Colorful language flows from the fingertips, as it does from the lips of this spouse-made farm girl, but in this crazy life we all need some colorful discussion to distract us from our own, everyday craziness! In here, we do DIY, farm life, and a lot more!
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For some reason, after one has a life-altering event, they may find themselves doing things they may not have done before said event. I don’t know if it’s some sort of a bucket-list type of calling that makes a person realize their mortality, or perhaps the event triggers more of a mid-life-crisis type of mindset; whatever it is, we went through it in 2010, and it’s made us who we are today. Farm Boy grew up with animals, and after an accident just 5 years into our marriage, he decided that farming was what he wanted to do. I’m pretty sure animals offer him refuge from the harshness of the real world, and he actually finds their presence therapeutic. Me, on the other hand – I find it messy, expensive, stinky, expensive, time consuming, and did I mention expensive? Back then (and currently), if straws were drawn, I consistently drew the short one.
The Mad Black Angus
Without doing much research, we dove in and bought our first cow: a Black Angus steer, we unaffectionately called, Bessie (yes, Bessie was a boy). If you’ve never heard of an angus, you need to get out more. They’re the black, short-haired, great tasting cows you see in those giant fields on the side of major highways. Bessie came from an angus farm that Farm Boy’s great uncle owned, about 45 minutes from our home. Cows were the family business a couple generations ago, so how hard could it be? “Get a cow,” they said. “It’ll be great,” they said. Whomever the infamous they is, neglected to mention that you cant spell angus without the first three letters of the word angry. This guy, Bessie, was a not at all happy about his intended purpose, or anything for that matter. He charged us all the time, even at feedings, and eventually sent me to the surgeon’s office for an ACL replacement. I’m not super graceful as it is, but apparently being chased by a mad angus steer renders one even less graceful than they started out. Anyway, after raising him to a nice, healthy butchering weight, Bessie turned out to be pretty tasty. He taught us many things, including the fact that another Angus steer was not in the books for us – our three-year-old daughter’s was the only attitude we needed on our little farm. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had a couple Black Angus heifers (one of them is in the photo to the right) and they were pretty happy cows, since most of the time, it’s all about how they’re raised. These angus ladies, though, could escape in ways that would make Houdini look like an amateur, but that was easier to deal with than nasty attitudes. A nasty attitude is easy to find, as is angus beef. Since it is readily available in grocery stores all over the nation, we didn’t have an easy time finding buyers. The folks who bought the steaks and ground beef from us were thoroughly pleased with their purchase, from a taste perspective, but we felt our brand needed something that separated it from the rest. Round two begins…
A Pair of Herefords
Next up was a heifer/calf pair of red Herefords. This breed is normally a red/brown color, short-haired cow with a white face. They can have horns, or be polled – ours were the latter, meaning they had no horns, nor would they pass on any to their calves. Basically, the horns are bred out of the bloodline over time. The pregnant heifer we purchased, and her 2 year old daughter, were pretty easy to handle, but a little skittish around people. We’ve learned over time that a cow might become less skittish as exposure to humans becomes the norm, but sometimes they never grow out of it. Once a skittish mom calves, she immediately begins to teach her baby to be leery of us upright walkers, too. We really wanted some cattle that were family-friendly because our kids were young when we started our farming journey, and they wanted to be as involved as they could. Skittish nature aside, the Herefords were a nice addition to our small farm, but shortly into that winter we realized that their needs were more than we had prepared for. These cows really liked to be inside during a snowy, blustery Maine storm. A barn wasn’t something we had at the time, nor was it in our budget, but they clearly needed more shelter than a lean-to could offer. Bessie was a lot like these ladies…short haired and lean. That summer we bought our first big, farm write-off: a Shelter-Logic shelter, with zip-up doors on each end. This thing was massive, and the girls loved it! They loved it so much that it became a manure pit, requiring frequent clean-outs. If you’ve ever shoveled frozen cow sh!t, you know it’s actually not something that can be done. The work involved with cleaning out and moving big piles of manure was more than we wanted to handle with shovels and a wheel barrow. Our next move was to either purchase a tractor, or purchase a breed that didn’t mind being out in the snow. Long story, short, we did both…yep, I drew the short straw again. Here goes round three…
The Scottish Highlanders
In all honesty, we first became intrigued with this breed simply because of their unique appearance. They’re all the rage right now; their likeness being plastered all over farmhouse decor, but this breed was super unique when we bought ours. Scottish Highlanders are a mid-sized breed of beef cow, much like a Hereford or an Angus. The dairy breeds – Holsteins, Brown Swiss, and Jerseys, to name a few – can get really big. I mean, like, BIG! We had a pair of Holstein steers for our boys to show at fairs, and They. Got. Huge. Beef breeds are a little more short and stalky. A Highlander also boasts some unique traits, like long, shaggy hair that covers their face and body, and the ability to grow incredibly long horns. Some farms have their Highlanders disbudded (the act of stopping horns from developing on calves, by cauterizing the horn buds), but we wanted to maintain the integrity of the breed by keeping this unique characteristic. Somehow we managed to find a heifer/calf pair 10 minutes from our home, for sale, horns in-tact! These ladies were beautiful. Mom had a light brown coat, while her daughter was a much darker, almost red color. Little did we know it then, but we had found the breed we’d make our brand around. The best part? They didn’t like the barn at all! Over the years, we’ve tried different methods of luring them into the shelter, but it was always a struggle. They would actually find ways to escape, every chance they could. In 2015 we moved from our original, small farm to a newly built-by-us home, and our giant shelter was erected at my parents’ house. Our cows didn’t need it, nor did they want it, so back to the lean-to it was. The winter-heartiness of the Scottish Highlander is actually it’s best feature! Ours roam our 103 acres, grazing on everything they know they can safely eat, clearing the property for future pastures. It’s like having goats, but a lot less work! The meat, you ask? These guys are super lean, which isn’t always desirable when a nice, juicy burger is craved, but the steaks are AMAZING! I love using the ground beef for tacos and other dishes that normally require the fat to be drained off during preparation because I can skip this step – there is, literally, no fat to be removed, and the flavor is fantastic. We love everything about raising Scottish Highlanders, and a more recent perk is that their uniqueness has forced an uprise in their desirability, which has also increased their value. We paid much less to start our herd, than what we could sell it for now…not that we’re interested in selling any time soon.
Through all our trials and errors, we mentioned several factors that made our decision come to fruition on the end. If we had been handed a checklist of considerations, some of the tribulations that accompanied our trials could have been avoided…that’s not say these tribulations were completely void of value. Learning to be a farmer, even on a small scale, takes lots of trial and error, and with every trial and every error comes a valuable learning experience.
Without going into major detail about what each beef breed can offer to your farm, here’s a little list of items to consider – the same items we considered without the list:
Obviously these are only some of the items you may consider, though it’s a pretty good list. Do your research…I mean more research than we did by simply asking Great-Uncle Bob about his animals. Bessie wasn’t a fun way to start. In hindsight, we would have visited our local USDA branch for some help. Since Bessie, we’ve visited many times, and have been offered a ton of information as well as other resources that can be of assistance in matters that most farmers will someday encounter. Trial and error worked for us, but not without some extra time and money being spent. The process of finding the right breed should be enjoyable, so be sure to have some fun with it!
Well, sometimes “happily” can be argued, but what else can you expect when you’re bound to step in sh!t every day? It’s been nearly 14 years since Bessie, and our herd has grown, and shrunk, and grown over the years. We’re still super happy with our long-haired beauties, and they seem pretty happy, too. We ventured into breeding after purchasing a white bull (he’s the featured image for this post), and have been blessed with several little, fluffy butts, since. Not to worry…there’ll be a post on the birds and bees, soon. Until then, scoot on over to our YouTube channel to watch one of our calves make its way into the world…it’s a bit graphic, but worth the watch!
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