Ebersole Cattle Company

What breed is best for finishing on grass?  Well, there is tons of debate, and no "right" answer.

We raise Maine-Anjou and (Black) Angus cattle.  First a little about our Maine cows.  They are a dual purpose breed of cattle that was imported from France.  The Maine-Anjou breed was developed in the Maine and Anjou counties of France.  Most cattlemen in France do not feed grains to their animals, thus the Maine-Anjou cow is perfect for grass development.  These cows were originally Red and White. Maine -Anjou cows have a great disposition and are perfect for a small family farm.  The cows have a good amount of milk, and are very good mothers.  Another benefit to finishing Maine-Anjou calves is that they are quick growers.  A typical Maine will finish in 12-16 months in a grain-fed operation.  We harvest our grass-fed Maine  calves at about 14-19 months.  This is a great benefits to both the animals and our bottom line.  When you harvest an animal younger you will have meat that is much more tender and flavorful!

Angus cattle or "Black Angus" cattle have been the best marketed cattle in the united states.  They have tons of consumer recognition and can be good cows.    Angus do have more marbling traits.  Meaning that you should get more internal fat in a steak which will provide additional flavor.  We have selected our Angus cows for maternal ability and carcass traits.

We have crossed our foundation Maine-Anjou Cows with Registered Angus cows.  This cross has tons of benefits.  With a cross of two purebred animals you will get the best of both worlds with milk, muscle and flavor.  I hesitate to use the word "hybrid" but with crossbreeding you will get NATURAL Hybrid vigor without any chemicals, antibiotics or hormones.

I hope I haven't bored you with a discussion of our beef genetics.  I just thought you might like to know a little more about our cows and why our beef is EXTREMELY tender and flavorful!!

We do have a quarter of 100% grass-fed beef available.  And we have more 100% ground beef bundles available.  Check out our store.

Have a great day!!

Shanen -Momma to the Mama Cows at the Ebersole Cattle Co

I have suffered with low Iron for 9 (diagnosed) years, and probably many before then.

This is what a small scrape will look like only hours afterwards if my Iron is low.  This scrape was barely noticable when it happened.

When I had our son, I had an emergency C-Section and bled aLOT on the table.  I lost over 2.5 pints of blood.  They wanted to give me blood and a transfusion, but I politely declined.  I was also told that my Iron was 6 points too low, and if it did not improve within the next 48 hours I would NEED the transfusion. 

Well, we set out to fix that in the next 24 hours I had eaten over 20 ounces of beef  (EBERSOLE BEEF).   I kept eating beef and everything green under the sun.  Plenty of yogurt too, so that the Calcium would help me replentish my blood supply.  My iron improved several points and I was allowed to go home (while nursing my son) and have my levels checked in 3 days.  As long as I was able to keep increasing my levels, I would not need the transfusion.

Once we were home, My wonderful Husband cleaned out our deep freeze and found every last package of liver possible.  (EWWW)  I don't like liver, but I wanted to keep my body mine and not have a transfusion.

My doctors were impressed.  That is an understatement.  He asked me EXACTLY what was I doing and eating.  I simply said beef, lots and lots of HOME RAISED beef!  Wow, was he amazed.  I don't have high cholesterol, and he now understood how.....  HOME RAISED.  He even went so far as to ask how we raised our cattle.   He was happy to hear that we pastured our beef.  huh?? 

What I didn't know then, was that he had been researching nutrition and the relationship to what each animal was fed.  This led me to start doing some of my own research and observations.

When I am consistent with a low carb, high protein (MEAT) diet, I have NO iron issues.  When I am off track, and we eat alot, and eat a ton of pasta.....IRON problems (like the one you see above).

So, if you have low iron, EAT MEAT, specifically home raised pastured beef!

EBERSOLE BEEF

Eat happy beef!

Shanen - Mama to the MamaCows at the Ebersole Ranch

Well, we live in the middle of nowhere.  When I drive out to go check cows, this is my view for about 2 miles.

I enjoy living out in the country, but it is hard to find good help.  But, having a family farm, means that I DO have some help.

My help is little right now, but they're learning!  My Cowgirl is great.  She can open gates, and with the help of a good dog, she can move cows pretty good!

These are the happy beef out in our pasture!  These cows and calves live the good life!! They get to graze and walk and move to new pasture each week.

Now is the time of year when we are harvesting GROUND BEEF!  So, I have put some of our Ground Beef Bundles on SPECIAL!!  I have added some new bundles of 50#.  If you live in Iowa or within 50 miles of any Iowa Border, I will ship your beef for free (you have to call me).

If you do call my cell, I might even throw in a discount for a reservation of a Refrigerator Sized Bundle of ALL Steaks this week.  Call me and reserve your Winter BEEF Quarter this week.  I'll make it worth your time!

Enjoy the view!  I get to see it first hand, as I go check cows.

Shanen-Mama to the Momma-Cows at the Ebersole Ranch

We moved cows the other day.  I thought that I would share some of the beautiful views.  This is one of my most favorite views on the earth.  Cows out front moving together to new fresh grass.

Beau is on a Quarter Horse we raised "Ozzie" who is King P234 bred, and I am on Dakota Red Buck (our Stud).  'Koda was pulled out of the mare band just one hour before this picture was taken.  He hadn't been ridden much this spring and not at all since April when the first colts were born and he was let out with the mares.  He was an awesome horse to ride and has tons of cow!!

We grouped these cows from about 130 acres and then pushed them through another  60 acre Timber area and through a creek to the hilltop.   We like to walk the cows and once an old cow finds the gate, she usually remembers where they are going.  This is really important because we added about 20 new cows to this group, and they took a while to group up near the gate.  But, once they did, it went well.

It was a little slow going, because a new calf was born that morning.  He was up and going, but a little wobbly and his umbilical cord was still a little wet.  Mama-Cow did NOT want Beau to put her baby on his horse, and was a little aggressive about it.  So, we walked her slowly and he kept up pretty good.  We tried again to sneak the baby up, for a ride, but again, Momma-cow was having none of it.

I hope you enjoy our little cattle drive.  It was fun!!  This next picture is the best view you can get from the back of a horse.  Cows walking to the next pasture in a nice neat group.

We still have a few Refrigerator Bundles available.  And we are now accepting reservations for Winter Harvested Beef Quarters and Halves.

http://www.localharvest.org/small-pastured-beef-bundle-C13892

Drop me a note at Ebersolecattleco@yahoo.com to reserve your beef now.

Have a great day!!

Shanen- Momma to the Mama-Cows at the Ebersole Ranch

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have a new product in our LocalHarvest Store.

Wow! It seems like just yesterday that these little guys were trying to walk into my house.

Now, those little guys, are this big out in the pasture. Next weekend, we will have our first round-up of the fall season.

We will be grouping about 50 cows together and driving them about a mile on horseback and up into the corrals set up in the pasture. Its scheduled to be a fun and sunny day!

If you would like to come and visit and reserve your beef for next year, just call me and I can probably get you directions. (btw, we'll be at a pasture that has all dirt roads leading to it)

Take a look at our LocalHarvest Store, I'm trying to put up some new smaller bundles that will fit in a typical, refrigerator/freezer and are very economical! Keep checking, as it might take a couple of days to get to view the new bundles that are available for purchase NOW.

http://www.localharvest.org/store/M24259

Shanen

A happy Mama to the MamaCows at Ebersole Cattle Co

WOW!! This summer has flown by!!  State Fair is over, and I'm ready for an Indian Summer (or a continuation of our cool summer).

Fair went well.  My little cowgirl showed her first calf at State Fair & did a great job!  She had Reserve Champion Winter Calf with her heifer.  Freedom (the heifer) did great and ate well the entire week.  I'm a nervous Mama and always worry excessively about my animals when we take them off the farm.  The Winter Bull we took (ULTIMATE 879U) was Champion Winter Bull.

So, it was a pretty good week!  We had fun at the fair too!

The kids & I rounded up our escape artist of a Red Beef Calf this morning and took him to the locker.  All went well, and he followed me right into the trailer without any stress. 

This is SO EXCITING!!!! Why, you may ask???

Well, this means that "I DID IT!"  I sold all of our SpringBorn Beef Calves!! And I have all of our Fall Born Calves pre-ordered!

This is AMAZING to me!!!  I knew that if I took care of our calves well, treated them with respect and love, that other people would know this and also want to enjoy our beef.  In the past we have only raised a couple of select beef calves for us and our family.

So, we are now planning next years beef herd.  We have been carefully selecting our beef calves and replacement heifers that we will keep for next year.  These animals are of the highest quality with the best mama cows.

If you want to reserve your beef for next year, now would be a great time!  You could even come to round up day, and enjoy a beautiful day out in the pasture moving the pairs to the hilltop and bringing them home to wean.

This is also a wonderful time of year because our fall cows are starting to calve.  We have to drive very carefully out in the pasture, so that we don't accidentally find a new calf in the tall grass.  It is so cute to see a little head peeking thru the tall grass while mama grazes nearby.

I hope you are all enjoying the summertime weather!

Shanen : )

Mama to the MamaCows at EbersoleCattleCompany

Buy Great Beef at http://www.localharvest.org/store/M24259

It's summer Show Time! We always have a couple of really great heifers to show at some shows through the summer.

Here is my oldest little Cowgirl with her heifer "Freedom".  This picture was taken at her very first show a couple of weeks ago.  They were named Grand Champion New Calf Crop.

This year we will also have a Fall born bull at the Iowa State Fair.

We'll have tons of fun showing our animals and helping our kids learn.  Right now, my Cowgirl gets up at 5am and goes outside with her Dad to wash her heifer and feed her every day.

I think that this kind of dedication to our animals and hard work will serve her well in her future.

If any of you are coming to the Iowa State Fair, drop us a note so that you can come pet a calf or meet us and reserve your Winter Beef now.

We have 3 beefs that have not been spoken for yet, and we will reserve now for Winter Delivery (you can pick a date from November thru February).

I hope y'all are enjoying your summer and having fun in the sun!!

Well, it is that time of year.  HARVEST TIME.  We have been busy AI'ing cows, and making sure that all of the calves are healthy on pasture.

And feeding the beef.  The beef have been growing great and we have 2 calves that are finishing size.  All of the beef that has been sold is currently "aging" at the locker.  These steers will be aged for 21 days to get the best flavor and tenderness.

I do have 1 more steer that is finished and just needs to find a home in a couple of people's freezers.

So, if you want great beef, with GREAT flavor and tenderness, drop me an e-mail and I will get you a very great price!

Hope the spring rains have treated you well!!

Shanen : )

Well, calving season is REALLY here!  We are almost half way through the season.  We now have our first group sorted so we can start breeding them.

Last week we were able to turn the GRASS FED BEEF calves out to pasture.  They are still supplemented with hay, but the grass is starting to grow.  Such a beautiful sight!  Calves grazing and foraging is a wonderful sight after such a long winter.

Here's a cute picture of a little one who was born on a cold rainy night, and was escorted into the house to warm up.  In the morning, I awoke to him trying to open the door to come IN my kitchen.  He didn't want to stay in the laundry room.  We took him back out to mama, and he drank like a pro!  It's always my worry that I have touched them too much, and then its a ton of work to get the cow to readily accept them again.  Not this mama, she wanted him the second we pulled him (on the sled) into the barn.  YEAH!!

You can see, by the calf in my house (one of many) that we REALLY care for our cattle.  We give them the BEST care possible!

All of our Spring BEEF has been sold, but we do have some fall beef still available!  Stop here and take a look.  We would love to customize your order of a full share of beef.  We can make sure you get the specific cuts and sized packages that YOUR family will enjoy!  We deliver to Omaha, Kansas City and the Quad Cities.  So, odds are, if you are within 300 miles of us, we can make a stop in YOUR area to deliver some fantastic beef.

As always, if you are in the area, just drop me a note and you can stop by the Ranch and see the calves and cows.  We even have a bottle calf you might get to feed, and the chickens ar making plenty of extra eggs if you need any. 

Happy Easter!

Well, spring has sprung on the ranch.  That means cows mooing in the pasture to new calves, babies everywhere, and new grass. 

We have had some grass start to grow, and are looking forward to new entirely green pastures in about 2 weeks.  The AI season has begun and we are planning to breed several hundred head of cows for other cattlemen in the next couple of weeks.

I am enjoying my time away from 20 buckets of feed for the calves.  All of the Corn-fed calves are now on self feeders, and thus we only have to fill them about once a week.  The replacement heifers will be on grass soon and we won't have to feed them as much either.

We have sold all of the calves except those we will make into beef, so speak up soon if you would like to try some of our great beef!

If you would like to stop by the Ranch and see the baby calves, call and I will set up a time.

Well, we are in the thick of it!  Calving Time.   So far, we have about 20 calves alive and healthy. 

As you can see, we have been doing everything we can to get them warm and dry.  Including letting them inside our house, well the laundry room.

This little gal was born last night in single digit weather and was very cold.  You can see how new he is by his still red umbilical cord.

We have had 6 "houseguests" in the past 3 days of rainy cold weather.  All of our previous houseguests are doing great and are back outside with their mothers.

I have been exited by all of our calves, because they are soo food.  We think that this year's crop will be some of our best beef yet!

We have sold out of beef to be harvested in June.  We are starting to reserve calves for September Harvest.  Take a look at our store, or drop us an e-mail.

Our life on the Ranch has reached the busiest time of year! Calving time!  We also have been able to (so far) keep all of our '08 spring and fall calves.  We have sold several steers in our CSA pay as you go program, and have selected 13 heifers to stay in our herd.

We have 10 (hopefully 11 when I check heifers after posting this) calves on the ground right now.  Most of these early calves are purebred Maine Anjou calves.  We will keep some of these heifers in the herd, and offer the rest of the great ones to other MaineAnjou breeders.

Unfortunately, we must sell some of our calves.  Fortunately, we have Local Harvest, to help us sell some of these calves to locals (we will drive a long way to deliver great beef).  So, we are again having a BEEF SALE!  If you sign up for any size CSA share this month (February) we will also add an additional 25 pounds of Ground Beef.  The ground beef will be delivered immediately upon receipt of your down payment.  This will allow you to taste some of the great flavor that will be harvested in June.

Call us to help you determine what size share will best fit your family.

We LOVE to have visitors, and now is a great time with all of the cute calves on the ground!

Shanen

First of all, sorry for all of the time away from blogging.  Hope all y'all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We have 3 new puppies!!!  There are only three, because Rosie wasn't supposed to get bred this time, but Chilli, (our blue heeler working dog) couldn't help but take his girl for a 2 hour run one day.  Theese dogs will be great workers and family members.  If you are interested, just drop us a line.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...We have been busy!!!  We realised in early in December, that the Tax Man was gonna get us this year if we didn't act fast.  You see, he doesn't like it when you sell a large ranch and downsize.  Even if you use all the cash to pay off debt and purchase the new farm.  So, after a couple of meetings with our CPA, we decided to increase our cowherd!   YEAH!!  We don't have to run as many outside cows (cows other people own).  So a shoppin we went.

We bought 15 new cows at two Maine-Anjou dispersal sales.  And, we also purchased 18 new Angus cattle from Werner's in Diagonal.  With some heifers, we bought at some local sales, we have increased our herd by 40 head.  I can't tell you how excited I am for my new girls to calve!!

Our barn finishing touches are coming along, and we will soon have lights and our waterer pads poured.

We have a couple of beef that will be harvested on Tuesday.  We will have about  800 total pounds of LEAN ground beef.  YEAH!!  I have a hundred pounds that isn't yet spoken for, so if you would like to try our beef before you join our CSA, just drop me a note, and I'll arange shipping.

More stories and pictures to arrive soon  : ))

Shanen

I know this is a little off topic for me, but if you bake bread at all, you know how hard it is to find a good recepie for Whole Wheat Bread.  Well, I was out of flour, grabbed some at the local grocery store from King Arthur, and lucked into a great recepie.  So, I thought I'd share it with you.

Classic 100% Whole Wheat Bread

• 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 nonfat dried milk
• 3 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons Instant yeast

Mixing: In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl.  Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple.  Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow to urse til puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 60 minutes, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Shaping: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape it inot an 8 inch log.  Place the log in a lightly greased loaf pan, cover with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 30 to 60 min, or until its crowned about 1 inch above the edge of the pan.  a finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly.

Baking: Bake the bread in a preheated 350degree oven for about 40 min.

Now that I've given you the official directions I'll tell you that I just combined the ingredients and then trew it in my Bread Maker and set it on a Whole Wheat cycle.

It turns out great time and time again.  I hope you try it and enjoy.

As for the cows and calves, they are doing great!  Most are out on pastue and staying in most of the time.  It's a hard time of year to keep a cow inside the fence around here.  There is so much afterfeed on the cropground around us, and they want to go taste testing.  So, the dogs and I make a couple of rounds each day and put them where they belong.

Hope all is well at your place, and send us a note if you need some great beef. ~ Shanen : )

A detailed description of "what is a share of our beef?" and how we determine prices for our beef shares.   This post is very long and detailed.  I will have more Cow Stories later this week.

Well, life on the ranch has started to settle down again.  The pairs are still locked in the pens, but there are fewer every day. 

We have begun to pair out the fall calvers to the pasture again.  You see, because of the heavy rains and floods this fall, we didn't tag the calves born this fall.  So, we have been pairing them up and moving them across the road to pasture behind the house.

The spring calves look wonderful, and are doing great!!   We have separated the grass fed calves and have them eating hay very well.  Theese calves are the biggest and oldest of the bunch, so hopefully they will still finish (be ready for harvest) by June.  They are also very healthy during this critical time of weaning.

The rest of the spring calves have started eating creep feed and will hopefully be weaned this week or next.  They are eating well, and the extra vitamins and minerals we put in the creep feed really help them stay healthy.

We have one full share of Grass Fed Beef still available.  If you would like to reserve a portion of this calf, please e-mail us ebersolecattleco@yahoo.com.  I do have some grass fed ground beef in the freezer that I will be putting on sale, so I can also ship this to your house. 

If you haven't ever tried grass fed ground beef, you should!!  I can guarantee that this beef is leaner than any you have ever browned before!  There is no grease in the pan when you brown this beef.   Ground beef is an excellent way to try grass fed beef and you get the benefits of all the extra nutrients that grass fed provides, no fat and TONS of flavor.

If you are interested in great tasting Iowa corn fed beef, email me (ebersolecattleco@yahoo.com) to reserve your share.

By the way, I love your comments, and look forward to hearing from all of you.  Keep checking to see what new antics are happening to me during my life on the ranch.

Shanen : )

Well, if you have read my first two blogs on Local Harvest you know that we have moved our Ranch this summer.  Our new barn has been built for some time, and the corrals have been built for a month.  Everyone around here kept asking what we were going to use that BIG barn for.  We kept telling them for the calves and colts.  They would look at us with a question and ask if we had any cows.  You see we have not had ANY cattle on this farm except for the bulls (and they were only here for 1 month).  None of our new Ringold County neighbors had ever seen us with any cattle at our homeplace.  The cows have been at the rented pasture this summer.

As I told you on Friday, we moved the cows home this weekend.  We did it!!  All by ourselves.  Beau had to work in town on Saturday, so we just got everything set up.  We set up the portable corral at the pasture and fed the cows in the corral.  This convinces them that this is a good place to be! ; ) 

Sunday morning bright and early we loaded up the kids, and the dogs and off we went.  Our rented pasture is only 15 miles from the house, so it is a short trip.  We arrived at the pasture, and made our plan.  I would take the 4-wheeler out and around the pond to move the cows to Beau and he would "call" the cows into the corral.  Well, he had more luck than I did.  He locked up ~25 while I was still on the other side of the pond. 

I made my sweep around the pond with the dogs close behind.  The cows weren't happy about being woken up early and were slow to go to the corral.  I managed to push in another 25 or so.  Then it gets tricky!  The last cows are ALWAYS the worst.  They don't want to go in and the want to run and chase.  We decided to haul a load home and bring the horse.

We are able to haul about 10 calves and 12 cows each trip.  Made the trip and arrived back at the pasture with the horse.  This time we switched, I was calling and Beau was pushing on Ozzie (the horse).  We made a sweep and not one cow came in.  We put the 4-wheeler away (I hate those things!) and tried again and cought 5 pairs.  We were both severely frustrated and decided to haul some more cows home. 

We made another 3 trips (I will tell you a funny story about one of theese trips later this week) and we got LUCKY!  The crazy(mean, ornery and taking the rest far, far, away) cow was standing in the gateway.  We were VERY sneaky and we finally got her locked up!!!!  YEEE HAAA!  Unfortunately it was dark and we were done for the night, but they were all locked up at the pasture and at the house. 

I LOVE our new facilities @ home.  We did not have to worry that the cows were going to go hunting for their calves and get out, we had easy fresh water and it was great!  After a long day and another long one to go we could still sleep easy.

If you enjoy these types of stories, leave me a note and I'll keep them coming. 

We did select some great beef calves that will be worked and weaned this coming weekend.  Please e-mail me to reserve your shares.  I think we have 4 whole shares left, so please let me know and I can put your name on a calf.

I will have that funny story from Sunday and the story of Monday later in the week.

Shanen : ))

Thankfulness.  That word is a mouthful, but the things it brings to mind are simple.  God. Family. Farm. Cows. Horses. Nature. Natural.

I am thankful for all of theese things and each one is dependent and brought to us by the others on my thankfull list. 

God gave us our family, and gave us to our families.  We need to remember that without Him, none of theese things are possible.

Our families are a gift from God and we need to treat them as sacred gifts.  We need to make sure that we are always, ALWAYS thankful and loving towards our families.

Cows are also a special gift we are entrusted with.  We show our respect and appreciation for these cattle by lovingly raising them for their intended purposes.  Wonderful beef and great mothering (or siring) abilities.  We should all treat them with nothing but the utmost respect and care for the entire time we have them, including their harvest.  This means we should also enjoy all the beef and byproducts entirely and not waste anything.

My horses are my wonderful luxury.  I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity at a young age to enjoy the love of a horse.  That pony was (and is) my best friend through all of those rough adolescent years.  I am so thankful that he was there to listen to all of my problems, and to help me learn to love each and every animal on the planet.

I am thankful for nature.  This sounds simple and plain, and that is just the way I mean it.  I love each and every sound and thing in nature (even the annoying Asian LadyBugs).

I am thankful that we are natural.  I love that we can put a calf back in his natural environment (grass) and it will grow and mature into natural, wonderful beef.  I love natural pasture and letting nature show us what we need to do to improve. I am thankful that God made it natural for us to love him and life on the ranch.

I am also thankful to the wonderful, creative people that help take care of us and help us to provide natural grass fed beef through a website like this.  Thank you!

I hope all of you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving and stay safe!

Shanen

Just another funny story of life on the ranch and the things a wonderful smart pony can do that he's learned in his 23 years of life.