Salad Bar Calves

Written by Chris Walker

Photos by Chris Walker

"We are just orchestra conductors,

making sure all the animals are in the right place at the right time

to capitalize on natural seasonal cycles"

-Joel Salatin, writing in Salad Bar Beef

Here at the farm, spring is calving season! And I mean spring: birds, bees, green grass, baby rabbits and all that. With calving, like everything we do here, we look to nature for instruction and the lesson I want to share is all about timing. Wild herbivores can help us understand how to work with nature's cycles to leverage biological abundance. Deer, elk, and bison don't need us to tell them when to have their young; in fact, they don't have a choice! They wouldn't stand a chance if they didn't time their only annual shot at reproduction with the provision of their environment. At Polyface, we like to have our calves being born at the same time of year as the deer are fawning. In this part of the country that is some time around April.

Feels so Right

We want our calves to start on easy mode - to have every possible advantage so that they get strong and take their place in the herd with minimal intervention. That means green, growing pastures, warmer days, sunshine, and a momma who is happily munching a glut of spring grass and turning it into rich milk. A cow's nutrition requirements are at their peak when she is lactating, and it only makes sense to have her out in the field when the grass is lush and green. That little calf deserves every chance to be born into comfortable clean grass and not in the manure or frozen lot. And then momma is free to move him along with the herd, and by the time our calves are a few days old, they're already accustomed to moving to their new daily 4 o'clock salad bar. Our calves hit the ground running -and let me tell you, when you have to put an ear tag in a feisty one, it really feels that way! Being out in the field with our new moms - we keep the first-calf heifers here close to the main farm - is FUN in the spring.

In a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)

Plenty of farmers try to gain an advantage by calving in late winter, with all manner of well-meaning justifications. Some just want an older, heavier calf for the sale barn in the fall, but even the ones keeping their stock will say things like "It's easier just to feed hay than try to time the grass," or "Spring can be muddy" and my personal favorite: "It's more sanitary for the calves to be born onto the frozen ground." That's just cold, man. Some even choose fall calving, which means two winters of hay feeding. The reality is that if we choose a schedule that suits our own needs rather than the needs of our herd, we'll pay the difference (and then some) in unintended consequences. 

Instead of having that lactating momma cow self-harvesting peak-nutrition forage when its most abundant, it means buying, hauling in, and handling hay. It means leaving a week-old calf to compete with the whole herd for its crucial first bites of roughage from the hay pile. It can mean damp conditions perfect for respiratory illness, coccidiosis, and navel infections. This is rough start for a newborn! In many cases, calves that are born in spring can catch or even outperform the early ones. And to be honest, it's not great on the farmer either! Imagine gearing up to check on the momma cows, or heaven forbid, to pull a calf, in the January ice or February mud. I'd stand out in an April shower with her any day over that.

You can fight the season with feed bills, diesel fuel, labor, and stress - or you can learn to let nature lead.

Song of the South [Poll]

Old adages like "the bull is half the herd" and "cheap bulls make expensive calves" stuck with us for a reason. Fifty percent of our herd's genes, over time, will come from our bulls - and if we play that long game right, we have a lot of power over the health and success of our herd. This is the place to spend money on a quality animal. We can get cows locally and breed our way into an ever-more-pure-bred herd that is well adapted to our specific environment.

We currently use South Poll bulls, a breed developed in part by Teddy Gentry, bassist for the legendary country band Alabama. They were bred to be low-input, heat tolerant, easy calvers who thrive on grass alone. Sounds just right for an operation like ours, and we're looking more and more like that every year.

We're pleased to see red hides that stay cooler in the sun - a comfortable cow eats more grass! I've personally noticed that the red South Poll-influenced members of our herd have less fly pressure. Believe it or not, this is a genetic trait! Like many things in the cattle business, we have to pay attention and make far-sighted decisions.

Born Country

But why have momma cows at all? Why not buy in calves and just fatten them up?

On this subject I turn to Allan Nation. He encouraged us match our livestock to our landscape, not just our market. Keeping our cows creates a resilient supply of future beef here at Polyface, especially when markets go nuts and calf prices skyrocket. It also means we select over time for cattle that fit our land, and that thrive under our management style. This leads to comfortable cows that are easier to manage for us, and better steaks and roasts for you.

Buying in calves outsources control of the herd genetics. It means those decisions are being made by someone who is selling calves, not someone trying to raise a better beef and heal their own land.

There is certainly room for a savvy buyer to take advantage of local markets and extra grass when he has it - buy some stockers, rescue some inexpensive cows from another operation and get them on grass - but resilience trumps day trading. This is sort of like the financial advisors say: "time in the market, not timing the market."

Rest assured that here on the farm we're always thinking about the long game. We want our herd to grow to match our treasured Virginia landscape, and to thrive and adapt as seasons come and go.