From the Pastures: Unpleasant surprise

Hello from Graze-N-Grow. I hope by the time you are reading this it has quit raining. At least there is no shortage of grass, both pastures and lawns. The animals are managing the heat and humidity much better than I am. By noon I’m done outdoors lately.

The red clover frost seeded on the wheat ground looks great and since the perennial pastures are flourishing I probably won’t need to put the flock out there. So, I may bale it or mow it down to help next year’s corn crop depending on the weather. We also have the 20 acres regrowth of oat stubble that Nathaniel mowed down after combining to graze. I guess it’s better to have too much feed for the animals than too many animals for the available feed.

Earlier this summer we suffered the loss of our beloved Ella, but recently I had a call from a dairyman from Decorah, Iowa, who had a young A2A2 Jersey for sale, so I got her so Ruth would have something to get up for in the morning. I probably should have discussed that with her first. It seems the enthusiasm has waned.

So, she — the cow — is raising her calf and three others I got from Bohnert’s so Ruth can milk periodically as needs arise. We call her Corah, from Decorah. Get it?

On another note, most livestock producers as well as consumers would like to see the MCOOL act approved, but it’s not to be as yet. The mandatory country-of-origin label on all meat in the store gives consumers a choice of buying American born, fed and processed meat if they desire, but other interests in the meat industry would rather mix foreign meat with ours without labelling. Hopefully the effort to get this approved will come soon.

And a final note, the Tyson beef processing plant closure at nearby Joslin was an unpleasant surprise. Now most local cattle sold will be discounted the freight cost to go to more distant plants — a consequence of low beef supply. Keep on buying that good local beef and lamb and stay healthy. Happy trails.