Steers ready to sell and a beautiful ending to the weekend!

Here are the next two steer we have ready for sale.  They are scheduled into the butcher the end of december.  They should dress out at about 700lbs. each.  Dress weight is the weight of the carcass on the hook before they cut it into steaks and roast and ground beef.  It is also referred to as the hanging weight.  We sell our steer for $2.00/lb hanging weight plus processing.  We discuss with our customers what they want and like and have the meat cut to meet their needs.  We keep records of how it is cut each time so we can make adjustments if there is a cut that isn't needed or wanted the next time so that our customer doesn't have to.  The two pictured here are still available and sold on a first come first serve basis.  We sell by the whole, half, and quarter. 

 Above is Gordo and below is Isidro. They are half brothers and yes, I was craving Mexican food when I named these two. 

  

A quick pic I snapped of Precious (left) and Frosty (right).  They were checking out my lawn repair job and I stopped to get their suggestions!  They only had one, more clover!!

 Wanted to post a couple of pics of our dinner.  Cooked hamburgers, rice balls, and smores on the fire tonight.  Wonderful way to finish a beautiful weekend.  My daughter is getting really good at cooking marshmallows now!  Neighbor boys came over today and helped me clean up barn and get ready to add a little piglet area for the piglets when they are born.  We just need a space where they can stay warm under a heat lamp when momma goes out to get something to eat.  We cooked them some good food while they were here and we got a lot of needed things done.  Below is a pic of the fire after everyone went home and family went in the house.  I threw on a couple more logs and just relaxed by the the fire for a while.  There is something very relaxing about sitting out under a bright moon and listening to the fire crackle and snap.  I wish every day was like this!

Saturday night supper!!

My wife made curry beef last night.  So very good!!  It contained grass fed stew beef, green beans, cherry peppers, and onions over rice with some tomatoes to garnish on the side.  I enjoyed it with some Sam Adams Oktoberfest!!

I was watching football while eating and wasn't paying much attention to the beans.  I ended up with a long one on the fork and as I was placing in my mouth it created a whiplash effect on the bean launching curry sauce directly into my eye!!  Very painful!  I did enjoy the dish but I had to wash my eye out for a while and change contacts.  Next time I will be careful of the beans!

We were checking the tomatoes in the garden and piggies stopped by to say hi.  We had some tomatoes we couldn't use for supper so my wife took some out to give to them.  They thoroughly enjoyed them!!

Anyone watch good eats?

I was sitting down to some home grown pork tonight and a pretty cool episode of good eats came on.  It is titled "Porterhouse Rules". 

Here are the links for all three parts.  Check it out, explains a lot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGM5JchxuzI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBz14EMoVVY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5tytP4Do-A

During the video he discusses the cut, where it comes from, etc., he even talks about grass fed vs. corn fed!

Cows enjoying the weekend!

A pic of the little ones headed back out to the pasture to enjoy the beautiful day we had Sunday!  I had just given them a fresh bale of hay and they were topped off and ready to run again!

 

 Thought I would throw this pic up.  Took the tractor down to another farm to help a neighbor haul some round bales home.  They help bale the square bales up so I try to help them whenever I can.

 My wife is going to start posting some of her grass fed beef recipes on here with pics as she makes them.  This was my contribution.  We have a fire pit I built in the lawn to cook out on whenever we can.  I used cherry firewood and cooked some pork chops and a rib eye steak.  My wife also made some flat bread pizza to add to the meal.  Very good!!

 A pic of the hay after I unloaded at Damascus livestock auction.  Had five 22 bale piles all together.  Some 3rd and 4th cutting both.  Hope we get some good buyers! 

Sending some hay to auction!

Loaded up some 3rd and 4th cutting to take to the auction barn today. Need some space in the shed and some cash to rebuild barn doors! Hopefully we get a good price, you never know at the auction.
Kenneth R. Merrick

The rig and some picks of what I do at work!

 This is the rig....had to move an excavator at work today.  Decided to just use my trailer to save my self an hour of driving this morning.  I love this trailer, now just need to sell some hay to pay for it.

I have mentioned that I have a full time job.  I wanted to show some of my work.  These are pics of a job I am currently working on.  I love what I do and I have the freedom to build some pretty awesome stuff.  I would think my college professors would be proud. I start from scratch with a concept from the salesman and the wants and needs of the client and go from there.  I rarely have a drawing or sketch, mostly just an idea and a budget. 

Looking from the bar out to the patio and fire pit.

 Looking from bar to steps leading to pool area.  I did landscape around pool 5 years ago.

 Top of steps looking down.  There is an outdoor bathroom on right side of pic out of sight.

Looking from bathroom over to patio area. 

If you wanna see more just drop a comment and I will try to get some more pics as I go along.  Very awesome project.  Try to recreate a natural look as much as possible. 

Going to take some pre-winter photos of everyone this weekend since I believe this will be our last nice weekend of the year.  Will post them so you can see the change in their appearance from summer to winter coat.

Also, baby piggies coming soon!!!  Can't wait!

Got a new roof on shed!!

Well, got called off work Tuesday due to rain.  So do you think I was smart and stayed in the house and rested and relaxed?  Nope, called up a buddy and tore the old rusted out and falling down roof off the cattle shed and replaced it.  Nothing fancy, just trying to keep the rain out!  I really should have torn it down and started over but don't have the money right now.  This is a temp fix till I can afford to do it right.

Nice thing about using metal roofing and good screws is that in a year or two when I have the money to do it right I can take the metal back off and reuse it!

Next project is some new barn doors.  I will be taking before and after photos to post here for that project!

BTW the cows were quite happy to have their pen back when I got done.  They got a new roof, fresh bedding, and a fresh silage bale to make up for their lack of access for one day!

Kenny

And now I have lights!!!

Got off work early today due to the rain.  Decided to finish rewiring the barn.  There hasn't been power or lights in the barn since we moved in.  This makes it difficult during the short days in the fall and winter when I need to feed or check cows after dark. Long story short got it all hooked up and now I can see after dark!

I produce a lot more hay here on the farm than I can use.  I sell this hay to raise money for maintenance and supplies for the farm.  Here are some pics and info.

 This is a picture of the 3rd. cutting bales.  I sell these at $5/bale.  Very nice hay.  Mostly grass with a kiss of red clover.  Due to the heat this year the clover was very sparse!

This is my 2nd cutting hay, we sell this at $50/bale and the bales are 4'x5' and weigh 1100 #'s

We had a lot of rain in the spring following fertilization.  This gave me a very heavy second cutting.  This also causes the hay to dry a little slower due to the thickness and moisture in soil and the hay itself.

If you compare my second cutting to the third you will notice the third is much greener.  This is called sun bleaching. This occurs when hay is left under sunlight after it is dry.  The sun begins to break down the nutrients in the hay taking away some of it feed value.  A little bleaching mainly causes it to lose the green color but has a small effect on the nutrient value.  However, if left for a long period or rained on and then left out long period to dry it will have a strong effect of feed value.

  I had to leave my 2nd cut hay exposed an extra day to ensure it was dry so it bleached some.  It is still green inside the bale but not as pretty as the 3rd cut.  3rd cutting was cut, dried, and baled in a span of three and a half days where as the 2nd took almost a week. 


Interesting fact.  You will notice the round bales are wrapped in plastic.  This is done with a bale wrapping machine.  I do not have a building to store hay in so I wrap the round bales in plastic to protect them.  Once opened up the bales look just like the day they were wrapped.

Feeding time!

 Well, the cows were ready for another bale of hay today.  They are eating a bale every 5-6 days.  I mow all my first cutting in mid may to get a higher nutrient level and more tender palatable hay that the cattle can digest well.  I bale it at 40%-50% moisture level and tube wrap it to seal out oxygen and preserve the hay.  It then ferments and turns into silage.  In this form the hay can be preserved for a year or more as long as not opened.  Once opened you need to feed it or it will start to spoil from the open end.  As long as they eat a bale every 6 days or less the hay will always be fresh. 

I also store my dry bales for sale this way.  When I open the row they are usually the same quality as the day I wrapped them as long as the tube was not opened!

 

 This is the two Hereford brothers standing in the feeder to eat.  The one on the left is Pistol and the other is Firecracker.  They should be ready to the butcher late next spring.

 This is a picture of the bunk feeder I have.  It is made by Klene Pipe Structures Inc.  They have great products.  There is room for 8 cattle to eat at one time.  They do not waste much hay with this feeder, maybe 12%-15%.  With a bale ring out in the middle of the pasture they will waste between 40%-50% of each bale.  This feeder really helps me get more out of the hay I feed! 

This is picture of two of my momma cows.  The left one is Sally Shorthorn and the one on the right is Fifty.  Sally is Frosty's momma and Fifty is Precious' momma.

Notes of interest,

A cow requires 2% of their body weight daily in digestible dry matter to be healthy when not pregnant or caring for a calf.  If caring for a calf, pregnant, or a growing calf, they will require 3% of their body weight daily. 

Each bale contains approx 1100 lbs. of dry matter. The herd of 15 cows and calves that I have will eat a bale every 5-6 days during warm weather when the pasture is not growing much.  However they will eat a bale in as little as 2-3 days in the coldest days of winter. 

I will explain later why cattle eat more during cold days vs. warm ones.