Author Archives: grasspunk

It’s a J year for cows so we’ve been having fun with the names. Included so far in the herd we have Jailbait, Joe Cool (who is indeed very cool), Junkyard, Jingle Bell and this guy, our little bull Jagger. This name has been a long time coming. Lucy has been singing “Moos like Jagger”ContinueContinue reading “Moos like Jagger”

This is a field seeded with red clover, meadow fescue and lotier. Lotier is the French name for Birdsfoot trefoil and works rather well because it is easier for me to say and is close to the Latin name of Lotus Corniculatus. It grows wild in my pastures but here I seeded it. Lotier isContinueContinue reading “Lotier – because Birdsfoot Trefoil is too hard to say”

The California paddock was planted to mixed pasture and is now looking good, which isn’t bad given it is still late Winter. The legume on the left is lotier. We use the French name for it because it is easier to say than Birdsfoot Trefoil. The first plant to grow back in fall after aContinueContinue reading “Grass and Punk”

Here is the herd eating up Costanza on February 20th. There’s a fair bit of grass here. It has been a mild winter: this was last grazed in early November, so we had some good regrowth through the last three and a half months. The soils here are doing well with carbon and the soilContinueContinue reading “Winter grazing”

This is Richter, ten months old and he’s one of the two bulls we’re using this year. He’s a very calm guy who likes to be hand fed hay or grass. He’s young now but will be able to work by summer. He’s named after the scale although I could have used Sviatoslav since IContinueContinue reading “Playing with my bulls”

I went off to the Aveyron to choose some calves to be the herd bulls next year. Here are some photos of the Dads and the calves we’re purchasing. This guy (Bull 1) was the star of the blackberry post a while back. He’s quite the ladies man. Remember, it is the calf that we’llContinueContinue reading “Bull calves and their dads”

Of course not! It’s a steer. A steer is a male that has been castrated. This means it can’t breed with the females, which aids in keeping herd quality up and in the timing of the birthing season. It also means the herd is easier to handle without having a bunch of bulls jostling forContinueContinue reading “This is not a cow”

An early morning cow move in the Nebraska paddock and it is a bit misty. Cow 27 is doing well. The veal are getting fatter from both milk and grass. I like living here, partly because there are a lot of homes and families around. The population density is low for France but still thereContinueContinue reading “Cold morning with veal”

I was visiting another Salers farm looking for bull calves when one of the bulls got itchy. The brambles didn’t stand a chance. He looks regal. We pulled them off after the photo.

It is always amazing how fast calves grow. Here there are three yearlings on the left and two calves on the right. The brown guy in the middle is a steer and doing very well on our farm. He’s not bad for sixteen months. They are eating some grass pasture stockpiled from spring.