Bryce and I just recently returned home from our very first National Cattle and Beef Association CattleCon in Orlando, FL.
I have been to California Cattlemen's and CattleWomen's conferences, but not to a national conference until about two weeks ago!
I was very surprised to find out I won two awards this year that is recognized nationally within the Unites States cattle world.
The first award was the recipe contest! I randomly decided to enter a recipe that we used at San Diego Farm Bureau's Annual event called, "GRAZE at the Fields."
Backstory: Two years ago, we were invited to GRAZE to showcase a beefy bite for attendees to enjoy and talk to them about our business and cattle ranching in the San Diego area. We gave the talented chefs at Viewpoint Brewing Company our ground beef to do a collaborative beef recipe and beer pairing for this farm to table style event. They decided to create a Cuban Picadillo recipe (you can find that exact recipe here) and paired it with Viewpoint's Amber Ale.
Viewpoint and Flying F Ranch have worked together for years in picking up spent beer grain from their brewery and supplementing some feed for our feeder steers (future beef shares) and even to our mother cows to maintain their body condition.
Additionally, we did our very first ranch to table dinner on Flying F Ranch with Viewpoint heading the menu and pairing our beef with their beer. It is a wonderful relationship and we each benefit from each other for our businesses.
I submitted the Picadillo Recipe on a whim and was shocked to be notified that I had won the recipe contest for CattleCon.
When being interviewed and asked about the recipe, I gave full credit to the chefs of Viewpoint Brewing Company. This Picadillo Recipe will be featured on BEEF. It's What's For Dinner in the near future! It is no historic family recipe! However, it is very tasty and a fun twist on ground beef! Give it a try!
The second award I received was the Beef Advocate of the Year for 2023.
This came to me again out of surprise when I received a phone call from two of my good friends, Kenzie and Kori at California Beef Council. They had the chance to tell me that I was selected Advocate of the Year and I honestly was lost for words.
Each year, an advocate in the beef industry is selected as someone who engages with the public sharing their story and developing trust and connections to the beef and cattle industry.
This year has been a big year for me in our beef business. From quitting my corporate veterinary technician job and going full force into being a beef rancher.... I have gone 100% into the cattle business and I have so many people to thank for this decision to follow my passion and what lights my heart on fire.
A huge force that has gotten me to where I am today for beef advocacy would be the Trailblazer Program of NCBA (National Cattlemen's Beef Association). Without the great people that went through this program and my mentor, Chandler Mulvaney, I would not have received this very honorable award.
This year with the Trailblazer Program, I was fortunate to travel around the United States along with 9 other "Trailblazers" learning about all sectors of the beef industry so I can create a better understanding for those who are removed from agriculture, especially in cattle.
We got to visit the NCBA office for media training for a few days, we cooked burgers in the BEEF. It's What's For Dinner Kitchen, got to travel to Five Rivers Feed Lot, Colorado State University Meat and Animal Science programs, Leachman Cattle to learn about genetics, we even got to do a cooking class to show off our kitchen skills!
I have made the best friends through this program who are now like family to me. Additionally, I have created and grown great connections with people all across the beef world.
I cannot thank everyone enough for the support within and outside of the industry. When people ask me about the Advocate of the Year Award, I just have found myself saying, "I am just spreading to good word about Beef." I am glad many people can connect with my experiences as a cattle producer in California.
As I mentioned above, my time with the Trailblazer Team of 2023 allowed me to get experience in media interviews and how to communicate my story to build connection to beef.
Constantly, I hear: "Tell your story." and "If we don't tell our story, someone else will." within the agricultural space because we always feel villainized for the work we do to put food on not only our own tables, but on your table, neighbor Kathy's table, your child's school lunch program... and so on.
I can respect that. I understand the value behind telling our stories as agricultural producers. However, I also don't think the general public wants to hear how your great grandpa started the ranch and give an entire history lesson of your life. Hate to break it to you, but your story is boring.
I think, if we can tell our story in the shoes of someone from the outside, we have the ability to develop a deeper connection that actually sticks.
Why? Because humans are humans and they LOVE to see themselves in a story. people LOVE talking about themselves and their experiences. It is human nature.
Example I use to share my story: I am a mom. I have a connection with all sorts of moms just because of the fact that I have children. I tell stories about the values my kids have learned by being a part of the ranch and our business. All the fun we have as a family creating memories. This helps outsiders who don't really have a connection to cattle/agriculture appreciate my story because they have a connection to me, they can see themselves in my story.
Anyway, through out our time spent in Florida, I had the opportunity to speak with several Ag media reporters, podcasters (you can check out some of the interviews here) , and even did a live Cattle Chats panel with attendees on the trade show floor. I was able to utilize the skills I have developed through out this year with training I got from the Trailblazer Program. It was a complete blast!
I was excited to speak with RFDTV twice. Once speaking to a reporter about the Beef Advocate of the Year Award and once with the ladies of FarmHER and RanchHER sharing about me experience as a female rancher of San Diego.
BeeFit 5k! I haven't ran in a WHILE. Not like I used to anyway. Somehow, I convinced part of our Trailblazer group and Bryce to run the 5k with my at 6:30am just outside one of the nearby hotels.
That was a lot of fun and I love a good morning run! Bryce and I are doing 75Hard as I write this, so we were able to get an outside workout in first thing in the morning which was a bonus to a busy couple days!
Universal Studios, Orlando turned into "Cowboys and Coasters" where they rented out part of the part at night just for CattleCon members. That was super fun! We got to ride a bunch of rides multiple times, dance to some good country music and enjoy each other's company.
Overall, great week! Bryce enjoyed talking with other cattlemen across the states and he attended several cattlemen's college classes learning all about beef and cattle.
It feels good to be home. We have been playing a lot of catch up and our calving season is in full swing (babies everywhere!). We literally hit the ground running ever since we got back home. So, this little update has taken me about two weeks to get onto the blog. Life on the ranch is always a hustle!
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It was an honor to speak on behalf of the beef and cattle industry especially for Southern California. This area is not known for cattle ranches. We are a very small operation and my family has been in the San Diego region for over 100 years. Being able to connect and share our mission with the people who attended the tour was an incredible experience.
At the end of the tour, we visited with our new bull, Huckleberry and fed our beef cattle. Huckleberry got lots of attention! He loves the camera!
After the ranch tour, we drove down to San Diego and had a beautiful six course beefy dinner at food blogger, Whitney Bond's GORGEOUS home! Whitney is the hostess with the mostest and crushed the dinner and made my tastebuds do backflips with each course.
THANK YOU to California Beef Council for organizing this amazing event for these wonderfully talented people of the foodie world!
THANK YOU to everyone who came, had conversations with us and for loving my favorite protein, BEEF!
Lastly, THANK YOU Whitney for having all 20-ish of us over for dinner!
We are excited to share a similar experience with our first Ranch-To-Table Dinner we are calling "Hops & Hooves" Wednesday October 25th! This is going to be a more intimate experience for locals, highlighting our beef paired with Viewpoint Brewing Company's beer. We pick up the spent beer grain from Viewpoint to feed our cattle as a supplemental feed. This is a full circle event!
Grab your tickets HERE
]]>-We ask that you pick up your beef share at the butcher shop. The shop is located in Riverside. However, if you need help with delivery, I will personally deliver for you with a delivery fee of $150-$200 depending on your location.
-See the graphic below for an idea of what to expect for preparing your freezer!
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I remember sitting on the floor in our very old crummy, baby pink colored bathroom, filling out an application on my iPhone. Both of my toddler boys were squirting me in the head with tiny squirt guns as I tapped on my phone.
Starting a business can seem so daunting. Especially when you don't have the help or finances up front to get up and running.
I was filling out an application for a scholarship that was offered by the M5 Entrepreneurs . The Scholarship was awarded to a few individuals to be able to apply for a comprehensive small business course and community online.
The M5 Entrepreneurs is a small business suite full of resources, education and like minded business owners that Mary and Brian Heffernan had created after their success selling and shipping retail meats off their ranch.
To my surprise, I was awarded one of the scholarships to apply towards the M5 Entrepreneurs courses! I took advantage and officially became a member of the M5 Community and started taking the courses on my own time schedule.
This community and mentorship that I took a chance on a few years ago, has developed my business to what it is today. I am SO THANKFUL for the courses and content that Mary and Brian had put together for others to learn from and apply to their businesses. I seriously don't think I could of gotten to where I am today without it.
These courses share all of their knowledge and expertise to help you build and grow YOUR small business - no matter the industry.
From entity formation and insurance to payroll and funding, branding and marketing to growth through social media and diversification in profitability to selling online and shipping goods.
It is a great time to celebrate the business you currently operate or have a dream business in the works!
-Taxes, Quickbooks & Accounting
-Insurance, permits, Trademarks & Coverage
-Websites & eCommerce Platforms
Oh, but there is more to celebrate this week!!
M5 Entreprenuers & G5 Insurance Agency are offering a $10k grant to apply to your small business dreams!
The application is VERY simple and worth a minute or two to fill out if you have a small business or know someone who does.
Simply Click the LINK Below to Apply!!
He bought be a bouquet for my birthday once when we lived in a trailer park in San Diego and he made us a steak dinner to celebrate. My mom, almost-sister-in-law (at the time) had bought me a bouquet for my college graduation. I routinely bought a bouquet every time I shopped at Trader Joe's.
They always stand out, look bold and carried a uniqueness that I will never get tired of.
A few years ago, we grew a hop yard. Bryce had been experimenting on growing barley, wheat and hops to prepare for craft beer a few years back. We did end up floor malting the grain and harvesting the hops a few years in a row. However, we let it go as we developed new business ventures. This space has water and old irrigating we could utilize and I loved the idea of bringing it back to life in a new way.
A sunflower field. I am imaging a field with several varieties of sunflowers to enjoy. We tore out the old drip lines, re-disked the area and started planting mid-March 2022. We are spacing out our planting every two weeks to have a longer growing season.
We are finishing up planting in the next week or so and can't wait to see the flowers bloom!
We are hoping to have by appointment only, U-Pick sunflowers, bouquet classes, dinner events, yoga in the field and more! Now, help us pray to the flower Gods that they grow!
]]>So far, we have 3 calves on the ground that were born last week. Luckily, the heifers that calved are amazing mothers. We have even caught one mom in particular nursing two babies at a time while the other mom came to eat hay and spent brewer's grain with the rest of the herd. What a good friend. Don't worry, we bring her hay as well.
I have also seen these three heifers actually hide their newborns in bushes and tall grass around our pond below the house. This is also a very natural instinct we see in cattle. The mother cows do this so they can go graze and mingle with the herd while they know their baby is safe. Like a newborn should, they usually take a solid nap and when mom comes back they are ready to nurse, wagging their tails and head bumping mom's utters to help the milk drop.
For the American Angus Association, we have to weigh our calves within 24 hours of birth to record and report back. This helps with collecting phenotypic data to regulate and ensure that the EPDs (estimated progeny differences) are as accurate as they can be. We use both calf tape we bought through Valley Vet and an actual scale which we hold the calf, we ourselves and the calf and subtract our weight. We have noticed the calf tape gives a lower weight by 5-7 lbs. So, we have been using the scale weight for reporting back to American Angus Association.
We are happy to report that so far, we have not had any sort of complications or had to intervene during birth. This is partially because we choose genetics that help our herd produce and develop calves that suit our program.
The bulls we chose have great "calving ease" numbers. This is literally a genetic component that gives a better chance for a bull to throw a smaller calf so the mother can give birth easily. Additionally, our cows/heifers were selected for being good potential mothers with their docility, milk score, calving ease and maternal traits. Selecting cattle with good genetics on paper really shines through during our calving season and makes a huge difference in our business.
Sometimes, cows will reject their baby, not produce adequate milk, get injured or even die during birth. This is definitely more prevalent in heifers (young cows that have not produced a calf yet). It is important for us to check the herd multiple times a day to ensure everyone is doing well and if we do notice a cow having difficulty calving, we can assist. If a mother rejects her baby after calving, we will take that baby closer to home and bottle feed it until it is ready to be weaned (5-6 months old).
Depending on the cow and the situation, she may get one more chance to calve the following year. Such as us having to assist and then she accepts her baby. An example were we would need to consider selling that cow is if she completely rejects her baby, or if she doesn't calve that year.
That may seem harsh, but hear me out. Having extra head on our land that isn't turning a profit is not worth keeping. It is like having someone rent your house and they don't may for several months. We ware running a business and do our best to give our cattle everything they need to succeed in our program
After these girls calve, we check on them several times a day to ensure mom and baby are doing well and adapting to each other. We also feed the moms some extra hay and grain to refuel after giving birth. It is also important to watch for any other medical intervention signs like not expelling the placenta fully, mastitis, difficulty moving for the mothers. For calves, we need to make sure they are nursing, getting around well and bright/alert.
Keep up with calving season my checking out our Instagram @flying_f_ranch/Facebook Flying F Ranch stories. I try to document what I can if I am able to. Questions regarding calving? Comment below and I am happy to answer.
]]>That morning, our oldest son was home sick from school so he and little brother had to tag along my husband and I as we helped get the steers ready for slaughter.
To be honest, growing up in this environment has me more seasoned when it comes to life and death here on the ranch. I raised pigs, lambs and rabbits in 4H and had to go through this process every time. It was never easy, but did get a little better each time.
I didn't think twice when I told Warren (our oldest boy), "Hey, get dressed we have to help the butcher with the steers today." He immediately had tears surfacing and cried quietly into the nook of his elbow.
I hugged him as I also had tears welling up. I told him, "Buddy, we gave these steers the best life possible. We cared for them rain, snow and sunshine. They got head scratches, open pastures, fresh water and plenty of space to roam. We took care of them, so they can take care of us and many other people." Warren squeezed me tight and nodded his head and understood their purpose.
We went to the ranch as the mobile butcher arrived. Bryce greeted our butcher while I helped the kids find a snack at the ranch house. The disbatch was quick and painless. All three steers were enjoying breakfast as they fell to the ground unknowingly.
Then, I brought the boys to the area they were processing the beef. It always amazes me to watch them do their work. Quick, efficient with so much knowledge. We asked questions and learned a ton. Each time we learn something new. The kids even chimed in here and there.
I shared the entire process on our Instagram stories. I had a question box for any questions and I was blown away with the messages coming in. I thought I would make a blog blog of the questions to explain in further detail. So, here it goes.
1.) How much meat do you get off of one steer?
The general rule is take 60% of your live weight to get your carcass weight. Then, another 60% to get your custom cuts. Example: 1400lb steer (Our current average weight steer) you would get 840lbs carcass weight, then 504lbs of cuts of beef.
2.) How old are the steers when they are processed?
This round, our steers were about 18 months of age. We have our new Angus calves due to be born in February 2022 and they might "finish" (get to goal fat and weight for that specific animal) sooner. possibly by 15 months of age. We will see how it plays out. This will be beneficial for us since California drought struggle is very real and present in our current environment. Having claves finish sooner could help our land recover quicker and have more viable longevity.
3.) How are the steers disbatched?
Our mobile butcher takes care of this part for us which I am very thankful for. He has done this thousands of times so I am confident in his skills. On slaughter day, the steers are happily eating grain or hay and the butcher will whistle and once the steer lifts his head, light out. They never even know what happened. it is so fast and efficient. There is never any suffering or fear.
4.) How long does it take to process one steer?
Our butchers had each steer done in about 40 mins. They have the tools and knowledge needed to get it done in an efficient timely matter. The mobile butcher we used has a special truck with a boom to lift the carcass so getting the hides and organs out is very easy. As well, they save their bodies by having access to this equipment.
5.) Where does the carcass go afterwards?
We work with a butcher shop that custom cuts the beef to our customer's standards. Our mobile butcher does the kill and splits up the beef into quarters. Then, they truck it to the butcher shop to be cut into steaks, roasts, burger and more.
6.) Do you ever process your own meat?
We process our own venison all the time. I also help a neighbor ranch process thanksgiving turkeys every year too. I absolutely love animal anatomy (I'm a registered vet tech). So I do love doing the process myself when the time presents. However, for beef we never have. We trust our mobile butchers more than ourselves and we want it done right. They are professionals and I love working and learning from them.
7.) Do you do anything with the hide, skull or offal?
I have never done anything with hides or skull simply because to do the work myself would not be worth it at the end. Too much time put in, plus very stinky and dirty work. I could send off hides or a skull to be tanned and cleaned, but I haven't done that yet. Plus, most of our steers are polled, which means they have no horns. Most people want to purchase a horned skull. As for the hides, most of our cattle and all black or red which isn't as exciting as a speckled or spotted hide.
Offal are the organs. I usually ask my buyers if they want offal with their beef order. Some do, some do not. If people don't want offal I utilize it for my personal use as dog food. Also- they fat that surrounds the kidneys (AKA suet) is amazing once rendered down for cooking. You may of heard of beef tallow, it is very easy to make and super beneficial for you! You can check out my blog post I wrote about how to render your own tallow. Super easy.
8.) What do you feed your steers?
Our operation is unique because we raise our beef from birth to harvest. The majority of their life here, they are on open pasture with the rest of the herd. Once they reach weaning age (about 8 months+/-) They are separated from the herd and together in a new pasture.
We keep them on grass while also slowly implementing spent brewer's grain we get from a couple local San Diego breweries. This is what we call "backgrounding" which is basically just getting the steers used to grain while also having plenty of grass to forage.
As a few months goes by, we start adding in beef builder finisher grain into the spent brewer's grain. The finisher grain is a special formulated mix we get from a local milling company. It has corn, milo, barley, oats and molasses. We start then low and increase slowly as directed by the manufacture. It is super important to not over feed them because cattle are prone to bloat which could be deadly.
Once we have them on finisher, we keep them on this diet for about 3-4 months until they look good and "finished." Meaning, that they have enough fat to be processed.
We often get asked if we provide grass-finished beef. At this time we do not. With the California drought upon us, it is very hard to keep a balance of healthy pastures and cattle. We are constantly watching the grass and making tough decisions like selling some of our herd to ensure we have proper pasture management. Grass-finished cattle are on pasture much longer which is a big component with our operation. It would be too damaging for our land at this time. If we are about to lease additional land, we may consider grass-finished beef too!
9.) How can we buy your beef?
At this time, we have small batched of steers ready a few times a year. Lately, it has been 3 steers every 4-6 months or so. However, next round 2022 Summer steers we will have beef available.
We ask people interested to please subscribe to our email list to stay in the know on when beef is available. I am working on some sort of waiting list but it has been overwhelming how many people are interested in our beef already!
We are so grateful and hope to be able to provide more beef in the future as we get our operation off it's feet! We are relatively new at this and we appreciate all of the support we have attained along the journey.
Well, that is what I have for you! I know there are many questions simmering and I am happy to answer. Either leave a comment below or shoot me an email at afender614@gmail.com with any additional questions!
]]>Purebred cattle have more data recorded and are used for breeding stock and producing better genetic potential within herds.
Commercial cattle aren't as monitored and are typically sold at an auction or marketed as beef animals.
Part of our game plan is to AI (artificially inseminate) some of our older commercial girls and our new registered girls.
Why AI when we have a good bull? Great question.
We want to AI with other outstanding bulls that have proven genetics to take our herd in a direction of success within a decent time frame. We want to move our momentum forward to provide better, consistent beef for our customers. In addition, we want to diversify our potential by incorporating other great bull genetics to our girls. That way, we can keep a bull calf we like to have in our herd eventually or sell bulls/heifers to other ranchers to increase profitability and potential.
Our bull we bought from Kansas is our "clean up bull." Now, a clean up bull is the guy getting the girls who did not have a successful AI. Typically, AI success rates are around 60% +/-. So, we are artificially insemenating 14 girls this year, which means about 7-8 on average will get pregnant with an outside bull. Then, we will release our Kansas bull (who we call Ashland) in with the ladies to take care of anyone who didn't get bred through AI. In about 60 days after letting Ashland in with our girls, we will do a blood test to check for pregnancy in our herd.
Again, the benefit to AI is to diversify our genetics. We will keep any heifers and some bulls with potential to implement back into our breeding program especially from our purebred girls. Ashland has great numbers for building great beef so his offspring will be best suited for our beef program for our locals. Anything that comes out of the AI breeding, we will keep for our herd to grow or to sell as seed stock (breeding animals).
We are working with a veterinarian to get our medications to make this whole timed AI situation work as smooth as possible. Yes, timed AI.. Which means all the girls we are planning to breed with these outside bulls are given certain medications and products to have them all come into heat at the same time.
Poor Ashland is nearby the girls and he is feeling the pain..
a few weeks ago, we inserted a progesterone coated implant called a CIDR into the heifers and cows intravaginally. This helps everyone synchronize into estrus. We also gave each cow an injection of Fertagyl which helps drop an egg. A week later, we pull out the CIDR and give another injection of Lutalyse which helps improve success in pregnancy. Then, we added a pretty cool scratch-off style heat indicator sticker on the tail head of each girl. Within 54ish hours, the herd should be ready to breed.
We were connected with a gentleman who is associated within the Angus Association. Jason AI's cattle all over the nation and collects semen on bulls to freeze and save in a bovine cryobank. What an interesting job! Genetics are so fun and it is so beneficial to network with an expert in the Angus world. We are so appreciative of our "AI Guy", Jason.
The big question is.. How do you know it is time to breed?
When the heat/estrous indicator sticker is completely scratched off exposing a bright color (ours was a neon yellow) that female is ready to be bred. The sticker is rubbed off by other females mounting one another. A female is ready to be bred when she is in "standing heat," which is just that. She is standing waiting to be bred. Other common signs to watch for is balling (mooing), everyone following one specific female around the pen, resting a head on the backside of the female in heat and mounting.
We are over-the-moon excited to see black calves hit the ground this fall! We are excited to ramp up our production and increase our overall potential in our operation.
Several old school ranchers have told us "You're not going to make money if you stay in the cattle business." I say, we will prove them wrong and I hope we make them proud.
I will never disrespect my elders and idols within the industry, but truth is: Things change and people don't like change.
Change is what keeps life interesting. We are always evolving and to trying keep up with the latest and greatest. Improvements are always happening. Research and studies are continuously being released. There is so much to learn and grow upon in the cattle/beef industry.
Bryce and I both agree that by moving in the purebred direction, it will push us to reach for our main goal; to provide San Diego the best quality beef possible.
Okay, girls. Please be pregnant. Fingers crossed!
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A few weeks ago, our family processed our second batch of Flying F Beef right here on the ranch. We raise our cattle on pasture their entire lives. When our beef program steers are about a year old, we implement spent brewer's grain from local breweries and distilleries. How awesome is it that we can up-cycle waste to our feeders to provide nutrient dense protein for our people? Sustainability in action.
Then, about three months prior to harvest, we slowly work their way to a beef builder grain mix formulated by an animal nutritionist with plenty of pasture, forage or hay. This helps us finish our cattle at a proficient pace while also applying wonderful marbling and flavor to the beef. Yum!
Currently, our finisher cattle are only grain-finished. They are always offered pasture or hay as mentioned above. We plan to raise grass-finished beef in the coming years in addition to our grain-finished once we nail down our genetics with our Black Angus herd. For now, this is our program and we are happy with the outcome that has come full circle!
We had a mobile butcher come to do the kill, butcher and breakdown of the carcasses. He then transported our beef to our cut and wrap shop in a refrigerated truck to be custom cut for our customers.
Our butcher shop works one on one with our buyers to ensure they get exactly what they want. The carcasses are dry aged for 14 days and then ready for pick up. We already had a few buyers get their beef and sent us photos and wonderful reviews.
Want to check out our beef pricing? Click the link below!
https://flyingfranch.org/pages/about-our-beef
What an honorable experience. I had the kids with us as we watched the entire process happen while chatting with our mobile slaughter guy. The kids were interested, asking questions and understanding the reason we do this. We care for these animals so they can take care of us, other families and friends.
We give our buyers the option to keep organ meat like heart, kidney, liver, tongue. However, most of our buyers didn't want to keep offal (organs). I couldn't let any of the offal go to waste. So, Bryce and I had a processing set-up in our kitchen to cut up liver for our dogs, separate kidney from the fat (this is the BEST for making beef tallow), heart and tongue. We ended up keeping one heart and tongue to experiment with, gave one heart to a close friend, and almost the rest of the remaining offal went to my sister-in-law who feeds her cat a raw food diet.
Kidney fat, WOW! I was told that this is the best fat to make tallow. Beef tallow is a wonderful addition in the kitchen and has so many uses. You can obviously cook with it. It makes a wonderful replacement for butter or oil when sautéing veggies, cooking meats and seasoning cast iron. Definitely my go-to to cast iron care. Other than cooking, tallow can be transformed into soaps, chapstick, or candles! I just love how versatile beef can be! Also, it is totally easy to make! No preservatives and all natural!
We respect our animals by trying to utilize every bit we can. Again, we care for them so they can care for us and others around us. Being able to use he whole animal is sustainable and nourishing. We will be harvesting beef again in September/October 2021! Be sure to be on our mailing list to know first when we have wholesale beef ready to purchase!
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I won't lie. Slaughter day is never easy. It feels like I am reliving my 4H and FFA years on auction day on a bigger scale. These are animals that we cared for every single day of their lives. Sun up to sun down; we check their health, provided ample food, water and shelter. We did this on holidays, birthdays, snow days and triple digest days.
Every. Single. Day.
Why do we do it? Well, as with everything in life, I believe everyone has a purpose.
Our purpose here on the ranch is to be stewards of the land and livestock. We are here to continue a legacy while writing our own story. We are here to produce quality raised beef direct to you and you family.
Our cattle also have a purpose.
We care for them so they can care for us and so many other families. They are part of our source of income, food and way of life. They fill the freezers of local San Diegan families with nutrient dense protein. They help build memories around the dinner table with full hearts and bellies.
Not to mention, beef is truly the best!
1.) You have a relationship with your rancher.
Having a connection to your local rancher helps stimulate the local economy by using your consumer dollars to buy direct.
It also provides a trust and transparency in the agricultural industry. You get to be involved by knowing exactly what was put into your beef, how it is raised, who raised it and the environment the it lived it. Being honest in agriculture has been hard in the past because of fear of opposing opinions and agendas.
Here at Flying F Ranch, we always have our door open and are happy to answer questions and provide all the information consumers need to make conscious food buying decisions. We openly share our journey on social media (@flying_f_ranch on Instagram and Flying F Ranch on FaceBook) with anyone who wants to learn more so we can bridge the gap and create connection and understanding with our consumers.
We love our cattle and customers and value both whole heartedly!
2.) Beef is Nutrient Dense.
Did you know beef has 10 essential nutrients (Iron, Choline, Protein, Selenium, B Vitamins, Zinc, Phosphorus, Niacin & Riboflavin), about 1/2 the daily amount of protein in a 3oz serving and is a great protein paired with active lifestyles. I love running and I know beef is the perfect protein to make be feel full and nourished. (When we have beef in our freezer. Otherwise, we also love wild game!)
Ladies- Pass the chicken or veggie burger for BEEF. Iron is one of the toughest nutrients to obtain that women need to maintain a healthy body. You don't need much beef to reap the ongoing benefits! Just 3 oz is a small steak. High nutrient value with low calorie input. Win-win.
Also- there are myths that have been debunked about beef and heart health. Recent research shows that lean beef can actually improve cholesterol levels.
3.) Cut Out The Middle Man.
When you are buying from a rancher or farmer, you are getting yourself wholesome products directly from the source.
Think about this scenario: How many hands to you think an apple goes through before you purchase it at the grocery store? The apple was picked in an orchard who knows where, put into large bins, transported to a facility that cleanses and packages, then transported again to the store. While it is at the store, it is handled by numerous people before it ends up in your cart. How old is that apple? Where did it really come from? Who grew it?
And that is just an apple, guys... What about fish, shrimp, chicken, produce, everything.
The best way to purchase your food is from the rancher or farmer in your area. You know exactly where it came from, how it was produced/raised, you can ask questions and get the answers, you see the entire process go from the ranch to your plate.
This is a great way to spend your dollars to get healthy products, help our local producers and again, stimulate our local economy. As well, you get what you want and connect with your food producers.
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For the past year, Bryce has been doing extensive research on purebred cattle. Particularly Black Angus.
We had chatted with our close friends who have a registered herd, an artificial insemination expert and well-known ranchers in the breed. Angus was our pick.
Why Black Angus?
Black Angus is America's finest beef on the market. As well, the Angus Association prides themselves as "The Business Breed" and the goal is to bring a superior genetics that generate great profitability. We essentially want to produce the best beef, bulls and heifers to our herd.
The Angus Association has done a phenomenal job collecting data from these purebred cattle to formulate Estimated Progeny Differences (AKA EPDs).
Don't know what an EPD is?? Basically, data is collected from cattle by blood or tissue samples and processed and analyzed in a lab to project that calf's expected performance against other cattle. As well, the data collected on that calf is also utilized in the parent's EPD score to further analyze performance within the breed.
Bryce is very EPD savvy. I on the other hand, need a cheatsheet and a cup of coffee to really understand and focus on the numbers. However, it is beneficial to our business and our herd. We are working towards a product that benefits many sectors within the industry. Quality beef for consumers and profitable herds for local ranchers.
Our end goal is to provide Certified Angus Beef as well as superior bulls and bred heifers for our community and fellow ranchers.
To earn the CAB logo, the very best of all Angus beef must meet 10 standards, making it more selective than USDA Choice and Prime. The numbers don't lie, and they are a great guide to know exactly what to expect in the end product.
The Bull
Bryce was digging deep in the Angus world by speaking with producers all across the United States and doing his homework online and in bull catalogs. He signed up for our first ever auction, which was online on the Superior Livestock.
The Gardiner Angus Ranch Auction was at the end of January and it was raining that day. The kids and I were counting coins in their piggy bank because I told them months prior that on a rainy day, I would teach them how to count change. They didn't forget that promise I made.
After maybe 45 minutes, Bryce walks in with a paper he printed and said "Whelp, we bought a bull."
We had no idea what happened next other that we would most likely get contacted by someone to collect our payment. Sure enough, someone called and we got it all settled.
The Heifers (AKA a female who has not had a calf yet)
Meanwhile, as we were waiting to get our bull shipping figured out, we sold part of our original herd. My dad gifted us 10 head of heifers as our wedding gift in 2014. It was bitter sweet, but we needed to make that move in order to diversify and improve our herd and genetic potential. Luckily, we sold our girls and a few calves to good friends just down the road. We turned that money plus some savings around and invested in a 9 registered Black Angus heifers from Central California.
Three of the girls are already bred and due to calve in September. The rest, we will AI (artificial inseminate) with the rest of our herd late April or early May and use our new bull as a "clean-up bull" (which is a bull that will breed any cow/heifer who didn't get pregnant through AI. We just needed to get the bull to our ranch.
Back to the Bull
Next step was to get the bull here. We discovered that truck drivers are contracted through these large seed-stock (purebred/breeding cattle) operations to ship large loads of cattle through out the United States. They have several locations they stop and drop off bulls to their new owners. We were in contact with our driver and he told us where he would be in the coming days to pick up our bull.
Bryce drove up north 3 hours to pick up our bull we call "Ashland." I remember getting a late night text from Bryce and he said "We have our bull!" with a photo of Mr. Handsome Ashland in the trailer. He got home around 1am and unloaded Ashland at my dad's ranch across the street.
The next morning we went down to my dad's ranch to see our bull. He was massive for an 18 month old bull. Super beefy and gorgeous. My dad had some weaned heifer calves in the next pen that were literally twitterpated for him. It was like watching a bunch of high school girls observing from afar a shirtless football player run laps around a field, in slow motion.
We brought Ashland to our place a few days later and he now hangs out with our steers and bred heifers until we AI everyone. After AI is complete, we will release him to do his job and be a sire.
Conclusion
This Angus thing has been a eye opening experience. It is so interesting to see potential on paper and have an idea of what you will produce as a rancher. We look forward to the next few years as we learn, network and grow to build a Black Angus herd.
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