Our evolution as ranchers began when we bought this property in 2000. We wanted a nice, quiet place in the country to relax and enjoy nature. However, there were cattle pens, something called an "ag exemption" which reduced our taxes if we raised cattle, and a wife (me) with too much time on her hands.

We bought our heifers, wild as March hares, but we didn't know that. A neighbor let us borrow his bull, and the rest is history.

We have since bought our own bulls, Poindexter I and Poindexter II, both registered Angus, and found out more than we ever wanted to know about cattle raising, cattle fattening, cattle processing and the beef industry in general.

We have processed a grass-fed calf every year for us and to share with our family. Everyone raves about the beef and I have become so spoiled that I will not eat any other beef than grass-fed. So, one reason we are doing this is to share this delicious, nutritious product.

The other more important reason, for me, is for the benefit of the calves and the environment. We can take a calf to the local auction ring (we have three or four within 35 miles) and get a check in the mail within a few days. Pretty easy, reliable and we usually get top dollar for our calves. However, the future of our calves is uncertain. We do know, thankfully, that several of our heifers have been bought for breeding purposes and will live long and happy lives as intended. However, all of our steers and the few "bull calves" we sell will probably spend six months of their lives, after being shipped who knows where, standing around penned up being fed corn or whatever else is cheap or handy. Their lives as bovines is basically over, yet they are being fattened up on GMO corn or some other non-bovine food, processed in bulk as a commodity, and the now-inferior beef is being sold and shipped across the country, using more fossil fuel and leaving vast amounts of waste in the feed yards.

Grain is actually upsetting to the bovine's digestion and their system requires quite a transformation to tolerate it. Nutritional grains should be available, cheaply and abundantly, for humans to consume directly. Some of the other stuff fed to feed-yard cattle should not be fed to any living creature, ever.

The details of the industrial cattle industry, where cows are commodities, not creatures, are well documented and can be read elsewhere. Easy to stomach versions are in Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

I am thankful for bovines - creatures that can provide us with such high quality protein and other nutrients through their natural utilization of grass.

This is a lot more work for me as I am the one who usually transports the calves and cows, and will haul and deliver the beef to you good folks. More work for basically the same $$$. This is a labor of love and I hope it works out for us all.