Life on the Farm & Cow Facts Archives - Page 2 of 9

08/20/2020 By Matt & Jessica @ Clover Meadows Beef

How We Raise Our Grass Fed Beef

We’re often asked how we raise our grass fed beef. Our customers are interested in knowing if we buy our cattle, or if they are born and raised on the farm.

Our cattle are born and raised on our farm. That’s how we can tell you with certainty what they’ve eaten their entire lives and we know they’ve been treated with the utmost respect and love.

That’s the short answer. Now, let’s fill in the gaps and tell you the rest of the story about raising quality cows and calves.

Why Cattle Nutrition is Important to Beef Eaters

Today we’re going to skim the surface on an popular agriculture topic, cattle nutrition. We don’t usually go this deep into agriculture topics, but we decided to for a few reasons:

We sometimes get questions from customers who ask if our cattle only eat grass. The answer is no. All cattle (even grass finished cattle) sometimes need to eat something other than grass in order to be healthy, like mineral.
We try to be completely transparent about what we do on our farm, and one of the things we focus on daily is cattle nutrition.
If you’re thinking, “I’m a typical consumer that just wants good grass fed beef. Why should I care about cattle nutrition and mineral?” The answer is because without cattle nutrition and mineral, the quality and quantity of grass fed beef changes. In other words, without good cattle nutrition, your steaks won’t be as good.

Farm Life: How We Feed Cows

We’re often asked what a typical day looks like on our farm. Every day is very different, so there isn’t an easy answer to that question.

However, one thing that is always the same is that every day Matt gets on his four-wheeler and drives to check and feed the cows.

We thought you might like to join him as he feeds cows on a typical night, so that’s what this video is about.

Do we feed all of our cows the same way?

Keep in mind that our farm is a cow-calf farm, and we’re unique because we raise and sell both grass finished and grain finished beef directly to consumers.

That means we have several different groupings of cattle on our farm. They all have different needs that we have to account for.

The grass finished cattle need to be checked regularly so we’re sure they’re all still healthy and none of them got hurt in the pasture. We don’t typically feed them since they only eat grass.
The grain finished cattle need to be checked regularly and fed daily. They live in the pasture their entire lives and also receive natural grain during the last 6 months of their life. It’s up to them on if they eat the grass or grain.
The heifers need to be checked regularly and they’re fed some grain too. We explained the difference between cows and heifers before. As a refresher, heifers are new mama cows that have had their first calf. Whether you’re a first time human mom or cow mom, having a baby is a lot of work and takes a toll on your body! After a heifer has had a baby calf, we give her some all-natural grain so that she’s getting even more nutrients in her diet. These nutrients help her get strong again, and also help ensure her milk has all the nutrients it needs for the baby calf.
Baby calves need to be checked regularly since they’re so young. They drink their mom’s milk for the first 6 months of life. As they grow, they start to transition from their mother’s milk only to a mixture of milk and grass around 4 to 6 months of age.

Why Do Cattle Have Ear Tags?

Have you ever wondered what the the colored plastic number “earrings” are that you see in the ears of cattle. They’re called ear tags, and they’re really important.

What are ear tags for?

Ear tags are needed for animal identification. They make it possible for us to identify and keep accurate records about each calf, heifer, steer, cow and bull.

When you stop and think about it, animal identification has been around for a really long time. As soon as a family brings home a pet, they purchase a collar and tag for their new puppy or kitty. Similarly, we use ear tags to identify our cattle immediately.

What information is identified using ear tags?

For calves, our records include things like their gender, age, weight, and which cow is its mom.

Our records for the mama cows include additional information like when she had her last calf and how many calves she has had in her lifetime. We also want to know which calf belongs to each cow .

What’s the difference between a steer vs bull?

Difference between steer vs bull and cow vs heifer - Clover Meadows Beef

Did you know there’s a difference between a steer vs bull? There’s also a difference between a cow vs heifer.

If you’ve followed our site at all, you know that Matt is a farm kid and Jessica grew up in a typical subdivision as a city kid. When we first met and started dating, we had lots of conversations revolving around cattle terminology. Very romantic…right?! Ha! One of the basic conversations was cow terminology. Specifically, that meant discussing the difference between steer vs bull, and cow vs heifer. There’s a big difference!

If you’re not up-to-speed on steers, bulls, cows and heifers, we’ve provided basic definitions and go into much more detail below:

Cow: A cow is a female animal that has had at least one calf. Using everyday lingo, the cows are the “moms”
Heifer: A heifer is a female animal that has never had a calf. Once a heifer has a calf, she automatically becomes a cow. In other words, heifers are like “first-time moms”
Bull: A mature male animal that is used for breeding. The bulls are the “dads.”
Steer: A steer is a male animal that has been neutered.

So, what do you usually eat when you eat meat? Generally speaking if it’s good quality meat it’s usually a heifer or steer. If it’s lower quality meat, it’s usually a cow.

Now that you know the very basic definitions, let’s go a little deeper on the differences between steer vs bull and cow vs heifer.

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