Our Red-Angus Beef
The small growing herd of Pure-Bred Red-Angus cows, heifers and steers make use of a tract of river land that was well suited for pasture. Pure-Bred means that they are 100% Red-Angus and not crossed with another breed of beef cattle.
A little info about Beef – A male calf is called a bull. Most bull calves are neutered, after which they are called steers. This is to prevent inbreeding and also a better quality meat product. A female calf is called a heifer until she has had her first calf. Then she officially becomes a cow. A group of cows is a herd. If you are talking about cows in general, you can also use the word cattle or nowadays we just say beef (to mean both the animal and the meat we eat)
Just give a cow a green pasture with grass to eat and she’ll be happy! Cows can live on grass and water alone, but as grass doesn’t grow all year long in our climate we feed them hay (the grass we harvest). Just a little bit of mixed grains as a treat makes them a little tamer and used to humans so they can be patted and scratched behind the ears or under the chin. Now watch out! The mothers love their treats so much they might push you over while feeding!
A very young calf will probably suck your fingers looking for milk. Because our cattle are beef and not dairy, you can usually get close to the calf while she is separate with her mom. When the calf and mother cow are let loose with the herd the calf sticks close to mom and trying to catch the calf is not easy. Calves are fast.
To separate the bigger calves from their mothers to get ready for the new ones, we keep them in the barn for a time. The cows use a lean-to shelter area to stay out of the rain and every now and again we have to clean out the straw and manure and put it in the compost pile.
Watch our videos to let Greta and Harry tell you about their cows.