There’s a new page on the site called The flavour of beef which outlines some of the research on grass-fed beef and even has the feature of using the British spelling of the word flavour. Don’t say we’re not customer-focused here on the farm! [Darn, focused has the US spelling.] Here is the first beefContinue reading "Some notes on beef flavor"

The cows are out in the Colorado paddock eating the mixed old lucerne and volunteer grasses, which have been changing over the last year and a half from mostly bent grass to dactyle/orchardgrass and now ryegrass, which is a bit of a surprise. People pay money to seed dactyle and ryegrass and it is takingContinue reading "Just mow the hay, Renée"

The little Alaska paddock has a random grass mix seeded last fall and now the spring growth has hit it needs to be mowed down . As I was checking it out pre-mow I found this little critter. His Ma and Pa were off eating somewhere else on the farm and had left junior toContinue reading "Someone’s been sleeping in my fields"

The cows are in Sleepy Hollow and the grass there has a fair bit of variation. At the bottom of the paddock the grass is in more shadow and is young and bright.  At the top of the paddock it has received more sun, further matured and gone somewhat to seed. But the cows don’tContinue reading "Wormvana"

The cows are in Sleepy Hollow. It has a small seasonal stream and a pond, it is in a valley so it gets fertility washed down from above and it has a history of being a pasture rather than a cereal field or a vineyard. This helps give it the most lush grass on theContinue reading "Still watching the grass"

Soils are complex things. One of the big problems with trying to learn about soils is that everybody’s farm is different. The bedrock is different. The soil may have blown in or been dragged in from somewhere else. The history of usage is different. The climate, plants, topography and animals are different. Within one paddockContinue reading "A twist of limestone"

By ‘Gascon’ I mean the cow, la Gasconne, the cow of the Ariège. The old name for this breed was Gasconne muqueuses noires, which means with black mucus membranes e.g. black around the eyes and nose. They joined the breed with the Gasconne Auréolée from the Gers a few decades back to make the Gascon,Continue reading "Visiting some Gascons in the Pyrénées"

The Agricultrix in her kitchen posing in her American overalls.

He guards the barn cats.

An early morning in the mist and the mother cows are up looking after their calves. On the left is Blackie and her black female calf. On the right is mother 78, who has the same last two working numbers as her daughter, heifer 78. We don’t have a 78 tag for this calf toContinue reading "Heifers in the Mist"