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A Farm of My Own:  We got our brands today  |
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Erin Raincrow
True Blue Farmgirl
65 Posts
Julie Erin
New Mexico
65 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 07 2005 : 5:18:58 PM
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After 4 months of waiting we finally got our brands approved and got our master cards today!!!! I'm so excited and I was beginning to think we had fallen through a crack or something and weren't ever going to get them.
We had to get 2 of them, one for cattle/horses and one for sheep/goats because in NM you can't brand everything with a single brand. Thinking of one wasn't very hard because we used his family's brand that has been in their family for nearly 100 years. Mine on the other hand was a pain to think of......
Spent today getting eartags ordered and they should be here in a few days so we can get our sheep tagged and slaughter lambs to the locker plant. We've had 2 guys waiting since January for them so they'll be happy and so will I as one ram has made it his personal mission to knock my barn down!!!!! He just can't go soon enough!!!
But once in while the odd thing happens,
Once in a while the dream comes true,
And the whole pattern of life is altered,
Once in a while the moon turns blue.
Auden |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Jun 07 2005 : 5:30:56 PM
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I've raised sheep before but never had to brand them, tag them yes. What is a master card ( I assume you aren't going on a binge at Tractor Supply!) Explain , explain please!
with a happy heart |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jun 07 2005 : 5:33:58 PM
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That is interesting Erin. Does the state keep records on the brands? Do the brands have a special significance for each family? What did you end up choosing? Do you have a sort of table of brand symbols to choose from? I don't mean to sound like I am interagating you...I just find this fascinating stuff. Western history intriques me. How many head do you have of the critters? I only have a small herd of Dexters. A breed of heirloom Irish cattle. Kansas does not require brands and tags on small herds. When any beef go to slaughter a USDA rep has to inspect and stamp the carcass after testing has been done for Mad Cow.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
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Erin Raincrow
True Blue Farmgirl
65 Posts
Julie Erin
New Mexico
65 Posts |
Posted - Jun 19 2005 : 6:13:24 PM
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Yes, the state keeps track of the brands and you submit your choices and then they match them to already used brands and then let you know if you can have it or not. It's the same in NM as far as sheep, you tag them with your brand number on the tag so they can tell who they belong to.
The Master Card is what the Livestock Board sends you that has your brand on it, the brand number, your registration date, your information, what animals it can be used on and where the brands/tags/earmarks have to be placed to show the animal is yours.
Dh's brand is a AH that is laid on it's side, it is his family's brand (It belonged to a great great great? grandfather who raised cattle in West Texas) and was passed down to us because everybody else that was using it has stopped raising animals. The A is for Alonzo and the H is for Hines.
Mine is an AE standing up and it stands for our middle names, Allen and Erin.
Currently we have 22 head of Navajo Churro sheep and 2 Western Whiteface sheep. We also have 3 dogs, 2 ducks, and a donkey that was donated to the family....lol...
Dh and I have been talking about Dexter's as a possiblity for our ranch. We don't want to raise "big" cattle but we want to raise beef for ourselves and others. That is our dream is to raise small herds for ourselves and our community so they can have good meat to eat that they know where it has come from.
But once in while the odd thing happens,
Once in a while the dream comes true,
And the whole pattern of life is altered,
Once in a while the moon turns blue.
Auden |
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rockinhorse
True Blue Farmgirl
51 Posts
Robin
yucca valley
Ca
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - Jun 20 2005 : 10:13:43 AM
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Your Idea of Having enough live stock to take care of yourselves and your comunity is someting my husband and I are talking about when we buy our acreage. One of the things my husband wants to do is raise 100 percent organic livestalk. I have a friend that works for the USDA and You would be shocked at what the requirements for "organic" are. So we were thinking if we sold the animal live raised it on our farm and fed it organiclly(they pay feed costs and butcher fees) and They get true organic meat.... What do you think? Is that simular to what you and your other half are striving for?
Happiness must be grown in one's own garden! |
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BamaSuzy
True Blue Farmgirl
138 Posts
Alabama
USA
138 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2005 : 09:37:31 AM
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There are so many regulations for "organic" now that a lot of people just sell their meat as "farm fresh" or something like that....naturally when government gets involved things get WAAAAAY too complicated....
You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt! |
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Erin Raincrow
True Blue Farmgirl
65 Posts
Julie Erin
New Mexico
65 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2005 : 10:22:18 AM
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Yes, our plan is something similar to that. We plant to raise them as 100% grain/grass fed as we can without use of anything that Mother Nature wouldn't use on them. (of course there are exceptions such as when one is sick but we're talking no hormones or other stuff in their feed)
Part of our plan is to eliminate the reason that most people have for buying fresh animals and that is that they don't have the money to pay a lump sum and then the butcher fee and then to haul it to the butcher.
We want to have a "layaway" plan where they put x down and then pay x a month for the animal, included in that price is the butcher fee and the hauling fee.
We'll raise it to a specified weight/age and when they've reached that and it has been paid for, we'll will load the animal and take it to the locker plant for them and pay for the butcher fee. Then all they have to do is show up to pick up the meat when it is ready to go home.
Eventually we'd like to raise beef, chickens, hogs, lamb and buffalo. We'd also like to raise quail but along with chickens we have some problems with having them butchered. Our plant doesn't want to do then unless it is in large quantites (100+)so I'm not sure how we'll work that out.
But once in while the odd thing happens,
Once in a while the dream comes true,
And the whole pattern of life is altered,
Once in a while the moon turns blue.
Auden |
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A Farm of My Own: We got our brands today |
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We got our brands today
