What a time we are living in now. I mean, truly! It is so hard to decide what is truth and what is hype. Folks, we want you to know that we are not stopping for the world crisis. Being on the ranch, we already know all to well what social distancing is. Of course we have our few grand get togethers like brandings but we are already good at staying home. We already understand what it is like to have our pantry stocked up and how to keep it stocked because you never know during calving or haying or really any time of the year when the next trip to town will be.
We have the cattle and a hand full of other critters that we have to take care of. We have fields to prepare for summer so that we can grow the feed we need. We have fences to fix and pastures that are getting ready to hold those cattle for the summer. We have pipe to move, side rolls and pivots to get in working order. Haying equipment needs to be pulled out and ready to go for another season. Ranch life doesn’t stop. And that’s why we love it. It keeps us steady and always keeps us humble.
There is some crazy information going around on all the medias. If you want the truth, call a rancher! Ask them what they are doing with their animals. Ask them how they are going to make it out of this slump again. I can tell you with every ounce of my being that ranchers and farmers are the toughest, most honest working people you will ever find. They HAVE to find a way through the chaos because there isn’t any other choice. Honestly, we are in a world of huge unknowns. When all you have is a commodity to sell, you rely heavily on market values. And when the market is in the toilet, things can really get interesting. Same is true when the market is rocking! As a rancher or farmer, you just never know until it happens. And that’s the God’s honest truth.
Friends, North Fork Beef is here. The cattle are doing really well. Calving season was good to us this year. Branding went well. The calves are growing so big and so fast and those mommas and babies will be on the green summer pastures soon. Before you know it, it will be time to be running them back to the ranch and settling in on another year’s crop. As a family, we were lucky that we only passed around a cold and that there were no emergency room visits. Looking at North Fork Beef from the ground up, we are doing well.
The local food movement has been huge amid this world pandemic. We, obviously, are hugely behind local food! But here is another spin that I really want you to consider. Ranchers, like us, raise way more cattle than we can physically process for local customers only. We need to have imports and exports. Our economy demands it. My friend, via social media, Kacy Atkinson, says it best, at this link: https://www.facebook.com/1293937374097838/posts/1568766783281561/ It’s a long read but I tell ya what! It’s worth it.
Thank you for your support. Whether it’s for North Fork Beef, or any other beef raised by the hundreds of great ranchers out there, thank you. You are supporting the BEEF industry and that’s what we need. We love selling our beef and are super proud of everything we have done to raise it. Eating it means we did our job and eating it again and again, means we are continuing to do our job and in the right way. We don’t get job performance reviews. Well, we do but that’s a whole other story! But truly, we know how we are doing by the way our cattle are selling whether it be locally to great folks like you or to large feedlots. That’s our report card. That’s how we know what we are doing right, wrong and indifferent. We appreciate the thoughtful words we hear. We take consideration to what we can be doing better. We are always learning how we can do our job better, too. Again, thank you.
Please know we are always available to answer your questions. We love to talk about cattle. And honestly, some of us need to just talk! This world keeps spinning faster. Hang on tight…this wild ride isn’t over…yet. Happy spring to you all!