelly one at that. So, I did some research to find out how to get rid of him/her. During my search, I found some mistruths about skunks. Those that blogged about their knowledge of skunks must have never dealt with a country skunk.

Myth one, skunks cannot climb....False! I stood at by back porch and watched him climb up the deacon’s bench to get the cat food. I placed the food higher thinking that he couldn’t climb. The next advice was to trap him and take him out in the country to free him. Well, I already live in the country. Should I reverse it and take him to the city to set him free?

By the time my son finally located his habitat, which happened to be in the basement of our shop...and yes, he could climb stairs…we'd been sprayed way too many times. Needless to say he has been relocated…Could he be in your Yard?

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.