A Day of Cattle Ranching and Migration at Coal Creek Farm
I sit and watch the sunrise through the window, enjoying my tea before getting on with the day. Today is my eldest son’s birthday, and although I would like to play an early morning prank on him, I will let him sleep in. I’m getting to work.
April is always busy at Coal Creek Farm, and this year is no exception. This morning we rotated the cattle towards the soup bowl. We call it that because of the pond that looks like a soup bowl. I dug the soup bowl pond fifteen years ago. The dirt therapy was good for me, and it still soothes my soul when I see the cattle enjoying it. The soup-bowl field is on the way to the woods bordering our neighbor, Grassy Cove. We migrate the cattle herd to the woods at the top of the property, where they will live for six weeks to two months. The shoots are growing out of the trees, and we have found that the longhorns can sustain themselves in the woods during the Spring. Their foraging opens the underbrush and creates more views. As a developer, I always think about potential future development, and views are very important. Cattle ranching is more than a full-time job, and we’ve made it good for the environment.
We load our tools after a short break and head back to the “hayfield” to repair some fencing. We call the enclosure at the lowest elevation on the property (around 188 feet) the hayfield because it was the first field we ever cut hay on—about fifteen years ago. There are many other hay fields, but this one is the Hay Field. In the afternoon, neighbors visited. They purchased our old 7420 John Deer tractor, two disc harrows, and our big hay cutter. We weren’t using them and can invest the money in equipment that we will use.
The weather at Coal Creek Farm is windy and cool this week, and I look forward to sitting by the fire at the end of the day. I love watching the flames dance (using our home-grown logs) and listening to the sounds of embers bouncing off the screen. It’s easy to dose off here by the heat of the coals; should I stir the fire one more time or just go to bed?
