Grazing

We do a rotational grazing program utilizing pastures that we have. Depending on the year we will turn them out on dry land or irrigated pasture. Allowing the cows to free choice feed following proper management for the given situation.

As situations allow we will in the fall pull the cattle off the pastures and follow the harvesters cleaning up aftermath from the year's harvest. This depending on the year this can sustain the cattle from September to May.  

During draught years the cows are out grazing as long as they can and supplemented with hay as the need arises. 

Fat Cattle

They are fed like the main herd.  Only the last 30-60 days they are pulled from the herd and treated better with home grown hay, grain, and pasture.

The corn is raised and processed on the ranch by us. We also do feed beet pulp when available.

The ration is hand processed specifically to the animals being fed the ration and the ration does very from animal to animal and the environmental situation during the year.

The hay they are fed depends on what we raised that year or the previous year. Usually an alfalfa, alfalfa mixture (of wheat, triticale, barley, or grass), wheat hay, barley hay,  oat hay, oat-barley mix, or triticale hay.

Additives

For the well being of our animals we have them on free choice Northwest River Mineral. This has been mixed by an Idaho mill, bagged here in Idaho, and mixed for Idaho defincencies. The mineral provides the items that Idaho is known for being short of that the cattle need to be healthy.

The Main herd may recieve protein supplement in the winter when they are on cornstalks. The protein will come in form of a protein block or hay depending upon what is the most economical at the time.

Evaluation

The Whole Herd is rounded up to be evaluated twice a year; once in the Spring and again in the Fall. The rest of the time we review them while we are feeding, checking for calves, doing pasture rotations, fixing fences, working on pivots, and when we are just wanting to look at the cows.

The evaluations are a multi-point inspection that we do:

1. Visual - We look the animals over and see if they are showing signs of     sickness/illness, how they are growing, confirmation/structure, quality

2. Paper - We keep records on every animal: wean weights, vaccinations,     sickness/illness, genetics, and breeding records.

3. Preg-checking - We check to see if the cows are bred every year to make sure     they reproduce as they should. The cow herd has one job and that is to produce a     calf every year they are part of the herd. A cow that doesn’t produce regularly is     not a cow that should not have their genetics passed along.

4. Weaning - At weaning all calves are evaluated. We weight them and check for     signs of sickness/illness, structure/confirmation, and quality. At this time we     separate the calves into groups:

        Sale Bulls

            These are evaluated multiple times until 18 months of age when we sell them             to producers. They only make it to producers to look at if they pass our visual             and paper processes.

        Steers

            These are evaluated for growth, muscling, and finishing.

        Sale Heifers

            These are evaluated multiple times until they are ready to be sold to             producers making sure they have good genetics to be an asset to their next             herd.

        Replacement Heifers

            These heifers go through an evaluation process multiple times to make sure             we are keeping good genetics for the next generation of calves.

Medication

• We follow ALL state/federal required vaccinations.
• We do NOT medicate feed for the purpose of growth stimulants.
• Antibiotics are ONLY given to sick animals with the purpose to helping them recover from an illness. All labels and withdrawl periods are followed stickly and supervised by a Veterinarian.

Handling

When moving our herd we try to keep them as calm as possible. We round them up on horseback whenever possible; they are handled on foot when possible; and on the rear occasions with ATVs. Very rarely do we get the cattle running as we are moving them. In certain situations we will strategically place people to redirect the cattle to keep them at a walk.

Calm soothing voices are what we try to use around the cattle. It is not uncommon for us to have one person raise their voice to tell the cows to “load up” or tell them “easy now” to help direct them to what we are doing. 

Fat Cattle Evaluation

When evaluating fat cattle it's not as easy as some may say. Different breeds of cattle fatten differently from others. Most people evaluate all cattle off of the Angus standard: Full brisket, bulges round the tail head, 1 or 2 dimples along the backline, and an inch of back fat. Tarentaise do not fatten the same as Angus cattle. Tarentaise in a way hide their fat by spreading it evenly across the animal. Though the ribs may show a judge needs to touch the animal and feel the cover that is there. It is not unusual for the back line of the animal to have 6 or more dimples and not show much coverage in the brisket, around the tail head, and still have the ribs visible. When the brisket starts to fill and the tail head starts to show bulges on a Tarentaise the animal carcass will grade higher than most judges will grade the live animal.

Ultrasound Evaluation

Ultrasounding animals is a process where you take an ultrasound machine and measure the back fat thickness and measure the ribeye. We also use the ultrasound to see how marble the meat is before taking the animals in. 

Dry Aging

Dry Aging is a process in which beef is hung for weeks or months. This process is done in a controlled cool environment. This allows natural enzymes to breakdown the meat allowing the meat to naturally tenderize on its own. 

Example: some stake houses will advertise 40 day dry aged Steaks.