MM Livestock Co

I forgot about the Kittens! Sox one of our farm cats presented me with 3 cute lil kittens a few days ago. Imagine the shock when a rescue cat with a spay certificate from the shelter brings her babies out to meet you. Someone messed up! The kitties are cute though and will go along with mommy to be altered as soon as they are old enough. Anyway, you have been asking why we are changing our name. Mostly because we want to identify more closely with my family farming history. I am the 7th generation of my family to make my living off of the land.(my mother swears there is a cowboy somewhere with a daughter that loves opera and the ballet. Boy is he confused!) I'll post a tribute to my great grandfather Perry McDowell, taken from "A history of Shelby County Iowa" in a day or so. His great grandfather is mentioned there too. Grandpa raised Beef cattle, Dad was a vet. So the progression is "in the blood". Another reason is I decided to take advantage of the farming exemptions and fee waivers by using my own name. Times are TOUGH! and every penny saved helps. Lastly I felt it was necessary to completely separate my operation from any connection with a former associate that refuses to raise their standard to what I feel is proper. I have worked too hard to get my animals certified, graded, tested, and verified to lose it all because someone else doesn't want to put in the extra effort. I want my customers to be absolutely confident about what they are eating, and if I don't raise it myself, I'm going to find a producer that raises animals the same way I do. (Ok Rant over) On a lighter note. The Red Wattle Hogs are on their way and should arrive in a few days. These hogs will be primarily bred for seed stock with a few made available to our customers. I'm very excited about our shift to Heritage Breeds. It doesn't cost a penny more to raise them and helps protect our history at the same time. Meg

We have 3 new Belted Galloway calves since my last post. A bull calf and 2 heifers. My "friend" calls them cookie cows because they are black on both ends and white in the middle. So in honor of him we named the bull calf Billy. The kids are having fun with the lambs. A ewe lamb this morning marks the beginning of our second lambing season of the year. We let our sheep breed naturally and thanks to our climate get lambs year round with the majority of the ewes lambing in September and June. Our cattle calve from March though July. The production herd is just about done and the Belties seem to have just as easy a time of it. This is our second season with them so we are still getting familiar with their habits. We will be butchering the first Beltie steer in a couple of months and that will be the real test. On the cooperative front. We are researching having a USDA mobile plant built for us so we can have even better control of our processing and be able to help other small holders bring their products to market. We will be limiting our services to beef, lamb, goats, and birds. Whew ! I need a nap!