Lessons Learned
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
As far as precipitation goes, this has been a great summer out here on the ranch. Our spring started off well with a big spring storm in late March/early April (see "The Perfect Storm" in the Mayoworth Meanderings section), to give the grass a good start, and we have received timely moisture events since then to keep it going. In fact, there is more grass on the ranch this year - much more - than there has been since we started producing grassfed beef. Which, ironically, has actually delayed finishing our beeves this summer and has led to some glitches in our processing.
Like I said, the grass has been green and abundant since about the first of May this year. From visiting with other grassfed producers from around the nation, I think this has actually slowed down the finishing process on our steers this summer. Basically, the grass was so lush that the steers couldn't eat enough of it; the grass was high in moisture content, but not as high as sometimes in nutrition. The steers were always full and happy, but they just weren't getting enough carbohydrates in their diet to put on sufficient weight for finishing. This, in turn, delayed our processing by about 6 weeks, which we didn't think was a big deal (after all, we have lots of grass!), but we have been proven wrong. When our steers are ready for processing in early June, it is usually not terribly difficult to get them into an abattoir for processing. However, by the end of July, a lot of places are beginning to get booked solid because of county fairs, and then the upcoming hunting season. Big Horn Meats in Buffalo doesn't have any openings until January.
So what does this mean for you, our customers? Not too much other than we won't be able to have your beef processed in Buffalo this year. We have found a plant in Douglas that we are extremely happy with, and we will still be taking some steers to Pierce, Colorado for a USDA-inspected product, but those are the only processors we will be using this year. For our Kaycee, Buffalo, and Sheridan customers who order wholes, halves, and quarters, we are not going to make you go all the way down to Douglas to pick up your beef. This is a problem we need to deal with and not you, so we are willing to pick up your beef for you and meet you in either Kaycee or Buffalo at no extra charge to you.
This has been a very valuable learning experience for us, and we have already developed strategies to prevent this later finishing from occurring again when we have another bumper crop of grass. I want to thank you all for your understanding and your patience. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to drop us a line or give us a call.
Jason
P.S. Just a quick update on Radona: Yesterday, August 6th, she had her gall bladder removed in Casper. This was complicated a little bit by the fact that she is 14 weeks pregnant with our second child, but I am extremely happy to report that the operation went better than we had hoped and she and the little one are home and doing well. To everyone who has been praying for us, we cannot thank you enough.
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