Category Archives: IngeMOOity

Running a farm is like flying a spaceship.

Yesterday afternoon, I got a call from one of our institutional vendors, verifying our practice standards so they can make sure they’re marketing their product correctly. As I was chatting with him, I realized something.

You see, a lot of farmers get defensive when people start poking around, asking about their practices. As the gentleman asked me very industry-specific questions, I realized why that is. He was probing, judging, making sure we are legit. And yes, if we had something to hide, or if we had been misrepresenting our product, it would have made me nervous. Even still, we’re not perfect. We have a lot of plans on how to improve things out here. Matt and I are even bigger dreamers than we are doers, if you can imagine! There’s a whole lot of energy and vision living under this roof!

That said, we do not yet have it all figured out. There is no instruction manual for this kind (or probably any kind!) of farming, no playbook, no one-size-fits-all. Matt and I didn’t grow up farming, so we’re a few generations removed from our ancestors who did organic farming for their livelihoods, and we don’t have the inherited wisdom of days gone by. Even little things like learning the quickest way to put up a fence, the way to latch a gate, how to weld pasture skids, and the way to dig a hole. That knowledge has come by hard work and practice.

Matt’s latest creation is a pig-sorting box. When processing time comes, it’s quite a feat to separate breeders from feeders. Pigs don’t herd like cows, so this handy little contraption will help tremendously!

The specifics of natural, rotational pasture-based farming are vastly more complex. One contributing factor is the nuances of our situation. Our climate here in Jefferson, or more specifically, “Lassater Marion West,” experiences very different weather patterns compared with farms as close as 30 miles north or south of us. And of course, our specific animals, forest types, topography, and a million other factors, make certain things work well for us, and certain other things not work so well. But you know what–sometimes the only way you can figure it out is to try it. If it doesn’t work, try something else until you do figure it out.

Sometimes running our farm feels like flying a spaceship. There are umpteen control buttons, switches, levers, and indicators, and you have to pay attention to and manipulate multiple things all at once to keep things running. And so when someone asks a question like, “How do you manage the pasture for soil sustainability?” it’s equivalent to saying to us, “OK, write me a 40-page thesis paper on your short-term and long-term strategy for soil health as it pertains to pigs between the ages of 3 months and 4 years.” Rinse and repeat for all the other species in their various stages of life.

View that from the consumer’s end of things: questions regarding feeding practices, confinement, slaughter, humane practices… the list goes on and on. These are COMPLEX questions. And they need to be asked when you’re researching your food source.

But… There is no simple answer. Especially for folks who know little to nothing about farming. You can’t fit this kind of information onto a label in a store to ensure an informed 15-second purchase decision. It seems overwhelming! Grass-fed? 100% Grass-fed? Grass-finished? Organic? Free-Range? Hormone-free? No added antibiotics?? What’s a wary eater to do?

I saw a blip yesterday in Farm Bureau’s magazine that pointed out that most people have never set foot on a farm. How can you know a significant amount about a topic without ever having seen it? Would you be able to fully understand a cell phone if you’d never used one? Could you operate a car, only ever having read about it?

THIS is the reason we offer farm tours. SEEING and EXPERIENCING is so fundamental to understanding. Not that you’ll walk away an expert. But boy, will you be able to ask the right questions afterward. Things move from hypothetical to real. And since we’re dealing with our food source, I’d say that worth investing some time into.

So there’s my deep thought for the day. Put our next free farm tour on your calendar and come out and see us. March 25 at 10am. You’ll love it! And I hope you’ll be more convinced than ever that buying from a rancher you know is better than any label you see at the store!

High Density Pasture Management

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Matt has been researching and experimenting with a new cattle management technique called High Density Pasture Management. The strategy changes throughout the year depending upon seasons and the types of cows being grazed (momma cows nursing calves versus finishing steers versus pregnant dry cows), and is quite complex in strategy, so we won’t attempt to describe the entire method here and now. However, we can share what we’re doing right now during the winter season (i.e. hay-feeding season) to sustain our grass-fed cattle.

Pastureland likes to be disturbed for a brief period, and then left alone to recover and grow. The disturbance method we use is livestock and manure because it involves no chemicals and it works so well to restore the soil’s health. Our soil at Shady Grove Ranch was in pretty poor condition when we arrived 4 years ago. But we’ve already seen tremendous improvement in many areas, despite a 3-year-long drought that may or may not have actually ended.

The grass is dormant at this time of year, so we feed hay (stored grass) to the cattle. This is a critical time for the pasture–it can receive the nutrients from the “recycled hay” (aka manure) but it also needs time to grow and get established without hungry bovine mouths nipping off the baby grasses and legumes just as they emerge from the seeds.

This is where High-Density Pasture Management comes in. Simply put, we spread out just enough hay to last the cows one day, let them eat and poop to their hearts’ content, and then move them to a new section of ground and repeat. They can’t be allowed to return to the newly “fertilized” but immature, growing pasture until it has established enough underground energy storage to bounce back from the grazing that will come later. This can take as long as 120 days, but after that initial waiting period, we can graze the land multiple times with just short periods of rest between grazings. The end result is more cow-food produced in a season when using strategic pasture access, rather than allowing cows to free-range constantly over an entire pasture.

Why does this work? By allowing the grasses to mature, we take full advantage of the balance between root energy storage and photosynthesis, and so the grass-based system becomes much more efficient and can feed more cattle on a fixed size pasture, even without chemical inputs or concentrated feeds (i.e. grain). It just takes patience and a watchful eye to judge when a paddock is ready for cattle pressure and how much pressure it can take.

So here we are in Phase 1, the winter season, feeding the cows with stored hay and the ground with evenly-distributed manure, getting ready for the spring flush. The first video shows Matt’s nifty homemade hay-unroller. The second video shows Matt moving the fence so the cows can eat their breakfast.

Farming and Engineering Collide

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A little fact you may not have known: Before Matt and Jerica became farmers, we were engineers. It’s a good thing, because sometimes there are problems here on the farm where classes like Statics and Physics really come in handy.

For example, we recently bought a larger cattle trailer that was “homemade,” not uncommon in East Texas. It’s very nice, and we like it, but on one of our first trips to the processor with a large load of cows in the new trailer, it had a blow-out so bad that it completely destroyed the hub on that side of that axle. Thankfully things turned out fine (we always plan for at least one blow-out), but we’ve had to replace everything on that axle and have been analyzing why it happened (so it doesn’t happen again!).

Matt believes it is because when the fully-loaded trailer is attached to his truck, the hitch is so tall that it forces most of the weight onto the back axle due to the trailer not riding at level. It’s too tall for a simple solution like a drop hitch, so he drew up a free-body diagram to determine how much height to cut off of the hitch.

Trailer Hitch Statics Problem

All he needs to do now is measure the exact internal length of the trailer, then from the halfway point, measure how far back the middle axle is. Then, based on the sum of the moments around the center of gravity (assuming the cattle are evenly distributed, which is pretty reasonable) he can calculate the force that would be on his truck when the trailer is fully-loaded. He’ll take that force (in the form of lots of bags of concrete), load the back of the truck, and measure how high the ball is from the ground. He can then alter the hitch so it is a better fit to the height of the truck.

Isn’t engineering easy? Well, it’s fun, anyway.

New Egg-Mobile: The Egg Ark

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Check out our latest project, constructing a new nest box facility for our youngest batch of layer chickens. It will provide shade, night protection from predators, mobile feed, nesting space, roosting space, and of course will be totally mobile so it can be moved across pasture easily. Regular movement of chickens across pasture encourages healthy growth of grasses and non-toxic incorporation of manure into the ground. Plus it gives the chickens lots of forage space and keeps predators confused! We expect this Egg Mobile, affectionately known as the Land Ark or the Egg Ark or the Chicken Ark (“Chark”) due to its massive size (it’s almost 40 feet long!!), to house around 550 chickens. But you never know until it’s done!

How does a busy momma find time to do construction? Technology helps!

You might not be able to appreciate its monstrosity from this picture, but this thing is HUGE! Hence the name, Egg Ark. The big flap is the lid of the feeder, which closes. We were just testing our clearance.

This gravity-fed feeder will reduce labor and feed waste tremendously. It can hold about a ton of feed and keeps it nice and dry and at beak-level.

Matt chops off some loose ends. These slats are made from repurposed wood spacers we used when we milled lumber that burned in the fires of 2011.

A close-up of the slatted floor. This will allow the manure to drop through to the pasture below with *hopefully* minimal work!

Matt plans the next step for constructing the Egg Ark.

Here's what the chicken mobile AFTER it is built--haha!

Here’s what the chicken mobile will look like AFTER it is built–haha! Lots of eggs, lots of happy chickens!

Irrigation Project – Photo Update

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We always seem to be juggling several projects at once. Right now it’s planning to build a new barn and storefront and implementing a very extensive plumbing system on our ranch. Why? To provide what we refer to as irrigation in all the pastures on our ranch.

One of the most important parts of rotational grazing is getting water to each and every paddock where the animals are. It is also important, here in Texas, to get the animals access to water misters during the very hot months of July, August, and September. Most farm animals can’t sweat and need some means of cooling to help stay comfortable in the heat. Water misters give us the benefit of helping the animals not expend so much energy to stay cool, meaning less food wasted on panting and more energy spent on raising calves and making steak.

Our solution? Underground (aka tractor-proof, freeze-proof, and gopher-proof) water lines that will have valves every 300-400 feet that allow easy access to water for misters, waterers, and cattle troughs. We may even use it to water pastures some day.

Check out our progress so far! We are putting in over 3 miles worth of underground PVC, and upon completion, this project will allow us to run laying chickens and pigs in places that previously were not accessible to them because they can’t travel as far as cows to get water.

It is an interesting but a little overwhelming project. But Matt is a great planner and manager and things are going smoothly. The kiddos even got to help a bit!

Here is the beastly trencher with our farm hand, Zack, driving it.

It’s like a giant chainsaw…

…that can slice…

…right through the ground!

Beats digging it by hand any day!

What a cool machine!

Here are the teeth marks in the trench.

Going downhill was the fastest. And it went pretty fast!

Leading up to the wellhouse.

Downhill toward the dairy paddock.

A crossroads between two trenches.

We had to hurry to get the trenches in the driveway dug, lined with pipe, then refilled so traffic could flow!

Matt picked up the biggest load of PVC he had ever bought.

It might have been the biggest order of PVC ever sold by our local hardware store!

Matt collects a few pre-glued pipes at a time.

Hauling them takes skills!

And yes, we use an old gator as a wagon. Waste not, want not.

Lining up the pipes next to the trenches.

The boys are playing jump-pipe.

That sure is a long piece of pipe!

One of 4 wells that will supply the water.

Ready for pipe!

This section is a main supply and has 3 lines going out. Most areas will only have one line.

Ready for action.

Axl pats Daddy on the back for all his hard work.

It’s pretty fun to get dirty with Dad!

The Cadman men working hard!

How we do Soy-Free Pasture-Raised Eggs

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At long last, we finally have a chance to tell you about our new EggMobile, built during the visit of some of our relatives that visit each spring to help us with ongoing work projects.

Laying chickens have very specific and unique needs that must be fulfilled in order for them to live long, productive and happy lives. One of the things that makes Shady Grove Ranch different is that we keep our hens on pasture in a mobile pen. Contrasted with most other egg operations, which keep hens on one piece of ground continually, our mobile strategy allows the poultry manure to remain the asset that it was created to be, and it is spread across pasture with immensely less labor than would be required if the hens were in a permanent pen. It also allows the hens access to fresh new forage throughout their lives, which of course, results in delicious, nutrient-dense eggs. It’s a win-win situation!

We will walk you through our pasture-raised laying chicken operation. We have an assortment of breeds, mostly for the fun of having multi-colored eggs. But various breeds bring various traits into our operation. Some lay big giant eggs. Some are good setters, meaning they like to raise their own young (this will be good when we are ready to start hatching our own replacement hens). Some are wonderful foragers. And some are remarkably dependable egg producers.

In the picture you see, there are Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, Americauana, Buff Orpington, Australorp, and Leghorn hens. They are out looking for bugs, seeds, and grasses on a lovely August morning.

Chickens need continual access to water, especially in the hot months in Texas. We use gravity-fed bell-style poultry waterers that keep their water as fresh and clean as is possible around chickens. If you’ve ever raised chickens, you know what we mean.

Chickens also need shade. Since we move their paddock around, we don’t always have access to trees. That’s what the extra-large roof on the Egg-Mobile is for. During the middle of the day, the hens often bed down in the cool grass under here to wait until the sun goes down a bit before going back out to forage.

In Texas, we have found that almost all animals need an external source of cooling in the summer months. We discovered a very low water usage mister system and placed one under the roof of the EggMobile. It’s made a huge difference in mortality rate of our hens during the summer. Not to mention egg production stays more consistent!

Hens are capable of making their own nests, but for production purposes, we want them to use the ones we provide. A hen needs to feel secure enough to rest for the hour or so that it takes to comfortably lay her egg. However, we have found that keeping the hens too secure and too warm makes them want to sit and hatch the eggs. So they sit, and they don’t eat or drink or lay any more eggs while they wait for their “clutch” to hatch. The way we decided to encourage them was to build nests with two solid walls and one wall that appears solid but allows significant light and air circulation into the box to keep the hen cool and aware and prevent her going into “broody fever.” It sure beats dunking the hens in cold water for 3 days straight! That works, too, but it’s a little violent…

Here’s a shot of the back of the boxes. You can see the chicken silhouettes in the boxes.

To help the birds get up to their boxes, we provided some stairs.

Chickens feel especially secure when they don’t have to sleep on the ground (No, they don’t sleep in their boxes. That would result in very dirty eggs!) Here are their roosts, staggered so the poop drops onto the ground during the night, not onto the lower hens!

We provide all our critters, including the chickens, with salt. In Texas heat, the heavy water intake of animals must be balanced by having a good supply of salt and minerals.

Laying hens need a good amount of calcium to produce all those nice strong shells. They do get a large amount of minerals from the bugs and pasture they consume, but depending on the season, they may need some additional help, provided in the form of crushed coral and oyster shell.

Chickens are omnivorous and need a source of animal protein. Bugs are a major part of this, but we also supplement raw milk as much as possible. It’s a great probiotic, too. They LOVE it!

To ensure that our hens get the nutrition they need so they don’t become weak or resort to cannibalism, we supplement a soy-free, non-GMO peanut-based feeds that is locally milled. It’s pelletized so the chickens don’t waste it and so that they get a complete ration and don’t sort the feed.

Matt moves the EggMobile about once a week, providing the chickens with a new paddock surrounded by electric net fencing. It’s pretty labor intensive, but worth it for the great eggs we get in return.

On to the new paddock!

All for lovely, pasture-raised eggs…

The Feed & Breed Experiment

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A major component of successful sustainable farming is figuring out what strategy works best in your climate for which animals. Pastured poultry is one of the most difficult and unpredictable aspects of our operation here at Shady Grove Ranch. Everything loves to eat chicken: people, owls, skunks, dogs, coyotes, snakes, foxes… Only the first on that list are paying customers! Young chickens also like to die when it rains, when the wind blows, when it gets too cold, and when it gets too hot. It’s not easy being a chicken!

As a result, we are continually searching for the best combination of nutrition and genetics (just like with our pigs and beef cows) to ensure minimal losses and nice plump, healthy meat chickens. Our first batch of broilers are in the brooder now, working on growing their big-bird feathers, and almost ready to be moved to pasture. We purchased two different types of feeds and birds from two different breeders, so we have four combinations of broilers to test which combination performs best for us here in East Texas. Matt keeps close track of mortality rate, unusual events, and feed consumption rate, and will compare the input costs to final harvest in August.

Despite the severe weather patterns we’ve been experiencing over the 18 months, it’s important to maintain our standards without reducing the quality of our products. Matt’s and Jerica’s engineering degrees really come in handy around here where it’s all about learning how to fit the pieces of the puzzle together!