Salad Bar Lamb

Here on the Phelan Ranch, my dad raises hair sheep and for the past 6 years has sold the lamb on the commodity market. Most of the lamb has gone to the east coast... much of it in or near New York City. My goal with Phelan Ranch Company LLC is to sell as many if not all Dad's lamb locally in a direct market fashion. He has been producing a salad bar product, but hasn't seen some of the benefits of his great stewardship. Lamb is actually not to difficult to fatten on grass (at least not as difficult as beef), but their are some things to consider. Below I listed some thoughts about raising sheep. They by no means cover everything, but I think they might help get your motor running on my philosophy of raising such an awesome animal.

Here are some thoughts to raising Salad Bar Lamb.

(Just hitting some of the highlights.)

Thoughts # 1:

Get over the cuteness of Lamb. This step more than any other may hold you back from developing a wonderful herd of ewes and a customer serving product for the market.

But you might say, "But Grady how can you not think that little lambs are cute? Don't they call Jesus 'The Lamb of God' ?" I didn't say that lambs weren't cute. On the contrary, they are beautiful. So beautiful in fact that they were one of the top choices when ancient Jews made a sacrifice to the Lord. Let us also not forget that the reason we call Jesus the Lamb of God is because he was the only sacrifice that would save us from our sins. We need to look at lamb as God intended, nourishment for our bodies. I'll leave it at that... If you want to discuss more just let me know.

Once you develop a proper relationship with lambs, true stewardship can begin. Start to pick and choose the best and worse ewe's and their sons and daughters. Keep the best ewe lambs for breeding and market the rest. Keep only the VERY best young rams and use them or bring in the VERY best rams you can find. Market the rest. If you have any dry ewe's at weaning time or any other ewes with undesirable characteristics, cull them. It may be your favorite ewe, but if she's not pulling her weight then she's holding you back from serving your customer the best possible lamb. Its our responsibility to strive for the very best. God would not like it if we were lazy and offered a poor product to his people. Offer the best you have and always be developing a better herd.

Thought #2:

Make sure that the herd has the capability to graze the best possible grass year-a-round. Good hay is hard to beat but in my mind its extremely important for all herbivores to be able to graze the way God intended. You may need to feed hay and graze during the winter, but strive to develop a way to only graze. I have no scientific studies to back that up (even though there are probably a few out there), it just seems right to try to mimic nature. This means that we should steward the land as well as the animal. In fact, if you only have time to properly steward one or the other... pick the land. Imagine the land as a gigantic solar panel absorbing the best source of free energy available. If you keep it tuned up, it will keep you and your business full of its reusable energy.

Thought #3:

Find protection for your sheep. Sheep are not like cattle or horses or even pigs for that matter. They are timid, shy, and flighty when it comes to danger. Most ewes will run at the first sight of possible danger, leaving their lamb behind to be the dinner of some hungry predator. It is up to us to protect them from such dangers. Guard dogs are one of the top choices for the modern American sheep herder. In the past, shepherds fulfilled this role, but since we decided that a shepherd's life is not one we want to live, we need to fill that spot. Dogs, Donkeys, Llamas, and even cattle can serve as their shepherd. If you do find a ewe that protects her lamb, keep her and all her ewe lambs. You might just breed courage back into the herd.

If you are interested in sheep and have a little land I encourage you to get some and feel it out. Their are many ways to market sheep including but not limited to he following: commodity; meat sales to customers, restaurants, and retail stores; sheep milk in the form of milk, cheese, soap, etc; and wool in the form of wool, yarn, sweaters, etc. The opportunities are endless with most enterprises especially sheep. Here are a few details about Dad's flock that might be helpful. We aren't even close to the full potential of the sheep enterprise, but we are refining all the time.

Size: 300 ewe's

Target Lamb Crop: 150% (450 lambs)

Lambing Season: May - June (6 week window)

Growing Season Feed Supplement: Nothing

Dormant Season Feed Supplement: Alfalfa cubes

(They are always grazing something year-a-round)

Mineral Supplement: Salt

Feel free to ask any questions... I only hit the highlights and only the things I think about. Something I didn't mention may appeal to your curiosity and I would love to hear what it is.

She Said YES!!!

I still can't believe how good God is to me!

Some of you know that I met my mate last year. Well, on New Years Day I asked her to marry me and she joyfully accepted. It has always been my dream (hers too) to find someone to live happily ever after with, and I know I found that when I found Erin.

Erin and I met while working at Polyface together. I know what your thinking... and no Polyface is not in the business of matchmaking. In fact, Erin and I both were uneasy about courting while at Polyface. We went to learn how to farm, Not find a spouse. But God acts in mysterious ways and put Erin and I together.

So, I want to ask for your forgiveness in my lack of Blogging as of late. My mind has found itself in other places.

In short, the farm is running smoothly. I'll continue with my mini-series after the storm of wedding planning has started to subside... which should be soon... I hope. :-)

New Bunnies!!!

Just the other night one of my doe's had the first litter of bunnies on the Phelan Ranch!!

Doe #2 had 9 bunnies and they are all looking healthy and full of milk. I don't currently have any pictures but I hope that will change and get you guys something to look at in a couple weeks. Right now they spend all day inside the nest that momma made for them. I should have rabbit to for sale to eat in about 8-12 weeks. If you are interested let me know and I'll put you down for some. Rabbit meat will be $5 a pound. Average carcass weight will be between 2 and 3 pounds.

We're in the Rabbit business now!!

Survival Seeds!!

Sometimes I wonder what the government is doing to our economy and our society. I'm not ready to move out of the dear ole' USA, but I have started to do some heavy planning for the future.

The goal: To produce as much of the food we eat on our property.

I think we have the protein covered (beef, lamb, eggs, etc.) We've got water from a well and milk from the cows, but what about the veggies? I've gardened for the past two years, each year being more successful than the last, but gardening is still quite new to me and foreign to my parents and this goal is one we all share. So this year we are planning to plant quite a large garden for a couple of newbies and a not-so-experienced leader.

I got a tip about seed buying the other day and I wanted to share it with you. Hometown Seeds seems to have quite an array of seeds. The seeds I want to point you to is their Survival Seeds package. Designed to have you prepared in case of a crisis, here is what you get.

• Includes an 8-page instruction booklet.
• Enough seeds to plant 3/4 of an acre!
• Non-Hybrid seeds produce true to variety seeds to replant for future harvests.
• Optimum water content to increase storage life.
• Double water tight packaging.
• Hometown seeds is 100% GMO free!

So, as you start to plan for the future, do you have seeds for your gardens this year? Perhaps you want to plants some flowers next spring? Maybe you even want to tackle an herb garden? Or do you simply want to be ready for a crisis? If so, visit Hometown Seeds and I bet they can get you fixed up. I'm getting seeds from them and I plan on posting pictures all during the harvest. I never was an eagle scout, but I still like their motto... BE PREPARED.

P.S. I linked them in my new "Agrarian Links" gadget on the right in case you need the link later.

Salad Bar Beef

Big Red (photo by Muriel Norris Fahrion)

Before I went to Polyface I grew up on the best managed native grassland in Oklahoma, in my opinion. But not only in my opinion, but in others as well. In the year 2002 Phelan Ranch won the Outstanding Rangeland Management Award, an award that was presented by the Society for Rangeland Management (SRM) . Here is a little statement about SRM from their website that will help you fully understand the meaning of this award.

The Society for Range Management is the professional scientific society and conservation organization whose members are concerned with studying, conserving, managing and sustaining the varied resources of the rangelands which comprise nearly half the land in the world. Established in 1948, SRM has over 4,000 members in 48 countries, including many developing nations.

Salad Bar

So, as you can see my father, John Phelan, has been managing our ranch in a sustainable way for many years. As you might imagine, it was not big jump for me philosophically when I went to work for Polyface. On the Phelan ranch we have always focused of land and grass health. We have always called ourselves "Grass Farmers" and claimed to be in the Solar Energy business. You could even say that we are in the business of Sequestering Carbon.

Note: If you think that CO2 is going to cook the planet, buy Salad Bar Beef instead of a Prius! You be sequestering (capturing) carbon instead of merely using less!!!

For those of you not familiar with the term Salad Bar Beef, coined by Joel Salatin, here is a little bit from the Polyface website that will explain the term and the Philosophy.

Herbivores in nature exhibit three characteristics: mobbing for predator protection, movement daily onto fresh forage and away from yesterday's droppings, and a diet consisting of forage only – no dead animals, no chicken manure, no grain, and no fermented forage. Our goal is to approximate this template as closely as possible. Our cows eat forage only, a new pasture paddock roughly every day, and stay herded tightly with portable electric fencing. This natural model heals the land, thickens the forage, reduces weeds, stimulates earthworms, reduces pathogens, and increases nutritional qualities in the meat.

Enjoying the Salad Bar

If we began to think Holistically (that is thinking in term of a whole rather than the pieces), we began to realize that what we do with our livestock management has a tremendous and dramatic effect on the health of the surrounding ecosystem. We must ALWAYS be thinking of our environment as a whole, and how what we are doing affects everything around us. This includes the health of plants and animals, but also the health of our neighbor, be it proximately (chemicals, water quality, etc.) and/or ultimately (health and wellness of those consuming our product).

CAFO... Industrial Beef

The industrial food system is NOT thinking holistically when it builds a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). It has broken livestock needs down into one part and forgotten about the rest of the ecosystem. It has taken a wonderfully created system, I call it the cycle of food, and broken it. Plants feed animals and animals fed plants. What could be more simple? Now, in CAFOs, we feed herbivores food they aren't designed to eat and, on cropland, we feed plants chemicals they aren't designed to consume. You will never convince me that manure from a cows rear-end is the same (in any way from the plants perspective) as petroleum based Ammonium from a tractor.

Before we go on lets not get confused about the livestock in general. Some environmental activists want to eliminate cattle all together. Well, why not? They are producing Methane, a highly destructive greenhouse gas and doesn't red meat cause heart disease and probably cancer?. Do not forget that tens of millions of Bison once roamed North America. That's not even counting all the herds of Methane producing ruminants in Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, and Europe. These animals were and are EXTREMELY vital for the health of the land. Some scientists even say that the very act of grazing (large tongue slurping up loads of grass and spreading saliva everywhere) is extremely important to the health of the plants and soil. And the people that consumed these animals not so long ago did not experience heart disease. Do not be fooled that cattle are the problem.

Mismanagement is the problem.

How do we solve this mismanagement? Should we call our senator? NO WAY. You just get frustrated and then they will pass a bill that will HURT the very people trying to manage land correctly. Instead, lets take what I call the "Voting with the Green Ballot" approach. You vote every day, usually 3-5 times a day with your dollar. What system are you supporting? Who gets your hard earned money? Is it the CAFO, or is it the Salad Bar Beef producer?

Anyway... I'll get down from the soap box and tell you about our herd.

Currently we have a herd of about 30 cattle dedicated for Salad Bar beef. We usually run about 400-600 stockers year around, but they are part of our custom grazing enterprise which I will discuss in detail on a later post. Our plan is to butcher twice or three times a year and sell Wholes, halves, and quarters of beef. If you are interested we will be butchering about June and need orders in by May. The sooner the better... like tomorrow. Once I get a website up and running I will post all specific dates for ordering beef, pork, chicken, etc.

Since I came back in October, we have been striving to feed our herbivores only what they are designed to eat. Rotational grazing is in effect and alfalfa hay and/or alfalfa pellets is used to supplement any protein deficiencies. We do not use Hormones to increase growth and we do not use antibiotics to fight infection. We want to build their immune systems, not prop them up in some unsustainable fashion.

If you would like to see first hand what we do, or have any questions either come and see us or leaving a question in the comment section. Here is a link to us on Google:

Phelan Ranch Location

Life on the Ranch... A Mini-Series

I have decided to do a little mini-posting-series about the many enterprises on the Phelan Ranch. We have many animals and varieties, so I think each deserves its own post.

Here is a list of enterprises so far (more to come in warmer seasons):

Salad-Bar Beef

Salad-Bar Lamb

Salad-Bar Rabbit

Salad-Bar "Real" Milk

Pastured Pork

Pastured Eggs

Custom Grazing

I will work my way down the list with pictures and stories for each so you can learn a little more about our ranch. I'm always open for questions about anything... especially if it relates to one of my postings. So, if you are curious, put on your yellow hat and ask.

Thanks for tuning in!!

Your Farmer on a Ranch,

Grady Phelan

Welcome To The Ranch

Well, the time has arrived for me to start blogging about my personal farm. Many of you followed my blog about being an apprentice at Polyface Farm in Swoope, VA with the Salatin family, and now I hope you will continue to follow me on my journey onto my own farm... I mean ranch. I guess once you cross the Mississippi River farms turn into ranches. I don't know why, but they do. Anyway... Welcome!!