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This Week’s Story: On Earning Trust

“It’s locked,” said Tim as he shook the big padlock that joined the scrap of rugged log chain around the gatepost. A confusing, yet high functioning conglomeration of barbed and woven wire vaunted up the steep and rocky hill from the steel gate……

Store News

Next Shipping Date: Monday, February 23rd

We generally ship every Monday, holiday weeks excepting (see calendar). You’ll get a tracking number when we ship your order. UPS may initially show an extra day of transit time, but will correct late Monday night when orders hit the Salt Lake hub.

Next Restock Date: Wednesday, February 25th

We restock every Wednesday and send out a sale flyer on Wednesday in the early evening with the week’s deals.

This Week’s Reader-Only Deals

Use the code “3HAMS10OFF” to get 10% off heritage pastured pork 2-3lb smoked hams when you buy three!

Use the code “RUMPROAST” to get 10% off organic grass fed regenerative rump roasts.

To access these sale items, and for more deals and products, you can click the button below!

Ranch News

The week before last some new grazers joined the herd on the home ranch! These lambs were raised by Ethan and Abby. They’re settling in well! -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

We’re doing some multi species grazing here on Alderspring! Actually to be fair, every animal in this picture is being fed hay right now, but they’re all still doing some grazing too, even in mid-February! -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

Annie and Justice set up some electric fence this week on the Jigsaw Puzzle, which is a flood irrigated piece of the ranch bisected by many small ditches. Irrigating it well in the summer is a jigsaw puzzle to figure out, hence the name. We left grass on the Jigsaw from this summer, forage that is known as stockpile. We’ll be moving the cattle there this week! -Melanie

Photo by Justice Mitchell.

The challenging aspect of grazing the stockpile on the Jigsaw Puzzle is stock water. There’s a warm spring nearby, but if we let the herd have direct access to it they’d turn it into a bacteria-ridden mud hole. Instead, we’re setting tanks higher up on dry ground and pumping water to them via a fire hose line. It’s more work to run the pumps and drain the line at least once a day, but the cattle get a clean drink and they don’t wreck the riparian area around the spring! It’s a win-win. -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

We got a little winter this week, with snow falling in the high country and temperatures in the low teens at night. When it’s colder, we feed the cattle in a tight spiral formation. Eating hay all together, they keep each other warm! Since they’re small, calves especially have a harder time maintaining core temperatures when the mercury drops, so this feed formation shields them better from the elements. -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

The finish cattle, or “beeves” as we like to call them, get the best of the best when it comes to hay. While mama cows and calves can maintain good body condition and nutritional status on slightly lower quality hay, we want the finish cattle to put on intramuscular fat. That requires energy intake over maintenance and more starch and sugar! This hay was absolutely beautiful: vivid green, full of diverse forbs and grasses, and very sweet smelling! The beeves were pretty excited about it, as you can see! -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

Jed and Clyde look out over the yearling herd after feeding them for the day. The hay still on the trailer is for the sheep! We pick the greenest, most diverse bale for them and give them half of it every day. -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

Glenn and Caryl are gone on a much needed vacation, so I’ve been taking care of Glenn’s border collie, Clyde. He loves to come feeding with us and takes his self proclaimed job of keeping all cattle away from the feed trailer very seriously! -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

The view from the window of the trusty feed truck, a 1999 Ford 7.3 Powerstroke. Jed and I took turns driving and feeding this week. Driving the truck is a much easier job than pushing hay off the trailer, but still requires some thought. Beyond figuring out where to drive to place hay for optimal organic matter deposition, the driver also looks at all the cattle to ensure they’re in good health and injury free. -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

Here’s Jed feeding the last of the trailer load to the pairs. We finished up with not much daylight to spare! Feeding in the afternoon is purposeful; we’ve been seeing warmer than usual temperatures most of the winter and some of the hay we’re feeding the mama cows and calves is high in cellulose and lignin. We feed this hay in addition to grass hay (higher in starch and sugar) and then some alfalfa (high in protein). Digesting it in the rumen generates heat, which is great for a cold night but not so much for a warm sunny day. Too warm, and a cow’s body temperature will get too high and they will lose their appetite for it. So feeding late in the afternoon ensures temperatures have dropped enough that consuming the hay will actually benefit the cattle by keeping them warm and comfortable! -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

The view up the Morgan Creek drainage never ceases to amaze me! At certain times of the day, the play of light on jagged canyon walls transforms the mountain range into a work of art. -Melanie

Photo by Melanie.

Your purchase supports our regenerative work. For more information go to https://www.alderspring.com/regenerative/.