Welcome to the Ranch!

Summer is in full swing here at Cross Creek Cattle Company.  The daily temperatures are hitting in the mid-90s and staying above 70 degrees during the night.  This is prime grass growing time.

With the new growth of our grass, the herd is on a strict pasture rotation now.  We are in the midst of our time-intensive pasture management.  It is time-intensive in that we check the pastures two times a day.  We are interested in the condition of the grass.  We also look for worn areas in our pastures.  We want to move the cattle before they erode any of our pasture land.

We make sure that the herd has access to plenty of good water. Cows drink surprisingly amounts of water in one sitting.  In this heat, full-grown cows drink about 25 gallons of water a day.  Times that by the head that you are raising and that comes to a high number of gallons necessary to support your cattle.

We use natural ponds as reliable sources of water.  We also utilize well water in one of our pastures.  In another, we pump water out of our largest watering hole into a large water trough using solar energy.  To read how my husband set that system up, read my article, “Watering Your Herd on a Dry Pasture.”

As long as the rain continues to fall, we will be sitting pretty on lush green fields.  I hope that we do not suffer from another drought.  Two consecutive years of drought would be devastating to Texas ranchers.  We did better than could be expected last year.  In fact, Cross Creek Cattle Company was blessed with fat cows and green grass.

While other ranchers in our area were feeding hay to their herds during the summer months, we did not.  I attribute it to many things.  First, we prayed specifically for fat cows and green grass.  To understand this statement better, read my article from Texas Homesteader called, “Pray More Effectively.“  Additionally, we adhere to strict pasture rotation.  These are the two things that we credit our success last year.  God-willing, we will be blessed with plenty of good rain, fat cows, and green grass this summer.

Central Park in New York City

I was recently in New York City.  If absence makes your heart grow fonder, then I have grown much more fond of Cross Creek Cattle Company.

It is not that I did not have a great time.  It was exciting and fun.  I really enjoyed my week in New York.  Visiting the Big Apple was a great experience.  I would recommend it to anyone.

After days of living in the fast-paced city which never sleeps, I welcomed the solitude of the countryside on my return.  Looking out across the green pasture with the breeze gently stirring the grasses is a huge change from seeing the bustling streets filled with people and taxis surging between tall buildings.

New Yorkers walk 3 to 5 miles a day.  We walked that easily each day we were in town, but you are walking on concrete.  I walk 3 miles a day through different pastures and woods.  I once took for granted the feel of the earth beneath your feet, but now I have a new appreciation for it.

I was really impressed with Central Park.  It was beautiful and much bigger than I expected.  The perimeter of the park is 6.2 miles.  Central Park has rolling hills and rock outcrops.  It has a huge lake and open areas.  Quiet secluded spots can be found around the lake.

I enjoyed my visit to Central Park.  I can see why people seek to lay in the sunshine on the rocks or the grass in the open areas.  I know why people would row their boats out on the lake.  People want to get close to nature.

From my dining room window, I can see our lake.  It might not be as big as the one in Central Park, but it is our private lake.  Cross Creek Cattle Company is like one big private park.  It has wooded and cleared pastures, hiking paths, and waterways.  One can hike, ride horses, ride bikes, camp, swim, fish, hunt, and/or row a boat.

I have always loved living here in Texas.  Now that I have been gone for a week in a completely different world, I am glad to be home.  I will visit New York, but Texas is my home.  And, Cross Creek Cattle Company is my little slice of heaven on earth.

Now that we have our new horse facility built and occupied, we are working on another project.  We are building a hay barn.

Hay is an important part of any grass fed beef operation.  Grass does not grow in the winter.  At some point, ranchers have to put hay out for their herd.  The weather can really deteriorate the quality of the hay.  Too much rain can make the hay moldy, which is dangerous for animals.

The future spot for our hay barn.

We are in the beginning stages of building a barn in which to store round bales of hay.  Square bales are easier to manage.  I can lift and stack square bales without the aid of machinery.  Square bales have a place in the horse barn.  They are easily fed to the individual horses.

You can feed square bales to cattle.  It actually works well for a small herd.  There is little to no waste as the cattle clean up all the hay on the ground.  Square bales allow you to spread out the hay so that the cattle have more room in which to eat.  You can drop smaller sections of the square bale in a long line, which decreases the amount of butting and pushing in your herd.

You must have a place to store square bales though.  They can get wet and moldy easily.  Another downside is that you have to put out hay everyday.  It is more labor intensive.

For the size herd we are running at Cross Creek Cattle Company, round bales work best for us.  My husband puts out several bales at a time with the help of the tractor.  In two days, the hay is gone.  Again, this is during the winter.

The plans are to have plenty of room for our hay needs in a covered and walled barn.  We are also going to extend the roof to cover our trailer and tractor.  It will be good for our equipment to be under a shelter.

With plenty of grass in the pastures right now, it was a perfect time to construct a hay barn for next year’s hay.  My husband rented a bulldozer to help him knock down trees and remove stumps.  He also worked the dirt to build a nice, level pad for the hay barn.

Andrew, Isaac, and Jake are posing for a photograph on the dozer.

My three year old, Isaac, loves big machinery.  I have never seen anyone so excited about a bulldozer as he was.  He watched my husband work for hours with a huge smile on his face.

After all the work was completed, my husband allowed Isaac to sit on the bulldozer.  He showed him what all the joysticks and pedals did.  Then to Isaac’s surprise, he turned the bulldozer on and allowed him to steer with the joystick.  He also let him lift and lower the front blade.  Isaac was truly on cloud nine.

It was such a great opportunity for Isaac.  I am so thankful that my husband thought of it.  It is just one of the perks of living on Cross Creek Cattle Company!

Our new barn.

Horses play a big role here at Cross Creek Cattle Company.  First and foremost, we enjoy riding horses.  All of us ride even the smallest members of our family.

Isaac and Andrew, aged 3 and 2 respectively, ride in tandem saddles.  If you have not seen a tandem saddle, they are great.  The saddles are made out of a canvas material.  It is like a saddle and blanket in one.  They connect to a regular saddle and sit behind it.  It has a handle on which to hold much like a saddle horn.  You need great horses to ride in tandem as most horses will not like the feel of the second saddle.

My older children are all members of the Grimes County Jr. Deputy Sheriff Mounted Posse.  They each need their own horse.  They also enjoy riding on the ranch for pleasure.  My sons, Jake and Clayton, ride with a neighbor on our ranch almost every day.  They ride for hours.

Horses also help us work our cattle.  We believe that low-stress handling directly affects the quality of our grass fed beef; therefore, we use a sing-song cattle call to move the cattle from pasture to pasture.  A horse or two following behind the herd ensures that all the calves and stragglers move into the next pasture.

Utilizing horses as part of a low-stress management program works well for us.  It is also good for the horses.  They are allowed to work for us and they enjoy it.  Our horses are not just put out to pasture.  They have a purpose on our working ranch.

A horse stall.

For months we have been planning and preparing for our new barn to be built.  The task is complete.  We have a new barn on the ranch.  Its main purpose is to facilitate the needs of our horses.  We have a stall for each of our horses.  The stalls are custom built for each horse.  As some of our horses are larger than the average horse, we enlarged their stalls to give them a more comfortable place.

Our barn has a tack room and a feed room.  It has plenty of room for square bales of hay and some equipment.  One of the most exciting aspects of our barn pertains to our grass fed business.  At this time we only sell beef by the whole, half or quarter section.  We do not have the facilities to store beef and sell it by the cut here at the ranch.

Well, now that our barn is finished, we have the room.  With the addition of some deep freezers, we will in the near future have a store in which you can purchase beef by the cut.  It is exciting!

I will announce when we are open for business, but it will be months so don’t make plans this weekend to make the drive to the ranch for steaks.

We are proud of our new barn and the direction that our grass fed business is taking.  Our horses like it too.  Hopefully our grass fed beef customers will also share in our excitement.

This weekend is fast approaching.  From everyone at Cross Creek Cattle Company, “Happy Mother’s Day!”