Our Personal Cash Cow

Reflecting on my past posts regarding our wonderful beef, I can't help but realise just how fast time has past me by which is a constant reminder to me that I haven't been enjoying the lifestye the Ponderosa has to offer as much as I would like at present.

Bullet is still with us, and we hope he has done the business properly, however we had to get rid of our wonderful calves.  Not because we wanted too, but because the Ponderosa wasn't big enough to sustain 14 beef without bringing in more feed to help out.

We (or should I say my husband) has worked hard to ensure the paddocks used for grazing has been as organic as we can keep them, and as a result our beef were growing extremely fast.  An awesome result, if you want to get a return on your investment but it was sad that we couldn't keep them longer.

Don't get me wrong.  The original plan for the calves was to get the experience of calving, see how much work was involved, how it fitted into our lifestyle, how cost effective it was with an end result of selling them or putting them in the freezer when they were at least 2 years old.

The Calves - Approximately 2 months old

The exercise was well worth it and although I didn't personally enjoy the early morning feeds, there was a sense of accomplishment at the different stages of their growth.  They didn't quite make it to 2 years but the return we recieved exceeded our expectations.

The challenge for us now is to get that balance of beef right for the Ponderosa.  We hope Bullet has done the business which means all 8 of our cows are in calf, due by July at the earliest.  The next exercise is to see if calving with mothers is much easier than without.  I have a feeling that it will and I'm excited to experience the first calf being born.

Happy living people.