This week was a busy week. Friday I picked up a cow at the processor and Jeanette put it away Friday afternoon. That means the beef freezer is full to bursting with all the cuts of beef, including ribeyes and filet mignon.
I also made my normal weekly trip to restock on chicken, milk, eggs, etc where I meet my chicken farmer at the pork processor (it is our normal meeting place). While I was there I restocked on pork as I had a hog there waiting for me. About 400 pounds of pork!
So all three freezers, beef, pork, and chicken are full and ready for you. The girls are working today and I do believe they are making homemade cookies. Spork and I will likely be working on the airplane in the shop so we’ll be around as well. Stop by and say hello and stock up on some meaty goodness.
After five + years, I’ve finally been able to get service out to the barn to get a telephone line (and also dedicated internet). For those of you who call to make sure we have something in stock before coming, you can now actually get an answer.
The way it was in the past was my personal cell phone was the store number, so people would call me to ask if we had:
A gallon of milk
Ribeyes in stock
Is my wife there
Etc
Of course I’m usually knee deep in cow poop, getting parts for a tractor, or simply over at the house and don’t actually have visibility to the store. Usually I have a decent idea of what we have on hand but I always answer with the caveat that, “we had X when I looked, but that was several hours ago. No promises.”
Now when you call, you’ll be dialing directly into the store so whoever is working can look in the freezer/fridge and tell you exactly what we have and even hold it for you if you are coming shortly. A much better system.
We were also able to get a new dedicated voice mail so I was able to put things like our store hours, our website address, and my email address in the message. Those three pieces of information probably answer 1/2 of the calls I receive.
I know, welcome to the 19th century. Alexander Bell would be so proud of us.
This is our last post on the NRCS program for our second field, the field by the ponds. This field is located in a little corner formed between the lower pond, the trees between Old Stage Road/our driveway, and the pasture in front of my house.
With the weather this year, grass has simply not been a problem. Lots of rain, relatively cool days (for NC) and not that much pressure from our finishing herd means that we have more than enough grass. In fact we’ve been grazing more than one day on a paddock just to get enough of the grass eaten.
Here you can see the grass, full and tall. It runs about 14″ tall and we have 100% ground coverage. This has been about as good as it gets for a grazing season.
Post grazing, after several days of grazing, there is still a lot of grass left. But more importantly there is a lot of grass that has been trampled and left in contact with the ground. This is topsoil we’ll be building the rest of the season.
Even after several days, the grass is still 6-8″ tall and we still have 100% ground coverage. This field can recover almost instantly and begin growing new grass for the next rotation, which will likely include the brood herd as they come home from summer grazing.
The first one will be September 15th and will be a full bore mud run with constructed and natural obstacles. We’ll be using a part of the farm that none of you have ever visited before so even our repeat customers will get to see something new.
Here is a short description of the event from the organizer.
Dragon Obstacle Course Race is very excited to have their next event on September 15th, 2018 at Ninja Cow Farm; 7125 Old Stage Road Raleigh, NC. Dragon OCR will have a mix of fun and challenging obstacles, something for everyone.
The course will have Cargo Nets, Atlas Stones, Huge Tires, Inverted Walls, A-frames, Slackline, Rope Traverse, and many more obstacles.
Every Dragon OCR race finisher will receive a custom medal and finisher t-shirt. Visit www.DragonOCR.com for registration and further details.
We are going to have another event in October that will be similar, but definitely unique as well. Both events will have food, fun, and lots to keep you or the family entertained. More details will be coming about the second event but for now, keep September 15th on your schedule.
After last month’s sale on beef was such a success, I decided we should do a sale this month on pork. So we are repeating our sale of 15% off all pork products (except bacon). We are well stocked on pork, with more being picked up tomorrow and even more the next few weeks so we should have everything you need to fill your freezer.
Our pork is like none you’ve ever had. No grain, no corn, no commercial feed ever. If you haven’t tried it, you simply are missing out. It is unlike any pork you’ve ever had, I promise.
Also I’m taking a cow this Friday to the processor so we’ll be restocked on all beef cuts in about a week. Plan on getting your steaks and hamburger while you are in.
We are open Monday-Wednesday-Friday from 2pm-6pm and Saturdays from 9am-5pm. And don’t forget, we give free tours on Saturdays. Just sign up for a tour online.
This year marks the last year of our NRCS grazing monitoring program. This has been an excellent program where all we needed to do was to take before and after pictures of our grazing in strategic locations at least once per year. We then documented the grass growth and then consumption. When all the work is done properly, we get a check at the end of the year. Easy peasy.
So for the pasture closest to the golf course, here is the last grazing update.
Before grazing, the view in the paddock
Normally by this time of year we are dealing with hot and dry weather. And we do have hot, but we had some timely wet weather just before this week. The grass was vibrant and lush. The cool season grasses have just about gone dormant and the thick, warm season grasses are enjoying the combination of unlimited sun and some water when it is needed. The grass is anywhere from 10″ to 15″ tall and very thick.
We are only grazing about 14 cows on rotation right now. The rest are at our other farm. This particular paddock, due to leaving a gap for the pigs to be fed in the paddock system, was to be grazed two days.
Lush grass as far as you can see
Johnson grass is popping up across the pasture as well. You can see some in the right of the picture (the patch of taller than normal grass). It never seems to be in the same place, but the cows absolutely love it and eat it immediately to the ground. Johnson grass is the bane of many row crop farmers but I love that it grows in our pastures, because our cows love it.
After grazing for two days
The grass is definitely showing signs of having been grazing, but it is still 5-6″ tall and very thick. This is perfect for regrowth and for building topsoil. Also much of the brown stems from the cool season grass that has gone dormant is now broken off and therefore pressed down to the ground. Grass litter in contact with the ground is what makes topsoil. So we’ve fed our cows, and fed our soil, all at the same time.
A little better view of the after grazing conditions
After this picture, we pulled up this grazing stake getting a steel pole out of the middle of the pasture and marking the end of our NRCS program for this pasture. This allows us to mow easier, and it also allows us to get ready for our next usage of the pasture next year.
I did a quick sale last week on hamburger. 15% off all hamburger in the store. It was a last minute thing and I didn’t get it out as early as I should have. So to make amends, I’m going to expand the sale to all beef products (except premium steaks) and extend it to the end of July. So.
All beef in the store (except premium steaks) is on sale, 15% off from now till the end of July!
Don’t forget we have piglets here as well and tours are free on Saturdays. Book yours now.
I’m dropping a flash sale on everyone for the rest of the day. Since the 4th of July means hamburgers, I’m making hamburger 15% off for the rest of the day. We are open till 5pm so swing by and stock up for your cookout next week.
Also, we will be closed on the 4th so that we can all celebrate with our families. I hope that you all have a wonderful 4th of July.
Last week one of our moms had a litter of piglets. I’ve been so busy with Spork working on our father and son summer project that I hadn’t even been able to get over there to take pictures. But Sunday is my day to run the farm so there was no doubt I’d be over there.
I’d love to tell you that there is a series of increasing cuteness pics coming. But the next shot looked like this.
Nothing to see here, move along
Momma was having none of it. Spork was feeding her while I was trying to get some pics and she left the food immediately to come and tell me just what she thought of me being near her kids. I told her I understood by beating feet out of there. 700 lbs of cranky mom is nothing to argue with.
When we are giving tours now, we’ll be stopping by to see these little guys, who are out and about and having fun. As they get older they actually start ranging out and playing so there should be plenty of cuteness for our tours for the next couple of months.
There were 11 piglets born. Two didn’t make it (sadly it is normal to loose a few the first day) so we have 9 running around healthy and happy.
The first one will be September 15th and will be a full bore mud run with constructed and natural obstacles. We’ll be using a part of the farm that none of you have ever visited before so even our repeat customers will get to see something new.
