My family’s ranch in Eastern Colorado was featured on the NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen show on RFD-TV last night.
My dad has been working with a beef cattle nutritionist from Purina Mills, who has developed a product for sustainable cattle nutrition that can be customized to meet the cattle’s needs.
Our family has practiced intensive, holistic grazing for decades and we rely on native forage year-round – a factor that is a strength to our cattle herd. Grazing the cattle on the grass lowers our supplemental and hay costs, yet the cattle need more minerals, nutrients and proteins than the grass provides.
Using a combination of tubs and 500-pound superblocks, the cows have an access to feed around the clock. These Purina products allow the cows to access the nutrients at anytime, unlike only when the cake-truck (cake is a supplemental feed with nutrients in pellet form) comes into the pasture and the big cows eat it all up first. And the payoff is obvious.
These nutrient products allow for a sustainable nutrition that lasts the cow throughout the year, as well as adding a benefit to providing nutrients to her calf. As we retain ownership of our calves after they go to the feedyard, and we receive their carcass data after going to the packing plant, we have seen a huge increase in higher quality beef being produced – over 85% choice.
Starting at 12:40, you can watch the feature in this video clip:
Check out our family’s Facebook page, too! Frasier Farms – RiverBend Ranch
And I can be proud one of my cows, Keesha 5353 made a good impression on camera!
