Thursday, April 21, 2016

We raise cattle...and YES we eat beef.

         I recently came across a story from the state of New York that highlights upon the disconnect between modern society and the people that produce their food. The Benner farm, a small 15-acre family farm established in the 1700’s opens its doors each year to provide agriculture education to parents and children. The Benner’s are now being protested after a visitor to the farm disagreed with the reality that a 2-year-old cow owned by the Benner’s will one day provide beef for the Benner family. The individual who has started the uproar was quoted as saying “he doesn't need this cow to survive and feed his family. He puts a sob story on there. Please, tell him to go to Whole Foods and go get some anti-biotic free beef there.” I myself have been questioned by friends and family as to how I can raise cattle and continue to eat beef, beef that we raised.
To clarify…all the beef you buy in the grocery store was raised by someone, whether from Whole Foods, Kroger, Meijer or your local fresh meat market. The animals that produced the beef in the cooler were fed and cared for by an individual whose livelihood depends on providing a quality product. In the case of farmers and ranchers who raise beef cattle, the outcome is a healthy animal that can be sold for slaughter and produce high quality cuts of meat for consumers. That being said there are several types of beef farms. Our family farm for example is a cow-calf operation, meaning that we have a herd of cows (females) that are bred and have a calf once a year. Those calves are cared for on our farm until they are weaned from their mothers.  The calves are then sold in the fall to 1.) be show calves for young people involved in showing livestock, 2.) be replacement heifers (they will stay on our farm and start having calves by the age of two), or 3.) they could be sold to a farmer who ‘finishes’ the animal for slaughter. The term “finish an animal” means to feed them in a way that encourages fattening within the last 90-160 days before slaughter. A well finished animal will provide well marbled meat which makes for tastier, more tender cuts. While most of the steer (castrated male typically raised for slaughter) calves we have each year are sold, we will finish 2-3 steers for our families’ freezers. Could we afford to purchase our meat at the grocery store, the answer is yes, but instead we choose to raise our own because we have it available to us. There are many families like the Benner’s who do not necessarily make their living from raising beef cattle for meat but they choose to raise their own food. I can understand the women’s perspective that if it were her cow she may not be able to bring herself to slaughter the animal and have that animal end up in their family freezer. I myself would be lying if I said that ‘knowing the animal’ before they are slaughtered isn’t difficult, but I understand that they were raised for a purpose and I find my peace in knowing they were well cared for during their time on our farm. It is the Benner family’s right to do with their animals as they choose so long as the animal was well cared for during her lifetime. Farmers in animal agriculture have a love and a passion for the animals they raise or they wouldn’t put in the grueling hours it takes to care for them, but at the end of the day farmers also understand that the purpose of food animal production is to provide quality food for you at the grocery store and for their own family.

To learn more about the Benner farm, visit their website at: http://www.bennersfarm.com/


Thursday, March 6, 2014

A Spartan Farmers "March Madness'



March Madness is just gearing up here at G&G Cattle Co, but this madness isn’t made up of team brackets and basketball hoops. Instead, our March will consist of calving out 43 cows in 30 days. You may ask why that would be challenging…the cows do all the work themselves, right? While we do everything we can to ensure cows can calve easily on their own, it is still our responsibility as animal stewards to make sure that we can assist our animals when needed promising an outcome that includes healthy cows and calves.
This time of year the girls at G&G are separated into groups based on their due date. The group of cows labeled ‘close-ups’ - or if you’re a baseball fan like me think of them as the girls ‘up to bat’- are due within the next two weeks. The group ‘on deck’ is due within 3-4 weeks. These two groups are pastured closest to the barn during the day so that we can keep an eye on them as we are out and about around the farm feeding and doing other chores. At night these girls are brought into pens in the barn for easy observation. My husband and I currently have an apartment in the barn that includes an observation deck overlooking three large pens. At night you can walk out onto the deck and all that can be heard are the low rhythmic grunts of very pregnant cows. Having the girls inside makes life easier, however there is still little sleep to be had as my husband is up every two hours checking on each and every one of them. Once a cow is in labor or has given birth she is then moved into what we call a ‘calving pen,’ where the cow-calf pair can have some privacy away from the rest of the herd to ensure that the calf receives the best start possible. I have been blessed with the opportunities to see puppies, calves, lambs, and kids (baby goats) born yet the miracle of birth never ceases to amaze me; it is truly a beautiful gift from god.

Stay tuned-in for blog updates on our calving season, and I will be sure to include pictures of the adorable babies!


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Where I Come From

I have been racking my brain for a good way to start off my blogging and I've decided the best thing to do would be to tell you who I am, where I come from and why I have a love for cattle and agriculture in general.

If someone would have told me 10 years ago that I would be driving around the country side working with dairy farmers and that I'd be married to a beef farmer I would have wrote them off as crazy...BUT here I am a dairy girl married to beef :) So how did my journey lead me here you might ask...well it all started growing up in a small town in Michigan on my parents one acre parcel in the middle of a corn field. Yes, the middle of a corn field. I didn't grow up with parents who farmed and I never drove a tractor or milked a cow until college but I did grow up surrounded by farm land and great small town farmers. I gained a respect and appreciation for the long hours and hard work these men and women put in to feed the world. The respect and appreciation I had for those farmers would eventually grow into a fondness and passion for agriculture.

As for the animal side of things I grew up with a mom who is a small hobby dog breeder (Miniature Schnauzers) and who also worked for the local veterinary office as a veterinary assistant. I was fortunate enough to always have a dog to snuggle with on the couch and we would have puppies to play with once or twice a year (lucky kid I know!) I felt pretty early on that with my combined love of animals and science I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up! Through high school I worked at the veterinary clinic in town first as kennel help doing odds and ends and after four years had graduated to receptionist just before I left for college. That's when I like to think faith stepped in...

I went through my first year at Michigan State University taking pre-requisites, joined the Pre-Veterinary Medial Association, met with councilors to get advice on building my resume all to make sure I was on the path to vet school. Now don't worry I'm not a total nerd I still found time for extra curricula's, a girls gotta have fun too right?! But when it came time to find a summer job I had decided I needed to broaden my horizons and get experience with cows to add to my resume (dogs, cats, guinea pigs and horses were already covered). I knew of a client at the vet clinic in Milan who was the farm manager at a local dairy farm. I got in touch with her and the next thing I know I'm home from college getting a tour of the farm and the whirlwind explanation of what my duties would be. Little did I know, that day would be a day that would eventually send me in a whole new direction for life. I spent three summers during college milking cows, feeding calves, helping manage the reproduction and health of the herd and an added bonus...educating the public about dairy farming! (The farm I worked for is open to the public 7 days a week and conducts scheduled tours for groups but those details are for another post so stay tuned!) I absolutely loved my job and my courses at MSU started taking a turn toward dairy management when for various reasons I decided vet school wasn't for me anymore.

I was lucky enough to meet my husband in "cow class" as my mother calls it when she tells the story. I graduated from MSU with a Bachelors degree in Animal Science in 2011 after which I continued working at the dairy for a year and a half. I now work for a milk cooperative working with some great dairy producers. My story is a perfect example that life may not always go as planned but some times the hardships and surprises are the greatest blessings!