Our Cattle

You might say that we are a little crazy about our cattle around here. We do our very best to make sure that they are cared for in a way that would make anyone proud. We bring the cattle up to the barns each day for both feeding and to put a set of eyes on them and make sure they look good and are healthy. During the heat of the summer, we take extra steps to make sure our catle have easy, close access to fresh clean water and minerals as well as ample shade from the sun. We supplement all our pastures with high quality grass and wheat hay that we grow ourselves.

We maintain our herd sizes to match our land and the weather paterns so we don’t over graze the grass, and utilize rotational grazing to give our pastures rest. Every three years we overseed our pastures with new grass seedto keep them vibrant and fresh. We are in our second year of a seven year program to eradicate all Kentucky 31 tall fescue from our farm and land. Kentucky 31 tall fescue is one of Missouri’s most widely used pasture grasses for livestock. It has a lot of advantages, drought tolerance, insect resistant, etc. but it
has one major drawback – it has a fungal endophyte that can inhibit weight gain in cattle.

For more information on Kentucky 31, please visit the University of Missouri Extensions website at: Tall Fescue.

To overcome its affects, we never let our pastures get over 24″ in height and never let them “go to seed”, and we mow our pastures if they are getting to the point of exceeding these threshholds. Our eradication program follows the standard University of Missouri Extension Office recommended practice of Spray – Smother Spray. We are using a mix of grass seed of endophyte free fescue along with red and white clover, orchard and rye grasses. When reseeding we use no till drill seeding ONLY.

Our herd is comprised of a mix of hereford and angus. We take great pride in our cattle selection for both breeding and for beef. We only select stock that is suitable for our particular operation. We pay close attention to the genetics of our bulls and cows and are constantly working to improve our breeding program. Ease of birthing coupled with high weaning weights are the start to our program. From there we look for outstanding daily gains in weight, temperament as well as resistance to common cattle ailments.

Unlike other producers that claim to “never” treat their livestock with antibiotics, we make it a practice that if an animal is sick and needs treatment, we treat the animal; after which, we tag them and remove them from our beef product program. Anyone that claims to never treat their animals is not telling you the truth and providing a disservice to their livestock. We understand that as our customer you want to know where your beef comes from and what goes in it, just as we do, so our records are always open to our customers, that shows calving date / purchase date, and any treatments.