Northern New Mexico Winter, Where Wood Is All That

Since my blogging friends, like Guy and Diane, have been wondering where my blog posts are, here you go. I've been wondering the same thing myself and my only explanation is that I've become used to life here in Northern New Mexico and so you must be used to it, too.

Yes, this is misguided thinking on my part because there is always something new and I just needed to get out there and find it. And we have new stuff right here.

Like this pile of wood:

Since we arrived seven years ago this coming March, we've been gathering wood from the property, nothing alive, just dead and downed wood, and it's been enough to keep our home nice and cozy. We are running out of dead wood, though, and don't want to cut down any of our trees. So we called a local wood supplier who has a contract with the Forest Service to thin trees and he was glad to sell us this load of logs.

Tom has been busy cutting and splitting the logs. There are about six cords of wood there.


Ms. Pearl supervises.  She is good at that. Also sleeping on the couch. She's good at that, too.

The new steers, Regis and Phil (Bin) and Jimmies Fallon and Kimmel drop by to see what's going on.

They like to play the log rolling game. That's Jimmy Fallon. He has a bigger head than Jimmy Kimmel.

Tom gets the work done. Ms. Pearl's job is to look noble.

What's my job? I'll let you know next blog post.

First Snow: The Lazy Boyz Want Snacks!

Over the weekend we had snow, so the ski areas are happy and so was Ms. Pearl.

Playing Frisbee in the snow is the best thing, ever. The Frisbee lands under the snow and Ms. Pearl must dig for it. It's a fun time for a dog, that's for sure!

The Lazy Boyz, Roman and Buffalo, are looking decidedly, well, beefy. And very furry.

Do you have any snacks?

When temps get into the teens and below, or if it snows and the grass is covered up, we feed extra hay. If The Boyz don't keep up their calories, they will lose weight. They are full figured dudes and we want to keep it that way.

It's almost sundown, but the sun is still on the rim rock for a few more minutes.

Ms. P says that's just enough to throw the old Frisbee one more time.

Meet the New Guys!

A little over a week ago we bought two new Black Angus steers to wander around the ranch and eat grass.  They were born a little over six months ago on a ranch just eight miles away. By purchasing our stock locally, the babies won't have any altitude or weather adjustment issues.

First, though, they had a week's stay in a corral since they had just left their mommas. We wouldn't want these little guys wandering down the road, looking for their moms.

When I went to their home ranch to choose, the babies were with their mommas, ambling about, eating grass and drinking milk. Little did they know it was time to be weaned.
So for the first couple of days they were sad, mooing for their mommas. A friend who learned about this said it made her boobs leak!

And then she said that was TMI.

But the other day we opened the corral gate.

It didn't take much for them to realize there was a whole other world out there.

One with real grass, not hay. Yummers.

These guys are a little under 350 pounds right now, but in a year they will be close to 1200-1400 pounds after almost nonstop eating of grass, oak, and whatever else looks tasty.If it snows and covers up the grass, or gets really cold, they will get some hay, too.

How will their lives be different from factory farmed steers?

1. They will never see a feedlot, where thousands of cattle spend six to twelve months of their lives eating mostly corn, which they are not evolved to eat.

2. Because they will never see a feedlot, they will have happy tummies and never need antibiotics. The grain that factory farmed beef eat causes digestive upset and liver damage and they are often ill, so they need medicine.

3. They will breathe easily and see clearly. No gigantic pens full of beef cattle, kicking up manure contaminated dust which can get into lungs and eyes.

4. Stress will be minimal. Treats are served almost every day so the steers will not be afraid of their caretakers.

5. They will have a calm death. Some slaughterhouses process 300-400 cattle an hour. It can be chaotic. Our steers will either die right here at the ranch, not knowing what hit them, or will travel 30 miles to a processor who kills one beef at a time in a quiet room.

One thing I have learned in the three years we have raised beef cattle is that it's important to put a face on what you eat and on who is raising it.

When we eat an animal we are complicit in that animal's welfare whether we want to be or not. I have a hard time eating meat from animals and farmers I don't know because who knows what kind of life that animal had?

May I suggest a book?  Read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan where he follows each of four meals from source to final product.

That's when I really began thinking about how my food is produced.

Early October Snow

While I stayed inside, toasty and warm on the couch and perusing the internet, Tom and Ms. Pearl went out exploring the snow that accumulated last night. Pearlie had fun chasing those pesky ravens. They drive her nuts.

The snow is a couple weeks early, but because the daytime temperatures are well above freezing, it will have melted away in a day or two. The steers will get some hay rations today since the grass is covered over.

Tom Boyle photos

The weather dudes and dudettes are predicting rain and some snow for the higher ups, with sunny skies tomorrow.

That's good, because these photos look bleak and I don't do bleak.

If we were like Ms. Pearl, this would be an opportunity to enjoy the change in weather and to plow through the snow like an insane person. Not a bad attitude at all.