Jersey...it's what's for dinner!

Ryan and I both decided to raise as much of our own food as possible. We're not comfortable with what goes into the foods at the grocery store or how it is produced. We have the means and the knowledge to raise are own so we do. We raise beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and turkey. I take care of the animals and the farm the majority of the time because Ryan is on the road. For that reason, farm and livestock decisions are made mostly by me. Even when Ryan is home and helping I find myself being anal about how "my" babies are taken care of :)

We don't raise a beef breed. We raise Jerseys. Jerseys are typically a dairy breed. They grow slower than beef breeds and have a lower weight at maturity. Beef producers don't raise them for those reasons. However, our main concern is quality not quantity and that's why we do raise them. One of the best qualities of Jerseys is the high level of fat in there muscles even when exclusively grass fed. They have a genetic disposition to marbleizing. Jersey cross cattle also have significantly more monounsaturated fatty acids than other breeds. Monounsaturated fatty acids are cholesterol lowering. Healthy steaks? Who would have thought?

We get our calves from a neighbor of my mom's. She has Jerseys for her main dairy producers. When a bull calf is born they are of no use to her. The cost of milk replacer and work to take care of them outweighs the profit she would make if she took them to the cattle auction. She sells them to us very reasonably as long as we pick them up shortly after they're born. She gives me colostrum from the cow for the calf's first few bottles and then I switch to milk replacer. They drink milk replacer from a bottle or bucket for 8 weeks until they are eating enough grain, hay, and water to sustain them. Then they are weaned from the milk replacer and put out on our 10 acre pasture with the bigger steers where they have lots of green grass to munch on and a fresh stream to drink from. In the future we hope to get a few more heifers or cows so we won't need to use milk replacer anymore or have to buy calves. We'd like to be able to sustain our own herd and keep things as natural as possible. Right now we have 3 calves, 2 bigger steers and a heifer. 2 of the calves are Jersey and one is a Jersey Holstein cross. The big steers are Jersey Angus crosses and the heifer is a Jersey. She's visiting my mom's bull at the moment ;)

Landon and Sawyer love to come out and help me feed them every morning and evening. As soon as we wake up in the morning I mix up bottles and buckets. The boys get their shoes on and we all go out in our pajamas. We go out again right before the boys get ready for bed. Most days Landon and Sawyer pet the calves for a little while and then they chase chickens around the yard while I finish feeding them.