Winter feeding. Valley grass hay and a limited amount of Central Oregon alfalfa--and that's it.
Five principles guide everything we do on 340 acres. The land gets healthier every year. That's the whole point.
Our cattle graze on open pastures but also beneath native white oak and valley ponderosa pine. We've designed a "patchwork" of 1–2 acre tree stands interspersed with 4–5 acre open meadows--creating roughly 20 miles of "edge effect" ecosystems on our half square mile of ranch. If you look at a forest ecosystem, the edges--where the forest meets grass pastures, and where pastures meet riparian brush and trees--these rich transition zones are where most of the species interaction occurs. "The edge is where it's at," as the permaculture saying goes, wildlife and wild plant interchanges, bazaars. Now we are opening up 100 acres of forest and creating new edges throughout.
280 acres divided into 9 grazing paddocks. We move the herd constantly, mimicking the natural movement of wild herds. Each paddock gets months of rest between grazing. We plan rotations around "100 degree days"--when the high and low temperatures total 100°F and the soil is moist, grass and forbs surge. In mid-March when it's 52 and 40, or 92, the grass barely grows. But 60 and 40--bingo. 65 and 48--bingo. Those are the days we watch for.
No pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers--ever. The cattle themselves are our soil-building tool. Their hooves, manure, and grazing patterns work together to deepen and enrich topsoil each season. The land gets healthier every year. Meanwhile, we're in the middle of a 4–5 year project to transform 50+ acres of dense, brushy mixed forest into habitat-rich oak woodland--removing softwoods that monopolize water and sunlight, opening the canopy for 100-foot oaks to crown out and thrive.
Our cattle are born on this ranch, raised 30–36 months here on grass--with hay and a limited amount of alfalfa in winter--and never step into a truck or cattle trailer. They never have an angry or angst-filled moment. On processing day they gather in a pen early one morning and are dispatched by one anesthetic flash. Three times each year. There is no retirement home for cattle--but there is a good life, a natural life, on land that gets better every season.
No hormones. No antibiotics unless medically necessary--and those animals are never sold as beef. No grain finishing. We feed valley grass hay and a limited amount of Central Oregon alfalfa in winter, and that's it. Our herd is "pasture-hardened" by experience and natural selection. Twelve years into this project, none have ever spent a night in a barn. Our beef are not commercial beef in age, taste or size. We raise Aberdeen Angus for 30–36 months. They end up about 900 lbs--commercial beef grows for about 15 months and weighs 1,400+ lbs.
Winter feeding. Valley grass hay and a limited amount of Central Oregon alfalfa--and that's it.
"The edge is where it's at. Where forest meets grass pastures, where pastures meet riparian brush and trees--these rich transition zones are where most of the species interaction occurs. Wildlife and wild plant interchanges, bazaars."— Doug McCarty, WSU Silvopasture Case Study