Ebersole Cattle Company

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 : )

First, I have to give credit where credit is due.  This post is inspired by The Beginning Farmer.  Her blog post inspired me to ask y'all the same question. "What is the main thing you would like people to know about your agricultural word?"

I have run itno the same problems as she has.  You would be (or maybe not) amazed by the amount of people that think that Ranchers and Farmers are hurting our environment and the earth.

I am amazed that people say that it is wrong to raise cattle for beef.  So, if you aren't supposed to make that steer into beef, what are you supposed to do with it??  Beef cattle were put on this earth for exactly that reason.  I might even argue that dairy cattle are supposed to become our food once their useful life has run out. 

I believe that we aren't doing Gods work if we don't utilize all of the beef that was put on this earth.  I also believe that most Ranchers and Farmers improve their environment.  We do this for many reasons, most of them profitable, and some for our future generations.

I would like the general public to really understand all of the precautions we go thru to care for our land. 

1 - Personally, we make sure that we leave timber areas tall grass areas.  We leave these areas so that our cows will have sheltered areas to lay in, and calve in, during the winter. 

2 - We don't tear up the land and we don't overfertilize the ground creating run-off to the streams and rivers.  We need those streams for our cows to drink, so why would we pollute them?  We need that topsoil to grow great grass and feed for our cows, so why would we damage it?  We go to great lengths to preserve the earth and improve the dirt so we can improve the grass and grow more beef.

3 - If beef is grown and harvested carefully, it doesn't hurt the animal in ANY way.  That may sound wierd, but its true.  If you raise your beef cattle in a clean and dry environment, they are comfortable and eat, and grow very healty.  If you move them to the harvesting location slowly and smoothly, and you then restrain them properly, they won't feel the pain.  It will (and should be) done smoothly and instantly, to prevent suffering.  In addition, a facility that is so careful with the live animal will (and should) take those same precautions to handle the meat carefully and cleanly, thus preventing harm to the people that eat it.

I know that this may seem a little off, from my usual stories, but I was inspired.  I hope y'all will chime in and tell us what you want people outside of agriculture to know about what you do.  I look forward to hearing from everyone!

Remember, high quality beef is GOOD for you!  And its good for the cattle and our earth.

We still have 2 shares of Grass-Fed beef and 2 shares of Corn-Fed beef.  Send me a note to reserve your shares today and set up your pay-as-it-grows plan.            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.

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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 : )

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.

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Sunday was a big day and we did accomplish alot!  After the cows were finished, we moved the Mares and weaned the colts.  Again, it may not sound like much, but it is usually a very difficult task.

We stopped at the house and the guys tightened their cinches and I haltered the stud and hopped on the 4-wheeler.  We then went looking for the mares.  Our mares are kept behind the house in a 160 acre pasture.  As expected they were at the far corner of the pasture.  Koda (our stud horse) followed the 4 wheeler great and we went back about 100 acres and finally saw the mares.  Koda was very excited!  He was still respectfull and we circled and started heading back to the house.  The mares spotted him and came at a run.

I wish someone else had been helping and could have taken pictures because it was quite a sight.  Imagine 30 Mares and Colts at a run following you.  Manes flowing behind them, some playing and bucking, and horses playing tag.  It was beautiful!! 

We crossed the creek, 5 horses wide and made it up to the tricky part, the gate....  You see, after we go out this gate, there are no fences.  We have to go thru a small paddock and cross the road to try to lead them into the corrals.  Beau and Branden were on their horses bunching the Mares together and trying to keep up.

A short tenative pause at the gate on my part, and out we went.  30 horses went out in the open.  They followed me well across the road and right into the pen!!! YEAH!!!  WE DID IT!!!

You see, usually this takes at least 8 people to block the road and help funnel the unbroke mares and colts into the right pen.  Not anymore!!

Then we slowly started sorting mares from their colts.  This is a very trying and traumatic thing for some of the mares.  The don't want to leave their colt, or any other colt alone.  Even though they are only separated by a fence, they still don't like it.  All of the sorting went well, with only one small cut on a colt.

Today (Tuesday)  the colts are still upset and not eating.  This is not good...  I put a couple of old geldings (they got out of their pasture, another long story) in with the colts to teach them to eat from the Hay bale.  This should help them to get more comfortable with eating hay.

We will sell half of our colts, so if you are interested in foundation bred Quarter Horses keep stopping by my blog and you will see pictures as I can get them.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy my stories from the Ranch!

Remember, we still have a couple of Beef Shares available and we will customize them to fit your family.

Shanen : )

Well, Yesterday sure was a long day!! But we moved 'em!  The cows all circled the Jeep well and then followed me over one hill.  Beau and Branden were on horses and helped move the stragglers along.  They followed me down the hill and chased me thru the creek. 

Then it happened!!! The Jeep Quit!!  You see something "popped" when I put it in 4 Low (Four wheel drive, Low Gear)  The creek is pretty deep and the bank out of it is very steep.  I made it up part of the hill, and the cows are circling and beginning to stop and wander.  UH OH!!!

So, I got out, grabbed a feed bag and took off running!  I had to run, or get mobbed by a bunch of hungry cows that just want my feed!  Did I mention the HILL???!!!   This hill is very steep, probably a 45degree incline.  I had to RUN  75 yards!!! But halfway up I couldn't, my lungs were on FIRE!!  The cold air and this out of shape body did not get along.  And remember, we are in a part of the pasture that is not grazed, so it is 2 ft deep tangled grass.

I finally made it to the top!!! Then I had to open the gate...... Barbed wire gates and I do NOT get along.  But my wonderful husband had just a twisted wire for me to open.  YEAH!!!!

The cows were right on my tail and they went to the hilltop to talk with the other group already there.  Beau and Branden went back down for one slowpoke.  (We let her go slow, she is 14 and has had a great calf every year)  WE did it with no problems!! 

Then we did have to get the Jeep to the top of the hill and leave it there for another day!

Hope you enjoy my little RanchLife stories and yes, it is ok to laugh at this little girl enjoyin life on the Ranch.

I'll have the story of the afternoon's activities later, hopefully with some pictures.

Well, the Girls(cows) better get a good nights rest, 'cause tomarrow's moving day.  Tomarrow we will drive the cows to the new pasture.  This means that we will go out on horses and a jeep to check them and then drive them over the hill and through the woods (and a creek), but they won't get to Grandma's house quite yet.  : ) 

Yes, really they have to go about a half mile and over a hill (ok 2) and thru the woods and a creek. 

Shareholders are welcome to come to our little cattle drive and watch and maybe help.  Just make sure you purchase your share in advance and call me so I can set you up in the right pasture.

I have to take the Jeep this time to haul any babies that can't cross the creek, so hopefully I'll have tons of great pictures to post on Monday.

Remember, you can always check my personal blog @ www.greenranchingmom.blogspot.com

Wish us good weather!

So... This summer we worked on building our current ranch. We bought a 160 ac Ranch with a small house that had not been lived in in 2 years.

So, a remodeling we went. We decided to build a new barn and fix up the house a little. Because the barn makes the money, not the house. We put some new windows in the house, new appliances and ripped out the carpet downstairs to expose beautiful hardwood floors.

Across the road, we built the BARN. This barn is everything my 12 year old self ever dreamed of. We built a 98 x 104 barn. It is set up for both cattle and horses. We put large runs out the east side and an arena to the north with some working and holding pens. The inside will have an open area in the center for riding horses with pens on each side. Our Ranch Plan is pretty complex, but here are the basics.

1- Our goal is to raise Maine-Anjou females to sell to other breeers. Byproducts of this goal will be Show Quality Calves, Beef and Bulls. We want everything to be Organic. The cattle should have great dispositions, and be happy and easily handle-able.

2 - Beef Sales. We will raise both Grass-Fed and Corn Fed Beef. Our animals will ALWAYS be treated with the utmost respect and kindness as long as we have them. We want to sell Beef Shares and Sides and Quarters of Beef. Our animals will always have access to exercise and grass.

3 - Horses. We raise working quarter horses. We want to keep our colts until they are 2 - 4 to train for roping and working cattle.

4 - Dogs. We have working dogs. Our male is a blue heeler and my female is a registered mini-Australian Sheperd. We will raise Mini Aussies an Toy Aussies. Our dogs are GREAT with the kids and must always be great with the kids.

5 - Garden. This next year I want to start a great garden. Eventually I would like to offer a vegetable CSA. I would like fruit trees to be in this garden

6 - FAMILY. Most of all our main goal is for this Ranch to grow our family. The kids are most important to us, and the main reason we downsized to this ranch.

I know this kind of turned out like a list, but it is what I needed to explain to y'all what we're doin, and what we're about. Hope you like our blog and you can also read along at www.greenranchingmom.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading!!  Shanen

Who we are and why we raise our cattle the way we do.  Naturally, Grass Fed, Healthy, Respectfully and safely.[Read More]