Blog Posts - Brun Ko Farm

Farm Fashion - Baby Edition

2/20/2018

The 'layers' of farm fashion just keep increasing! How do you get out of the house to check on critters in the winter with a baby in tow?

Just keep layering!

Here are a few helpful tips:

1. Dress yourself first. Baby second!

Start with yourself because if you get hot and impatient to get outside once you have a 1000 layers on, you better believe the baby does too! And she's not shy about letting you know it!

That means base layer, snow pants, baby carrier, that first sweater, and hat all on. Phew! Getting warm yet?? Now on to baby ...

2. Baby Carrier!

There are all sorts of baby carriers out there but I like mine because Little Miss can face outward. A girl's gotta be able to see all those goofy animals moving around! (She seriously gets excited about being outside - makes all the effort of taking her with SO worth it.)

I suppose I could just put her in a stroller but strollers are difficult in things like snow and mud. Also, carrying her this way adds a degree of warmth and protection.

3. Maternity Sweatershirt

Don't put those maternity clothes away TOO fast! That zip up maternity sweatshirt is perfect for going on over the carrier and zipping around baby to add an extra layer of warm. For you AND baby :)

4. Snowsuit + Blanket

A warm base layer, (onsie, pants, sweater, socks) followed by a snowsuit, and topped off with a hat (velcro closure recommended ;) ) and baby is ready to go in carrier! I also like to take a blanket along when we go out side for extra warmth and/or to block wind IF you turn a corner and a breeze surprises you :)

And we're off to play! I mean .... check livestock :D

Enjoy!
Emily & Nathan

Warm Base Layer

Mom! Get me outside fast!

All ready to go!

Farm Fashion - Layering
Farm Fashion - Pregnancy

Christmas Eve on the Farm

Winter Chores

2/11/2018

My next blog post is supposed to be about Rotational Grazing since that is the next step in our steers’ lives here at Brun Ko Farm. However, I just can’t bring myself to write about grazing without current pictures of green grass and sunshine here at our new farm. SO, I’m going to go a different direction for a while. Today, I think I shall write about winter chores. Because we are in the thick of it right now.

Cold
Snow
Ice
Dark
Frozen everything.

That’s winter chores.

BUT it’s also warmth, playfulness, and ingenuity. It’s appreciation & beauty.

In the winter everything is frozen. The hydrant, the hose, the milk that hits the sides of the bucket, the feed in the bulk bin, the water that I spilled on the stairs, the steers’ bedding, the stock tanks, my ears.

It’s gloves that stick to metal bulk bins and bucket handles. It’s seeing your breath in the air. It’s undeniably fresh air in your lungs. It’s the heat of exertion and the cold of the wind, felt in the exact same moment.

Milking is the most time consuming and cold making part of winter chores. Can you say bare hands in -20F? The thought will send a shiver right through ya! It’s bearable only because the barn door breaks the wind and Abby’s teats are a cozy 98ish degrees. Slip those gloves back on quickly though when milking time is done! And keep them dry!

Next comes feeding and watering the hutch calves. Don’t let the full bucket of water slosh around! Nobody wants wet pants in the cold! Arrived at the hutches dry. Doing good!! But hold your breath because the door snaps are frozen. Pull off that warm glove and wrap your hand around the cold metal clip! The few seconds that it takes to thaw the clip feel like minutes. Now do it 4 more times!

Layers are critical in winter!

Although we milked Abby through the deep cold we experienced earlier this winter (negative temps for days!), we are happy that she is dry now and that the calves are weaned!

With Abby dry & calves weaned, chores are mostly filled with carrying buckets of feed, moving hay, & filling/breaking open/thawing water tanks.

Winter chores generally happen in the dark. Headlamps are a MUST! Make sure your batteries are charged ‘cause you’re gonna need them! This is also where Piper dog tends to earn her keep. Having company and something to blame for all those noises you here when tromping around in the dark is oh so comforting.

Winter chores requires dressing in layers. And customizing the layers for the particular temperature and weather conditions of the day. Too many layers and you’ll be a sweaty mess. Too few layers and you’ll be cold & sorry! The weight of the layers adds to the work out!

A lot of winter chores revolves around water.

And that’s where the warmth comes in. Winter chores is the warmth of exertion. The exertion that comes with carrying buckets of feed, hay bales, and buckets of water through snow while wearing many clothes. It’s the appreciation of a warm house waiting for you when chores are done. And it strengthens our appreciation of the warm summer days to come!

There’s ingenuity in devising new ways to keep waterers thawed and full and in keeping the tractor running, in staying warm and in managing snow.

There’s beauty in the snow covered hills and trees. And in the dusting of snow on calves’ backs. There’s beauty in icicles hanging from roof lines and in the stark contrast of animals against a snowy white background.

There’s joy in kicking up snow during a tug of war battle with the dog and in seeing the winter through the eyes of a small child.

While winter chores will probably never be our favorite, there is value in the challenge and beauty in the contrast.

Enjoy!
Emily & Nathan

Cow Vacation!

1/23/2018

Abby poses for a picture just a few days before being dried off. What a ham!

As you may know, we recently weaned the calves from milk. We also just recently moved them to a group weaning pen.

With the calves off milk and no pigs over the winter, we really don't have a use for all of the milk that Abby makes. Soo, that (along with a few other factors) means it's time to dry her off!

What do I mean,'dry her off?’ Well, the term 'dry off’ basically just means to quit milking. And a 'dry cow’ is a dairy cow that is not currently lactating (making milk).

Like with many other topics we’ve shared on this blog, different farms do different things but dry off time is pretty simple around here.

We simply stop milking. Several factors affect milk production but the most important is stimulation and the regular removal of milk. If the teats are no longer stimulated and milk is no longer removed from the udder it sends a signal to the brain to stop making milk.

At the same time, we also decrease the amount of grain that Abby gets. While the steers live almost exclusively on hay and grass from four months of age on, Abby eats a fair amount of grain every day to support milk production. So decreasing her grain is a good way to slow down/stop her from making milk. She still gets as much free choice hay or grass as she can eat, depending on the season but no more grain.

Abby is usually uncomfortable for 2 or 3 days after we stop milking her but once milk production stops and the body reabsorbs whatever milk was left in her udder, it's vacation time for her!

And it's a nice break for us too!

Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

Shepherd's Pie

1/12/2018

Ingredients

1lb stew meat (or hamburger for a *speedy version!)
2 cups beef broth
2 Tbsp flour
4 or 5 medium to large carrots
1 cup of peas
3 cups of mashed potatoes
Butter, optional
Rosemary, thyme, garlic, and salt to taste

Directions
Cook stew meat, carrots, and broth in crockpot on low for 6-7 hours. Preheat oven to 375F. Spoon meat and carrots into a deep dish pie plate. Add peas (frozen or fresh). Sprinkle with rosemary, thyme, garlic, and salt to taste. Add flour to juices in the crockpot, whisk together and pour over top of meat and vegetables. Spread mashed potatoes over top of everything. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and dot top of potatoes with pats of butter (optional).

*If you are using hamburger, simply brown the hamburger in a skillet and add broth and carrots and simmer until soft. Add hamburger and carrots to pie plate and then continue with the recipe as written.

Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

Fences, Friends, & Sharing Food

1/12/2018

Newly weaned calves in a previous weaning pen.

**1/23/18 - edited to add video of calves' first moments in weaning pen**

Lately, we’ve been talking about the life cycle of steers on our farm. So far, we’ve talked about picking up bottle calves and about their first couple of months of life. The steers’ next stop on the farm is in the weaning pen.

Like I mentioned in our first ever live video, wehaven’t 100% decided where the weaning pen will be at the new place but we’d better get it figured out because the calves will be weaned and getting too big for their hutches in a couple of weeks!

So, what is a weaning pen anyway?? A weaning pen is a small, well secured paddock where the calves learn about things like fences, friends, and sharing food at a common feed trough.

Let’s start with fences. You’d think (or at least I did) that fences are a fairly self explanatory thing. You see an object in your path, you pause, and then you turn a different direction and continue to calmly explore your new home. NOPE. Not the boys and girls we have around here! Some of them are more intuitive than others but at least 1 or 2 out of each group seems to be the ‘fence tester’. You know, the chosen one who runs FULL speed into the fence several times before they learn where the new boundaries are in their life. For this reason, we usually make the weaning pen out of cattle panels and wait for a week or two to introduce electric wire. Also, newly weaned calves can slip out under (and through!) a typical barbed wire or electric fence. So the cattle panels serve several purposes, they provide the most visible boundary that we can offer and also the most secure and kindest option. It might not feel good to run into a cattle panel but I’d say it beats getting wrapped up in barbed wire or electric fence anyday!

Next comes friends. While the calves are investigating the fences, they also begin to investigate each other! This provides some good entertainment as they sniff, head butt, and kick up their heels! Although they’ve lived next to each other and been able to see and vocalize with each other, this is the first time that they’ve been able to touch each other or otherwise enter each other's space. While they are in the weaning pen, the calves learn how to interact and work together. This is an exciting time for them as cattle are naturally herd animals and they tend to move and graze as a group.

Next comes sharing space at the feed trough. Even though cattle have a herd mentality, they can sure be ornery about their food! We always make sure to allow plenty of space for all of the calves to eat at the same time but it's a learning process for them. They've never had to share and/or compete for food before. Some of the calves are shy about coming to eat with the group while others act a little bit like hogs. In these early days, the group establishes a pecking order that tends to last for as long as the group stays the same. Luckily this doesn't take long and within a couple of days everybody knows their place and the whole group eats happily together :)

We also introduce grass and/or hay in the weaning pen. Whether it's grass or hay just depends on the season. Calves typically LOVE this!

We move calves from the weaning pen to pastures as a group, once they have learned to respect the electric fence and when we are confident that they are all eating well and everybody is getting along.

And with that, I better get busy preparing a prn for the calves we are about to wean!!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

Getting to know each other

First Moments in the Weaning Pen!

What's a Half a Beef?

1/6/2018

Filet Mignon! A cut that NP and I would never have if we couldn't get it with out half a beef!

What exactly do you get when you buy a half a beef? Well, when you buy a half a beef, you literally buy a half a steer from NP and I and we drop it off at the locker for you. From there you tell the locker how you would like your meat cut and packaged. So, in a way, it’s up to you but a half a beef generally includes everything from hamburger to roasts and a variety of steaks to more unusual things like liver (braunschweiger* anyone?!), heart, or tongue.
Don’t like liver? Leave it at the locker. That’s not a problem! Want all of the steaks you can get? Just let the locker know when you are filling out your cut order. Want more hamburger? No problem, you can have other cuts of meat ground to create more hamburger!

So what you get is really up to you!

Personally, NP and I always ask for the greatest number of roasts available from our half, followed by steaks, then stew meat. We also take advantage of all the fun stuff like short ribs and will even get some tallow back this time to experiment with. On average, we end up with about 30% ground beef and stew meat, 60% roasts and steaks, and 10% miscellaneous cuts like short ribs and soup bones.
For more information on what a typical steer weighs and how the price is figured check out our product page here.

A whole beef or a quarter beef follows the same idea, you just get more or less of each product. :)

We have 2 steers going to the locker on February 13th, 2018. Email Emily at brunkofarm@gmail.com today to order your whole, half, or quarter beef!

Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

*Disclaimer: you have to make the liver into braunschweiger yourself, the locker probably won't do that for you. BUT be watching for a recipe on here in the near(ish) future

Philly Cheese Steak Hoagies

1/2/2018

Ingredients
1 lb stew meat
2 green peppers
1 small onion
1 cup of beef broth or water
1 package of hoagie or brat buns
6 slices of provolone cheese

Directions

Slice onion and green peppers into long thing strips. Combine stew meat, broth, onions and green peppers in the crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. Use a slotted spoon to transfer mixture to hoagie buns and top with a slice of provolone cheese. Do this while the meat is still warm to allow the cheese to melt just slightly. Use remaining liquid as an au jus dipping sauce if desired.

Serves: 6

Sweat for Sweets

12/18/2017

We have honey back in stock!! We didn't anticipate having honey this year due to the move so let me tell you a little story.

Once upon a time, another local bee keeper learned of NP's interest in honey bees and took NP under his wing. He showed him some of the tricks of the trade and encouraged him to 'give it a go' and has kept up on NP's progress ever since. This year, he (the mentor) didn't have time to harvest his honey and so NP and I traded some labor for a cut of the honey. As a result, we now have honey back in stock as of today! The best part is that the bees that made this honey live close enough to NP's bees that their foraging areas overlap. So while this honey did not come directly from our hives, it is still very much local honey that we were blessed to get to harvest. And I can personally attest to it's deliciousness ... YUM!

For more on honey bees, check out these past blog posts: Honey! & Preparing the Bees for Winter.

If you are wanting honey in time for Christmas, get a hold of me by the end of the day Thursday (12/21/17). Once the weekend hits, things will get a bit hectic around here! Check out our honey product page too!

Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

P.S. NP's 2 hives are doing well so far! Here's to hoping they continue to thrive through the winter!

Traveling for Babies

11/29/2017

My friend Misty and her niece made the trip with me a couple of years ago! (How the heck has it been that long ago??!!!)

Last Wednesday, my dad and I drove up to Spencer to pick up a batch of bottle calves. All of the steers on our farm started out as bottle calves. We purchase them from a reputable dairy, where we know they are well cared for from the time they are born until we pick them up. That (and our affinity for the Jersey breed) is why we make the 3 hour drive to Spencer for bottle calves! It’s a long drive but it’s worth it!

The drive can be long and boring but I’ve been fortunate enough to have several passengers join me over the last couple of years. Most of our trip last week was in the dark and therefore, I am sure you will notice that the pictures used in this post are from previous trips!

Example of the coats we put on calves during winter travel and when it is extra cold outside!

The calves are usually only a day or two old when we pick them up. When we pick them up in the winter, we make sure to put plenty of straw in the trailer for them to nestle into if they choose. If it is really cold, we also bring little coats to put on them. Once we get the calves home, we settle them each into their own hutch (to learn more about calf hutches check out my blog post on the topic). Depending on when we picked them up, we may need to give them a bottle. This time, we picked the calves up after feeding time at the dairy, so we just nestled them in and left them until morning when NP gave them each a bottle of warm milk straight from Abby.

This is the start to the steers’ journey at Brun Ko Farm where we strive to give them the a comfortable care-free life!

Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

Good company always makes the trip better!

My friend, Misty, her niece and I headed to Spencer!

Checking out the soon to be mama cows while we were at the dairy :)

Clara's inspecting the calves after we loaded them in the trailer

This batch we fed after we got them back home. Such good help!

Professional calf feeder right there!

One Bad Day

11/28/2017

One bad day.

That’s it. That’s the most ‘bad’ that our animals should ever experience. And really, it shouldn’t even be a whole day. More like a single moment, if the locker does their job properly. (And we believe they do.)

We raise our animals knowing that they have a very specific end purpose. That purpose is to provide nourishment for ourselves and our customers. But that doesn’t mean they can’t have good lives. In fact, NP and I work hard to provide all of our animals with enjoyable, low stress lives. We provide them with all of the creature comforts like full tummies, dry beds, protection from the elements, and space to do as they please. And, although the main purpose of the livestock is human nourishment, I would argue that they add a lot of joy to our lives as well.

The blog posts I will be sharing in the coming weeks will highlight the life cycle of our steers and how we take care of them. I hope you will join me on this journey and as always …

Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm