Sunny Creek Meats
Life On the Farm - Diary/Blog
Date: 3/11/2020
When you live on Schotthofer’s Sunny Creek Farm your day’s start early – really, really, early!
The “Girls” (Cows) always welcome a kind word and a good scratch behind their ears. Somebody is always up and keeping a watch out for visitors all through the night. The cows take turns sleeping and watching. They operate as one cohesive unit in the pasture. Eventually there becomes a “Boss” cow in every group. When you switch cows from one group to the next, a tussle and head butting contest usually takes place, until THE BOSS is reestablished once again. There are those cows who really do not care for status or rank and they live life on the more peaceful side and let others vie for rank and fame. Then there are those whose prime objective in life is to get to the feed bunk first and leave it last . . . . . . usually it is not difficult to pick these cows out of a group. They are typically the first to hear the dinner whistle as well. When the whistle is sounded, off they go leaving the others behind deciding whether or not it really is time to eat --- that is how the “Chow Hounds” as we call them, arrive at tipping the scales noticeably higher. One of our specialists in this department is Betsy who is a very, very large girl. Betsy is as friendly as she is big.
This is what end of the season/Winter grazing looks like. Here the crew is grazing off the last grass of the season. They will neatly trim it down short. We do this after the season has ended and the grass has gone dormant for the Winter. It is best for the grass next season if we leave some stubble to overwinter. This practice helps the grass to retain a bit longer of root system, which allows it to spring forth a bit quicker and stronger when it is time for the sward to wake up from being dormant over the Winter months. We grow primarily “Cool Season” grasses, which yield relatively well in our Ozark climate. When it gets really hot in the Summer, this grass will turn brown and go just as dormant as it does in the Winter months. Usually “Cool Season” grasses make decent hay, as they grow more aggressively and persist for more months than many of the “Warm Season” grasses. In the Fall of the year we cut, rake and bale the late season hay, which is usually the most palatable hay made during the entire hay season. Next is a picture of Tammy after she has finished raking the end of the season hay from 2019. I was on the other tractor baling the hay. After we move all of the hay out of the fields and arrange it for Winter storage up by the farm buildings, we are ready to feed it, once the grazing season has ended.
Typical Winter hay feeding scene.
Stop by and see us soon . . . . . . maybe Norma (the cow) will tell you one of her favorite jokes!
Spring is just around the corner now and Norma is already enjoying the new sprouts, and as usual, she is sharing her “Cow Comedy”.
In our next addition I will share with you how new calves are welcomed onto the farm and explain what all goes into what we call “Getting a new Calf on the ground”. I will also from time to time share with you a more “Diary” version of “Life on the Farm”. You are always welcome to ask questions about our life on the farm.
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FARMER STEVE
Schotthofer’s Sunny Creek Farm LLC
SunnyCreekMeats.com
Steve & Tammy Schotthofer
2878 State Highway EE
Elkland, Missouri 65644
417-630-1456 - Steve’s Cell Phone
417-859-0101 - Office Phone
Email: SunnyCreekMeats@gmail.com
www.SunnyCreekMeats.com