We got good news that Dusty has been hired full time at Framestore in Los Angeles! He has been a freelancer for them since last October. So happy that he is full time and now has some benefits! And the family he’s staying with (his cousin Beth and family) decided to move a few blocks away to a nicer rental. It is a single family home that is quite an upgrade to what they had. And Dusty got his own room and bathroom- which he is really happy about. He also has a girlfriend that he has been spending time with! So happy that he has someone to do things with! And, Camila is a beautiful! So the news from LA has been good!

We are so excited about how things are going on the farm too! Our two Wagyu cows are doing very well- they are loving the green pastures. We are in the process of trying to sell most of our Angus herd, crossing our fingers that works out. And, in order to help finance some of the things on the farm, we decided to sell the mobile home and 4 acres where Cody has been living. He is willing to move back with us so that we can get some farm upgrades. Cody has been so helpful now that he is working for us full time on the farm. It’s so nice to have someone there at all times. And, he really likes the cows too! Alot of excitement on Lost Creek farm this summer!

It’s the end of June and it’s been raining every few days. No window yet for haying! Since we are out of hay, we are cutting as needed and feeding them the grasses from our hayfields. And they love it! It’s alot more work for us, though! We have good pastures this year because of all the rain. But, sooner or later we have to get some hay bales out there when the pastures need a rest. Our cows are filling out nicely and really look good! So happy to watch them enjoy the green grasses. The babies are growing so fast and are happily tearing around having fun! Love the country life!

Our two pregnant Wagyu heifers arrived at the farm this weekend. They have adapted to the herd and are doing fine. They look good! #229 is Machiko and #223 is Mitsu. Both are due in August. Looking forward to more babies in the pasture! Baycroft Wagyu did an excellent job getting them here and we had a nice time giving them a farm tour and talking about raising Wagyu. They have alot of good ideas and we will be using their advice as we continue to grow our herd. A big day for Lost Creek Valley Farm!

We are expanding our Wagyu herd this year by buying two pregnant Wagyu heifers that are due in August! It’s a big step toward our future goal of an all Wagyu herd! They should be here in a week or so. We got them from a farm near DePere called Baycroft Wagyu. Great people full of encouragement and ideas for our new start! We are so excited to have them for mentors to help us get off on the right hoof! Updates will come soon!

Although it’s been a cool and rainy Spring, our cows chose to have their calves on nice sunny days! We have three bull calves added to our herd. We are fine with that since we do not want to add to our Angus herd while we concentrate on building the Wagyu herd. Introducing #30- Woody, #31- Thor, and #33- Sampson!

We are finally getting some warmer weather, although the rains have not gone away completely. We still have mud! We have been working on adding some cow pens in our pole shed, hoping to get them done by the time calves arrive. We need to get some crushed limestone for the base and add straw over the top for our 3 pens. We are thinking that maybe the cows can winter in half of the shed next year and they won’t have so much mud in the springtime. We are also thinking about buying a pregnant Wagyu cow to add to our herd every year. That way when we retire in 4-5 years, we will have at least 8-10 head of Wagyu! Right now we are expecting 3 Angus calves. Looking forward to seeing babies again!

Since February, we have been swamped with snow and cold! In fact, it’s the snowiest winter EVER! We beat all the old records. Anyway, Craig and I planned a trip to LA to visit Dusty in mid-February. We had a great time! Weather was a little cool- in the 60’s but it was sunny most days. We spent alot of time at the beach! Dusty is doing very well and we were happy to see that. However, while we were gone, there were two big snowstorms back home. Cody was in charge of the farm and pets. Luckily we had left plenty of hay out, and they had plenty of snow to eat in place of water for a couple days. He was able to get out after a lot of shoveling and everything was fine. When we got home we had to climb over a 3 ft drift at the end of the driveway and walk in 2ft of snow to the house! It was unreal how much snow there was! Now, it is early April and we just got through another 10″ snowstorm with high winds. We are hoping it warms up and dries up before the first of May when calves are due. But… we’ll see!

December began with Cody and I making a trip to see Dusty for a long weekend!  It was beautiful weather and so good to see Dusty again!   Since Cody hadn’t been there before, Dusty had fun showing him around. We spent alot of time at the beach!  Dusty had to work through the Christmas and New Years weeks, so he couldn’t make it home this year.  He is doing great with his new job- so glad to hear!  It was a quiet Christmas – just the 3 of us for dinner and presents.  But, we talked to Dusty on the phone and he was spending the holidays with Beth, Nick and family.  Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all!

Towards the end of the month we decided it was time to sell a few cows to get the herd down to a manageable size, rather than purchasing more hay to get us through the winter.  Just as we were thinking about sending them to market, we heard one of Craig’s friends was looking for beef.  They have a dairy herd and plan to transition to beef.  It was a win-win for all of us!  We were happy to send our cows to a good home!  In early January, they purchased 11 head, seven of them pregnant for a nice jump-start to their herd.  We are left with 4 cows, and all 7 calves.  We will get 3 new calves this Spring, too.  This will be much better for us to handle since we are both working full time.  And, with the money, we can get a few more projects done on the farm next Spring.  So, 2019 is a good year, so far!

It’s been below average temps this November- way too early!  But, we got most of our winterized projects done.  We still have to winterize the outdoor cattle water tank.  Now that the time has changed, it is dark so early that we can’t see to do anything until the weekend.  And, every weekend we have even more projects to do!  One of our cows started limping last weekend and we thought the worst until the vet said it was just an infected cut.  We were pretty worried- she is also pregnant.  This week we purchased a skid steer.  We need to smooth out the rough paddocks and driveway with it, and also use it to feed hay bales.  It’s been something we have been thinking of buying for a long time.  We got a pretty good deal on a used one.

The Wisconsin Gun-Deer season starts this Saturday!  Craig is excited because we’ve seen some big ones on our farm recently.  He got a nice 9 point buck with his bow a couple weeks ago.  Nice to finally see some deer around this year!  It’s different this year because our son, Dusty is in LA.   He’s unable to come home to hunt because he just started a job there.  He’s working as an Assistant Editor at a large production company called Framestore Studios.  A pretty cool job!   By the way- I am taking our other son, Cody along to visit Dusty in early December- while Craig stays home with the cows again!  Since Dusty can’t get away for Christmas either, I decided a quick 4 day visit will suffice!  It will be so nice to enjoy the sunshine and 75 degree temps at the beach!  And, I am hoping the wild fires are more under control by then.  Our favorite beach, Santa Monica, is not too far from the Malibu fire.  Prayers out to all affected!!

AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!  We are thankful for our wonderful country life on the farm, and our family and friends that make it all worthwhile!

 

 

Every fall we have the vet out for shots, deworming and preg-checks.  This year we had a beautiful day for it- believe me, some years it hasn’t been so nice!  We are happy to say that we have 10 pregnant cows out of 13 adults.  We have 2 heifers that were a little too young to get pregnant. We also got the calves through the shoot- most of them hadn’t been through the cattle handling system yet, but it went well.  We are always relieved to get this done.  We got some extra help from our nephew Luke and our son Cody.  It takes a few hands to get the cattle in the corral, into the shoot, operate the shoot to get them in and out safely.  The vet was especially happy to see we put in the gate this year- instead of crawling over the fence like we’ve done past years!  One of our better decisions!  A few of the cows did not get pregnant and now we have the tough decision as to who to sell.  We plan to downsize our herd for the next 3 years- until we retire and can focus on this full time.  And, with our plans to have a Wagyu herd in 6-7 years, we will be gradually selling all of our Angus cattle.

Meanwhile, it’s getting late in the season- the cold weather will be arriving soon! We are winterizing our pressure pump water system to make it easier to water the cows this winter.  We purchased a yard building that fits over the pump and well that we can add insulation around the outside and top and put in a small heater.  This way we will always have water pressure and the well will be safe from freezing.  It was always a worry in the past!  We also need to move the cattle water tank and winterize the outside of that and put in the heating element.  Lots yet to do, but it looks like we’ll make it!