Welcome to the Cow Pasture

How our cattle live

Our cattle have quite the pampered life here at the farm. They spend the most of the spring, all summer and fall out on pasture. They get rotated between several pastures throughout that time to give them fresh grasses to munch on, as well as to give the grazed areas a break.

In the winter the cows come home to the barn where they have a deep bedding pack (straw bed) for them to bunker down in during the cold weather. A few steps over they have a large indoor feeding alley where they get to eat hay all day (and night) long at their own leisure. The cows also have access to a large outdoor yard - they can access this yard 24/7 except for during sever weather alerts (blizzards / freezing rain / high winds) when the whole barn is put in lock-down.

Our calving season is mainly February and a little into March. During this time each cow or heifer gets special individual attention to ensure she has a smooth delivery and that she gets the proper time to bond with her newborn calf. It also gives us the opportunity to have a close eye on each newborn calf to ensure they are getting properly cared for by their mothers. Of course most cows decide the most popular time to calve is between 10pm and 4am… so sleep is almost non existent during “calving season”!

Come mid spring - depending on when the thaw comes and the pastures are green and lush - cows with calves in tow are let out to the pastures. They spend most of the year out here on these pastures where they have access to the forest with lots of trees for shade and scratching - or probably their favourite, playing hide and seek with the farmer! We practice rotational grazing to ensure the pastures are not over-grazed and that cows always have lush grass to graze.

In the fall when the temperatures start to drop and grasses go dormant the cows are fed hay but remain outside. The cows are brought up to the barn and yard mid December and stay here until the following spring.