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This Week’s Story: Of Bison and Beavers

Let’s roll back the clock 34 years, and I’m still me. Instead of my 2021 gray, my hair is the dirty blonde that goes with my blue eyes of Dutch ancestry. I’m working in the forests in the steep and rocky mountains of Central Idaho. I’m in great shape from hiking up and down at elevations of up to 10,000 feet in my timber work, planting trees, thinning ones that are too thick, and fighting fire when lightning strikes…..

Store News

Next Shipping Date: Monday, July 7th

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, July 9th

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 “BEEFSAUSAGE” to get 10% off organic grass fed regenerative chorizo sausage and organic grass fed regenerative garlic sausage!

Use the code “GROUNDBUNDLE” to get 5% off regular and fattier ground beef bundles!

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

Ranch News

The golden glow of dawn lighting the sagebrush ridges and finally the highest peaks on the Lemhi mountain range makes the early mornings getting ready to herd cattle well worth it. -Melanie

Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

The morning crew heads out to catch their horses as the sun crests the high ridge. We run two crews each stint- one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. It’s easier on people and on horses only putting in a 9 or 10 hour day, while the cattle are out on grass for 16 to 18 hours, maximizing our grazing time and the nutrition they take in. -Melanie Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

Crew boss Rachel, back for her second year on the range, watches the cattle out for their morning graze. I also asked her to keep an eye on my young mare, Elle, while I hiked around a bit. -Melanie

Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

The clouds were unreal one afternoon on the mountain. Here’s range riding intern Keegan and Charles, herding cattle back to the herd. We try to choose a location where we can settle the herd for a while. Topography, distance from the night pen, and forage biomass and diversity all factor into the daily decision of where to graze. Our job as riders is to take the cattle from the night pen to the grass and then maintain a loose herd formation by correcting any cattle grazing away from the herd. -Melanie

Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

Range riding intern Keegan and Charles ride the flank, a stockmanship term for either side of a herd of cattle. Riding in opposition to their direction of travel, like Keegan is doing here, creates movement and sends the herd forward to their destination–the night pen in this case. -Melanie

Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

The herd grazes at the end of the day on the ridge between Moose Creek and the Little Hat drainage. This stint was blisteringly hot, and the cattle didn’t want to graze much during the day. But as soon as the sun sank beyond the horizon and the temperatures dropped a bit, they would happily begin their evening graze back to the night pen. -Melanie

Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

Jed C., range crew boss, rides Reba. The last few days of the stint were punctuated by afternoon thunderstorms. The remnants of a large cell made for a beautiful sky that evening as we brought the cattle into the night pen. -Melanie

The final stretch into the night pen just before dark. We had a beautiful sunset to go with the end of a long day! -Melanie

Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

Looking up at the stars from cow camp, the Milky Way lit up the sky in the middle of the night darkness. The complete absence of light pollution in the high country means the sky is adorned with countless twinkling stars, more than we can see at the ranch even with few neighbors. -Melanie

Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

Range riding intern Keegan brought some good reading material to cow camp this past stint! It’s cool to read about the old traditions. While we’ve embraced some more modern techniques and technology, our summer work of herding cattle in the mountains is not so different from the vaqueros of old. -Melanie

Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

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