The crazy of 2018…The start of 2018 brought us closing our construction company in Colorado and actually decided to move to Missouri. As we were about to close on our home in Colorado out of the blue we were given the opportunity to purchase the rest of the herd we had acquired as the foundation for our herd. We jumped on the opportunity and boom a bull included, DUNBAR.
Now the acreage we had was not enough to support the new numbers. By Divine providence the 40 next to us came onto the market. The owner was ecstatic that we wanted the property, now there was an additional 40 acres of JUNGLE…
Scrambling to get done the projects already in progress we now took on clearing the underbrush and fixing fence. Once we could see we had the mature trees of all species harvested / logged. 400 plus trees were taken down leaving a canopy of oak, hickory, walnut… for the savanna landscape desired. We are now in the process of burning slash piles so we can find the 400+ tree stumps and have them ground. Once complete smooth the ground, do a bit more clean up and be ready for seed by spring!!! Don’t expect a thank you from the herd who will graze the savanna with an assortment of feed choices in the shade of the younger trees and enjoy the natural habitat of deer, turkey, squirrels etc.
We also had the addition of two calves, Olly who you met and Opal a heifer about two weeks later. Opal gave us a scare, her mom being a first time heifer was slow to mother. The first two days we intervened and took Opal to the barn to warm her up, the mom had walked away from her. By the second day the hormones kicked in and Electra has been doing a fine job being a mom. The two calves are buddies, my two little peanuts.
As we say good bye to 2018 we are excited for the new experiences and changes coming to A Rusty Knoll in 2019. Blessings to all for a Happy 2019.