There are many day or or week of celebrations that seem to only fit a small niche of people, but this is National Ag Week and even if we don’t work in agriculture, that’s what produces the food that eventually lands in our grocery stores, restaurants and homes.

This week as spring starts, many farmers are entering the busy season or making final preparations for it. With that in mind, we checked in with a dozen farmers — nine of whom farm is different states coast to coast and north, south and in the middle. And a few of our past international guests as well! We asked them what they would be doing on the farm and to share a bit more of what is happening with them.

An AI generated transcript for episode 311 is available.

National Ag Week & A Presidential Proclamation

The week (March 20-26, 2022) is National Ag Week, and Tuesday is a day of focus on agriculture in Washington, DC. In fact, since the 1970s, this Tuesday has been National Ag Day. This year’s proclamation of ag day by President Joe Biden reads in part:

On National Agriculture Day, we recognize the invaluable contributions of American farmers, farmworkers, ranchers, fishers, foresters, and other agricultural workers, who have practiced their craft for generations and touch the lives of Americans every day.  Their tireless efforts growing crops, raising livestock, and distributing food, fuel, and fiber sustain America and the entire world.  They put meals on our plates, clothes on our backs, and roofs over our heads.  Along the way, America’s agricultural workers serve as stewards of the land; ensure the safety and health of animals, plants, and people; and strengthen our rural communities with economic opportunities. (continue reading here.)

Farmers We Hear From For National Ag Week

We heard from a diverse range of farmers, growing different crops in different conditions. Several have been on the show previously (we will link back to those episodes) but several haven’t yet. We decided to put together a short video showing where each of them is from & the crops they grow. If there is someone you really want to hear more from, be sure to let us know!

We put the audio in as we got each report so we do a bit of zig zagging around the country! Here’s who all is featured.

Rebecca Larson Talks Sugarbeet Processing & More

Some of you may remember Colorado’s Rebecca Larson from our episode on growing & enjoying sugar. I still want some of those fun cookies she makes! She’s getting ready for Easter but also updates us on last year’s crop & the prep for this year!

Watermelons Going in the Ground

Rachel Syngo with Melon 1 in Florida tells us her family farm is planted. Now they are working with their network of farmers to move up the East Coast through Georgia, the Carolinas and further up and west! She says they will begin harvesting US-grown watermelons in early April and keep going through Labor Day  and I am ready for it!

It Isn’t National Ag Week in England, But Flower Farming is Still Going Strong

The sun has been shining on Ben Cross’ part of the English coastline and that means he has lots of alstroemeria growing in the greenhouses! He says they don’t have an ag week, but he shares the story of sustainably grown flowers we discussed throughout the year.

You Will Hear the Peeps!

Chicken farmer Lauren Arbogast in Virginia decided to update us on her farm from the chicken house. She was checking on all the chickens and you can hear the peeps & chirps (or cheeps?) in the background. Lauren also works off farm as a teacher and looks forward to class projects for ag week. She’s excited for spring but like lots of us, dealing with rising prices.

A Lesson in English History & A Farming Update

We talked about a cheese-a-day with Farmer Tom, I knew he was cut from a different cloth. So in this update it doesn’t surprise me at all that he shows us his farm and gives us a history lesson. He’s got a community garden underway too!

Growing Grass Seed in the Pacific Northwest

We haven’t had Marie Bowers on the show yet, but love that we were able to get an update on what’s happening in Oregon and growing grass seed — the grass for pastures, lawns, etc. Marie talks with us about some of the challenges weather and rising fertilizer prices are giving farmers this year.

Things are Poppin’ in Indiana with TheFarmersLife

Growing almost every kind of corn there is (including popcorn & waxy corn) soybeans Brian Scott is still selling some of last years crop as he gets ready for the 2022 planting season. Weather for him has been fairly typical but he knows some folks not too far away have been dry. Although he hasn’t bee on the podcast before, he’s also a regular with videos (check out TheFarmersLife on Youtube) from time with his son to a tour at a new-to-their-farm 18 wheeler.

Priyanka is Moving Countries & Crops

Priyanka Gupta talked to us about the humble grasspea and the potential it has in a shifting climate previously. At the time she was in Morocco, but she’s recently moved to Canada where she will be working with wheat. She gives us an update on how things are going with both important food crops.

Cleaning Up After Storms in Tennessee

Farming with his brothers in West Tennessee, Bob Walker grows cotton, corn, soybeans and has some cattle. They are working in the fields getting ready for planting, making sure the fields will drain well, and more. They are still feeding cows as they wait for pastures to green up and still looking for some calves to be born. He’s like family, so eventually I’ll drag him on the podcast. LOL.

Selling Hay, Straw & Teaching about National Ag Day

New Jersey farmer Caroline Etsch says they are keeping busy selling hay & straw to some of their neighbors in the Garden State. They also have some corn go out each week to feed chickens — so she says she helps with our chicken nuggets! Like Lauren, Caroline plans to spend some time talking with schools about ag week.

Working with Cameras for Live Feeds

Cattle rancher Derek Klingenberg goes by Farmer Derek on YouTube and it sounds like that is keeping him busier than the farming side of things this week. He’s got a series of live cameras on the Kansas farm, some of them allow for people to feed either the cows or wildlife! Sometimes there isn’t much going on and then you see something dramatic. Lots of us had been checking in on the live owl feed as there was a precious egg in the nest but sadly nature (and at least a raccoon) had other ideas. He also has a bunch of fun videos — playing trombone for cows, doing parodies of pop songs, etc.

Lots of Challenges But It’s Spring & that Brings Potential

Several farmers have mentioned price increases and John Peterson echoed that saying that since their family farm sells directly to folks (remember the episode about turkey farming?), they are having that conversation with people one-on-one. He also mentioned the anxiety that poultry farmers around the country are feeling with the avian flu threatening flocks. Biosecurity efforts are tight as they seek to keep the turkeys in top health. But spring also gives John a lot of reason to have a positive outlook, and he looks forward to getting the birds outside and to start working toward our Thanksgiving dinners!

Wrapping Up Produce Season in Arizona

With his farm in Yuma, Arizona, Jon Dinsmore’s busy season is winter when he and others are busy growing all the types of lettuce and other greens! He’s getting crops on the group to provide cover through the summer — he grows wheat, sudangrass (wonder if Marie grows that seed?) and more. He also mentioned schools sharing info with his kids.

Want to learn a little something more?

I wish I had thought about making this offer in the audio, but it didn’t occur to me until everything was finished. If you would like to share more of the learning experience with a young person in your world, please choose one of the lesson plans we have available on our food and farm education page (or in our TPT Grounded by the Farm store). Just let us know via the Contact Us page which one you would like before midnight April 1 and we will email it to you at no cost!

The post Celebrating National Ag Week and the Start of Spring! appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Have you ever been on a farm tour? If so, what stood out for you? I will say I have been on a lot and they seem to range dramatically. What farmers call a farm tour may be really different than what some of us think of or want to go on…. it may also differ among the types of farms. So let’s get the lowdown on some of the different types of farm tours that can be given.

General reminder:  right now we have a regularly changing landscape in travel so always call to check for times & dates the farm is open for visitors and whether tickets are available.

Farm Tours for Everyone

Seeing how our food is grown is so much fun for food lovers like me! And the number of farms that have opened their doors to their communities to come see what is happening has been consistently rising. And while I’d like to go see all of the farms, I understand it takes some dedicated time and effort and people want to be sure guests are safe, that the farm business continues.

Here are a couple of farms I’ve visited that host guests regularly.

Darden Farms

I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that Dee Dee Darden, who talked with us about Virginia ham several months ago, hosts a lot of guests on their farm outside of Smithfield, Virginia. They share lots of different animals and crops in fun ways and even take classrooms on hay rides and folks can get a peek into the smokehouse where hams hang if they are lucky!

Etsch Farms (NJ)

I recently saw some photos from a farm tour I took several bloggers (including Janis from MommyBlogExpert) in the metro New York area on. It was a fantastic day on the farm with Caroline & Jim Etsch of Etsch Farms in Monroe Township, NJ. They tend to have small groups in as well as local sales of bakery items, etc.

The family does some agritourism on the farm alongside the hay & grain production they do. Just a short drive from the Holland Tunnel, they have a corn maze, run summer camp programs and I still dream of the apple cider slushies and doughnuts. They’ve done outdoor movies and some kiddie rides in the past — Caroline is always coming up with new ways to share information about plants, animals and farming.

Fair Oaks Farms (IN)

One of the farms that is set up to provide comprehensive tours is Fair Oaks Farms in northwestern Indiana. It has a large, modern dairy farm as well as pork and crops and they have a visitor’s center, a cafe and a restaurant as well as tours around the property to see how a bigger farm works. They have a lot of interactive displays, a playground and more!

My friend Natasha (who joined us for an episode on urban gardening) took her family there on a home schooling trip and had a blast while learning lots! She’s got great photos of the pig adventure part of the day so you can see all the awesome on her blog. One of the pieces that has always gotten attention is the center where calves are born. It’s amazing to see a calf being born or even just as it tries to get its legs under itself.

Virtual Farm Tours

As technology has grown, one way more farms have been able to open up to the public is virtually. With virtual tours, the safety of the guest and safety of the animals, etc much easier to do. And with covid-19, some in-person opportunities are harder for some people to get to right now.

But there are also in-depth farm tours that can be live or watched later too. I usually hear about them via Facebook event invites. This tour of a pig farm in virtual reality was put together by some friends. I love it! You can wear goggles or simply hold your phone up and the video will enable you to look in a full 360 degrees rather than simply straight ahead.

That one is a short 5 minutes but in this pig farm tour that Kansas Pork did for several schools, it’s a full class period of learning and conversation. That type of depth allows for some great explanations of how they get feed into bins and things as well as look inside the barns.

And as you may have seen, I hosted a virtual farm tour on Animal Crossing: New Horizons this past week!

There are farmers who do a lot of social media posting showing people their farms regularly — if you have a specific kind of farm or geography you are interested in connecting on, pop that in the comments and I will find you a farmer who shares that if I can!

Finding Farm Tours Near You

In the recent Q&A episode, one of the questions was about how people can find farm tours near them. One of the simplest ways is to search google for your state’s department of agriculture website. There will be a lot of information that is clearly details farmers need, but there are also state run programs to connect residents to agriculture. They usually have a dedicated website as we discussed and it frequently has a list of local farms that do agritourism, special events, etc.

Farm Tours Farmers Usually Take

For farmers and others in agriculture, touring other farms is usually geared toward finding new products or practices that they may want to try out too. There is a lot of discussion about how a type of seed works on one type of soil or another, or about whether this practice reduces fuel use and what customers may prefer.

Really, they talk about all the things. Equipment like tractors and the weather differences are always huge.

Wheat breeders from around the world take in a farm tour in Obregon, Mexico at CIMMYT

Most of the farm tours I have been on were for various crops and I got really used to doing tours of cotton & soybean fields. A few years ago I wrote a piece explaining why you may see a bunch of signs in a farm field along the highway. I still get excited about field days & farm tours even after going on hundreds of them. One is I love talking with people but I also always learn something.

I can’t lie, with the depth of interest and knowledge farmers have, I’ve been on a lot of farm tours that would bore my family to tears. Farmers work separately so often that the are some who will spend the whole day at a farm tour asking questions, some may arrive early and they may bring a vehicle full of people too! After years of being Grounded by the Farm, I’d say I’m more excited usually but 100 degrees and high humidity can temper my enthusiasm quickly.

Every vegetable farm tour I went on left to lots of new learnings and experiences.

One day I go to go out on a farm where they had planted more than two dozen spinach varieties! I had never even though about there being dozens of different spinach varieties. People asked about what is being seen with salad preferences with respect to color (how dark or bright the leaf is) and veining patterns (is it a deeply textured leaf or are veins more shallow).  There was discussion about leaf size and shape. I won’t lie, I needed a spinach salad, spinach enchiladas, and all the things that week!

This year, more farmer tours are going virtual and that’s something that will be new for a lot of us. Kicking the dirt and seeing things close up…. well, I’m sure you can see why it is so popular. Most of us like to do it too!

The post Different Types of Farm Tours & How to Take One appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Looking at beef, most of us see more than just the food on our plates. We frequently want to know how farmers caring for beef cattle, the ways cattle impact the environment and more. That got us to do a second interview with farmer and veterinarian Marybeth Feutz. The previous episode we talked steaks, burgers, types of cattle and animal use/waste.  And although she introduced us to her cattle and we talked about feed in the video, we wanted to go deeper.

Caring for Beef Cattle

My nieces & nephews helped me create a list of questions to ask Marybeth and several of the questions focused on caring for livestock.

Since one nephew told me he had noticed differences in animals that faced stress as he worked in a butcher shop, that was among the first topics. Marybeth says there are four things farmers do to minimize stress for the cattle they care for food, water, shelter and protection. 

Food for Beef Cattle

Marybeth did a great job of explaining how they feed their cows. Cattle are generally on pasture a large part of the year — they love grazing. It is easy to see that lack of food would provide stress on the animal and it’s health. Pasturing makes this pretty easy some times of year but you also have to consider the winter, etc and how much you need to supplement with feeding hay, etc. 

Clean Water

The Feutz family has a few pastures, and each needs to have water easily available. Marybeth says a typical cow can drink 50 gallons pretty quick! It’s important to have good wells, keep an eye on pumps, deal with the challenge of freezing, etc.

Shelter for Cattle

With seasonal weather patterns, farmers look at how to keep cattle comfortable. While they generally like to be left alone in the herd, providing windbreaks for winter cold can be vital. And shade for summer high temps is also a focus. For farmers like the Feutz that have a small heard, the cattle may even have a shed available though they typically prefer to be outside unless it really is extreme.

Protection from Predators

Marybeth doesn’t pull punches as she talks about the damage predators can do. Whether you are talking about coyotes or black vultures, the potential for them to get a calf away from the herd would be painful. For the Feutz, keeping the cattle in a pasture close to the house with people and traffic, predators stay away. Many farmers have dogs that help protect the dogs and move them from place to place.

Dealing with Injury & Preventing Illness

We discuss the health and care for beef cattle, how the decision differs from pets. Farmers need to weigh the animals potential recovery and quality of life which frequently is different than we have with pets. While we think of a broken leg as something simple, it can create intense issues for a cow and how the herd mentality and need to keep moving really makes recuperation near impossible.

And while I won’t lie, I’ve had flies or mosquitoes ruin a picnic or afternoon, the attraction of flies to cattle, manure, etc can mean overwhelming numbers. And those flies can carry diseases or bacteria. They can bother cattle so much that eventually the cattle avoid water or food, so, yeah that’s bad. 

Vaccinations are important in cattle too and Marybeth says some of the primary vaccines given are for respiratory viruses. It’s pretty common for animals to have issues and they even have a few corona viruses that cattle can get — no worries though it isn’t the same or transferable from humans to cattle or vice versa.

What’s the Deal with Veal?

We got to talk a bit about veal production and how that works. Marybeth spent time in school outside of Boston and remembers a lot of people being against veal. I on the other hand lived in an Italian community in New York where veal was highly desirable. Both of us have heard things about animal care, but Marybeth’s opinion has changed as she’s met veal farmers and come to understand how they treat animals.

The meat is different for a couple of reasons 1) veal calves are raised on milk so the meat stays a light pink color and 2) the calves have smaller areas to walk around in and consequently don’t get as intense muscular build so even short ribs are more tender. She went on to explain why different cuts of meat on an animal may be more or less tender — think about filet mignon placement along the top of the back vs short ribs which are part of the core or the animal’s six-pack.

Cow Farts & Climate

If you have heard anything about cattle and the environment, you have probably heard about methane from cow farts. Well, Marybeth clarifies that cattle release more of the methane from burps not cow farts. I can’t help but think that cow burps don’t sound as interesting to get someone to click or talk about the idea. The burps are methane releases from the fermentation process that naturally happens in the rumen — in fact, all fermentation puts out gas, you may remember that from our video from visiting Tennessee Brewworks. Marybeth says she frequently see information online can be incredibly misleading because animal agriculture has such a small impact on climate and carbon, especially when compared to the various pieces of the energy and transportation.

Since a lot of people are interested in going deeper, I thought you may be interested in some of the experts on sustainability and the impact of animal agriculture. Here are just a couple of the researchers I’ve met in this area:

• Dr. Jude Capper https://twitter.com/Bovidiva and https://bovidiva.com/
• Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam https://twitter.com/BioBeef and https://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/alison-van-eenennaam

Managing Manure, No BS

The Feutz’s put in a new containment area & are using composted manure for the fertilizer it provides. She said it not only helps crops grow but managing manure is one piece of caring for beef cattle. They are using it on their farm, the family’s garden and are donating some to an educational farm nearby called Lyles Station lylesstation.com. Lyles Station was one of the first African American farming communities in the state and still runs a lot of programs to help children understand history, our food and more. Lyles Station is even marked as an Indiana Landmark! 

Cow Attachment Issues

We talk a bit about getting attached to cows and knowing when it is their time which is different in a cow-calf herd like the Feutz’s versus steers raised for beef. In a cow-calf operation, Marybeth explains that farmers have cows for 15 maybe even 20 years sometimes whereas raising steers is usual a year or a year and a half. She & the rest of the family are especially attached to Michelle who was born on inauguration day in 2009 along with a bull calf they named Barack. Michelle is a great mom and looks after other cows calves almost like day care. Marybeth knows it will be hard to lose Michelle, but also understands they are here for a purpose and need to serve the purposes they can. 

Final Thoughts — Cowboy Boots & Recipes

Since nieces and nephews helped, one wanted to know about cowboy boots. Marybeth laughed saying she only has two pairs of cowboy boots. She usually wears knee-high rubber boots when she’s out in the field with livestock and Danskos when she’s in the office or hospital cause standing all day gets old fast in uncomfortable shoes. Her husband, like many farmers wears work boots like Red Wings. I find in too funny as I hadn’t had cowboy boots until I thought I earned them. I bought one pair when I first attended a national livestock show and again when I went to the Dakotas and worked cows by helping give calves vaccines one day and weaning calves at another farm later. 

As if Marybeth isn’t busy enough with a farm & caring for beef cattle or the veterinary practice, she also has a food blog called My Fearless Kitchen where she shares simple recipes and tips for shopping. She and friends also have a Facebook group called Recipes from the Farm. Here are a few we talked about:

You’ll remember her love of short ribs!

• Slow-Cooked Short Ribs
• Sweet Onion Teriyaki Short Ribs
• Garlic Herb Short Ribs

She also has a ground beef buyer’s guide that helps you think through the ground beef you want for tacos versus meatloaf, etc. And one post provides 79 recipes you can make with ground beef!

I also mentioned the instant pot beeping in the background as the red beans and rice I was making notified me it was time to eat!

Please note:  This was the first time to do an interview via web conference. I have a bit of a learning curve with this set up when it comes to audio. I plan to keep increasing the quality in the coming remote interviews as travel is curbed in light of the corona virus. 

The post Caring for Beef Cattle, The Planet & Our Communities — Marybeth Feutz Part 2 appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

My family loves food and beef is one we seem to especially love. In our midst, we’ve got people who’ve worked in grocery stores, butcher shops, have gone to culinary school as well as some of us who just love food.

This episode of Grounded by the Farm takes a bit of a different path as Marybeth Feutz discusses beef and her Indiana cow-calf operation with us.

One of those differences was planned — rather than ask questions I had, I asked several millennial nieces and nephews to give me their questions and they loved making me ask questions that would make me feel awkward while also getting info they were interested in.

The other difference was far more awkward in that we somehow encountered a tech issue halfway through the interview that wasn’t caught til we were in editing. It’s a hard lesson learned but we’ll be fine with a two-part episode.

Getting to Know Marybeth Feutz, Farmer & Vet

Marybeth grew up in the suburbs of New York City — West Milford, NJ to be exact. She met John while in vet school and eventually, he convinced her to marry him and call the midwest home.

She is a large animal vet whereas John works as a “mixed animal vet” meaning he can work on pets like chihuahuas or livestock. Marybeth says she likes working with horses the most.

They have a small herd of black Angus cows as we showed in the video earlier this week.   

Cooking & Serving Steak

No doubt, my nephew will be thrilled with getting me to ask a farmer “What brand of ketchup do you recommend on a well-done steak?” Cause it started the interview off with the most awkward pause ever. I wish I had thought to get video. She ultimately said she was probably as red as the steak should be!

So I reworded it, asking how she recommends steak be cooked and why. She likes steaks medium rare whereas John want it to simply pass the flames to be as rare as possible! Then she explained that there are differences in how people and restaurants rate temperatures, etc so you really are best to ask for a cool red center.

The more you cook a steak, the more moisture it loses. That moisture is fat and that means you are also losing the flavor Marybeth explains. That dry, chewiness is part of the reason people may not like steak.

As for condiments, she says she will occasionally use something like A1 but usually if you have a good piece of meat and cook it right, you shouldn’t need condiments for flavor.

Marybeth usually uses the salt-pepper family of seasonings (sometimes lemon-pepper) and occasionally a rub. A few years ago she started using a compound butter, either purchased or homemade with some salt, herbs, etc. But compound butter is awesome whether you cook in cast iron or on the grill or whatever.

Buying Steaks

For the summer grilling season, Marybeth recommends ribeyes, t-bones or filets and says you want to look for some marbling in the meat as well as fat on the outsides. But she says the thickness of filets can be challenging for someone new to grilling so you may want to stay with the t-bone or ribeye. And since she likes a bone-in, she likes the cowboy cut ribeye. Boneless is fine too. She looks for consistent red coloring in the meat along with the marbling.

What about burgers?

There are still asterisks on burgers on the menu frequently when it comes to temperature and Marybeth says those reflect USDA guidance for food safety.  She typically cooks burgers at home with a hint of pink or light brown throughout. She has a cheat magnet on the fridge that says it is 165 degrees. 

Types of Cattle — Beef vs Dairy

Marybeth says beef cattle are built strong, sturdy to just go out and have a good time a lot like Labrador retrievers in the dog world. But dairy cows are leaner, more focused on milk production — a bit more like greyhounds are for racing.

Because dairy cows are so good for milk, the types of food dairy cows gets need to be different. The energy required is different. Kind of like women need different things while pregnant and nursing. This is so important that many dairy farms hire nutritionists to supplement vet resources.

Beef cows are focused on muscle mass and having calves. That muscle mass is what becomes the meat we eat.

Dairy steers are an interesting difference though since the breeds tend to be thinner, lankier and yet dairy steers are raised for the beef since they aren’t milk producers. These cattle are tall and skinny, but rarely bulky enough to yield thick cut steaks, etc and are usually used for ground beef, she said. It doesn’t get the same marbling or volume. You may remember a previous post discussing blended burgers using mushrooms to infuse moisture. 

The Lingo Cows, Heifers, Bulls and Steers

All that discussion reminded me that cows isn’t the generic name for al of them, its cattle is the umbrella term.

In the video, Marybeth explained theirs is a cow-calf operation. Cows are the mommas and are focused on having & raising calves. The girls they have are called heifers until they have calves of their own. The boys are usually castrated becoming steers for the beef market although a few become bulls to keep the herds producing.

What’s an under appreciated cut of beef?

The most under appreciated cut of beef Marybeth says is the short-rib. They need to be braised, not a grilling cut. You cook those all day and get so amazingly tender. It’s a fattier cut and a bit tougher to start, but that connective tissue, when it is cooked out slowly becomes like butter. She certainly made me hungry just talking about it!

How much of the animal is wasted versus used?

Marybeth points out that in the cattle industry people talk about two different numbers — live weight and rail weight. The rail weight is what you have once you removed the rumen and the rest of the gastro-intestinal tract. There are some parts that really aren’t used for food for people. There is very little waste, probably less than 20 percent.

Get More

Next time on Grounded by the Farm, more of the conversation about beef with Marybeth.  If you want to add a question or two, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line!

Video of Marybeth talking about the cows, their feed, etc. 

Marybeth’s blog My Fearless Kitchen and includes great posts about the foods she enjoys cooking with and shares some of the insight she has as a farmer and vet.

The post Picking Out Steaks & Under-Appreciated Cuts of Beef with a Farmer & Vet appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Growing up, my dad was a meat and potato kind of guy. Beef was frequently on the table but our mom find a variety of cuts. to help us stay economical on our groceries. In today’s world, my family still likes beef but like others, have different areas of interest about it. That’s what got me to visit beef cattle farmer Marybeth and John Feutz on their Princeton, Indiana farm (or maybe it’s in Fort Branch?).

Marybeth takes us through the barn to meet part of their small herd of a cow-calf farm, which means they focus on mom cows and getting them to have calves. They sell steer calves (boy calves) to nearby farms that will raise them to be the beef on our plate.

Caring for Beef Cattle

Their cows are primarily raised on grass and hay, spending spring summer and fall on pastures. The family cuts hay for winter but also provide cracked corn to help increase energy available for the beef cattle maternity process.

The Feutz’s are both veterinarians so animal health resources abound, and though you don’t see it in the video, so do cats! They have a bunch of them!

In the past year, the feeding pen that is close to the house and barn to insure frequent checks in winter and during spring calving was the focus for investment. She explains that scraping the land and then putting tons of rock, gravel and lime into the area, all  improved the conditions for the herd over winter and will make managing manure easier as spring arrives.

This is the second protein focus we have featured on Grounded by the Farm — we love the crawfish episode and I’m looking forward to catching up with Bill & Janice Cheek again when I’m in Louisiana soon! I hope to get a chance to go out to their crawfish ponds again to see how much bigger the crop is.

The post Meeting Beef Cattle Farmer & Veterinarian Marybeth Feutz & Her Family’s Herd appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.