Herd Health & Management

It all starts with the mom and her baby!

We believe that good herd health is extremely important to raising quality Black Angus Beef. To ensure I raise healthy quality cattle, I use a nutrition package that is designed for each phase of their life cycle from breeding, birthing, feeding newborns, to weaning. Every stage requires something different to ensure a healthy calf and mom. Nutrition is also seasonal when animals come off grazing when their protein needs change.

There are three main categories that are used to describe the Black Angus as they age.

Cow Calf

It starts after 285 days of gestation with cow calves either a heifer (female) or a bull (male) and also considering a cow can give birth with twins. When one is a bull and the other is a heifer, the female is more likely infertile and they are called a freemartin.
When the calf is born, it goes through the weaning stage with their mom for approximately 180 days. This will allow the calf to get all the nutrients from the mom’s milk along with good pasture grass to fluctuate a balanced healthy weight.
At Fat Bottom Farms, we use a special blend of grass that gives the optimal amount of protein for this stage of life. Not only is grazing good for the cattle and starting out calves, it is also good for the land. We use a rotational grazing plan that has been shown to keep the land and cattle healthy.

Stockers (feeder calves) - Once the calves reach 600-700 lbs, they are separated out to begin the following feeding plan.

Introduction to small amounts of grain corn, oats, protein along with a rotational grazing plan.
Transition period is important when building them up slowly so they don't overfeed and cause bloating or foundering. Balancing pasture and hand feeding twice a day helps prevent both.

Finishing Stage - is when they meet the weight around 1000-1475 lbs. The final stage involves a lot of monitoring to ensure the calves are ready to be sent for processing.

When cattle are ready to be finished, they may be sent to the final farm or some stay on the farm because of pasture constraints. Cattle will spend around 4-6 months on a well-balanced diet made up of roughage, grain, and other renewable feed sources. They continue on an intense grazing model. Cattle are finished on grain, protein, and some grass.
Fiscally and animal health, if one falls behind they would need to be moved back to a pen and be closely monitored to ensure there are no other health issues.

Genetics

Some may argue that genetics is something you can’t control. But with some research, you can identify traits that stand out and stock your herd with cattle that have certain genetic traits. Start with a genetically strong mom, and we get a well-bred calf. Black Angus beef is naturally a very healthy breed but that doesn’t mean that every calf is going to be a quality Beggs Fat Bottom Farm calf. We carefully crafted a checklist and adhere to a stringent criterion when choosing our herd.

Spent time and work with local universities, colleges, and other established producers to learn about best practices they have incorporated into their business model to ensure generational herd health.
Breeding steers for high quality, high yielding meat is important. It’s important to understand your customer and what they are looking for. Then we choose the best genetic characteristics for breeding meat producing animals.
Cows need to have good milk producers, a solid frame and adapt to geographic areas. These genetics take time to breed into your herd.
Our steers from birth to finish and our heifer from calf to cow at Beggs Fat Bottom Farms do not receive steroids, implants (BGH Products) GMO based, Monsanto based Liberty link-based feed products. I raise all of my own standard corn, hay and buy bulk protein to naturally supplement nutritional needs in accordance with feed value and time of year.

From our pasture to your tables, you can rest assured that we have taken great care in raising the highest quality steers that will produce the highest quality meat for you!

“Farming isn’t a battle against nature, but a partnership with it. It is respecting the basics of nature in action and ensuring that they continue.” -Jeff Koehler, American writer, and winner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals award winner

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