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Spring Time Is Busy On The Farm

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

March 22, 2022

At the farm, we all look forward to Spring. Warmer and longer days mean the grass will grow and take care of the cows vs. hay. This is really important because the mama cows start calving early February. This year we had 47 calves born in less than 20 days. Here is a picture of one that was posing for the camera.

Calf-Posing.jpg

Here is a picture of the yearlings enjoying a stress free afternoon.

Yearlings-2022-0318.jpg

The next 10 or so days will be very busy! Starting Monday we have the feed truck delivery, finish about 400' of net fence so the sheep can be moved to the farm, trailer pigs & deliver for harvest, and crate chickens about dark.

Tuesday & Wednesday is mostly chicken processing plus regular chores. Then, Thursday & Friday we are cutting and packing 6-beef - four of the halves are custom and will be picked up the week of March 28th.

Fittings for the two new chicken tractors will deliver Wednesday so I will most likely finish assembly Saturday.

Monday, March 28th the seller of compost will deliver to our farm. He and his wife will drive from AR, bring our compost and take home a half beef on Tuesday. He is excited about seeing our operation Pretty cool!!!

About the same time the spray rig attachment for our no-till drill will arrive and it will be time to pickup our summer cover crop mix from Petcher Seeds. With the price of inputs this year our objective is to maximize soil health, provide great grazing for the cows, and generate plenty of biomass for soil biology.

Our mix will include Sun Hemp, Red Ripper Peas, Crabgrass, and Sorghum Sudan grass. And, I found a source for worm casing that I will "inoculate" the seeds with. According to J.I. Rodale, "Earthworm castings are the finest form of humus known. These casing consist of soil and other matter which is passed through and changed by secretions in their intestinal canals and is of extremely high fertilizer values."

In a recent podcast featuring Dr. Allen Williams, he said the Top 3 Requirements For Quality Grass Fed Beef are: Soil Health, Forage Diversity, and Degree of finish in the beef.

There's always a lot to do on the farm. Thankfully, our hard work pays off in happy, loyal customers - we hope you are one of them!

If not, and you are looking for premium ALL NATURAL GOODNESS of beef, pork, chicken, and eggs raised on pasture as God intended - without growth hormones, drugs, chemicals, and antibiotics - and raised humanely then you have come to the right farm. Our delivery schedule and product availability is listed below along with order buttons that will take you to our website where you can browse over 90 product choices and place your order from the convenience of your home. It's that simple!

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New Pullets | Calves | Job Opening

Pullets arrived March 1st– every 6 months we receive a fresh batch of pullets. This year we were not sure if our late February to early March batch would be available…even though we ordered them last September. However, mostly since we have done business with the same farmer since the Spring of 2017, he prioritized our order and delivered them March 1st. While the price was higher, I was braced for a much higher price. Our pullets are typically 17 weeks old when delivered. They will start laying at about 24 weeks. That means we should start seeing medium eggs by our May delivery dates. YEAH!