December was pretty quiet with a lot of catch up and some holiday preparations. Boy, it went fast too. Normally, we have a Christmas party with several of our cattle friends where we bring soups, have a cookie exchange and play some cards while the kids destroy the unfortunate host's house. This year, we didn't have time for one as everyone's' calendars had filled before we knew what happened. When you're too busy for a Christmas get-together with friends, you're too busy period. I'm not going to let it happen again next year, that's for sure.
All the cattle are at the feedlot and are doing well. This year, we decided to put a lot of cattle on feed. We have our fall steers, spring steers and cull spring heifers all on feed. We were banking on Japan opening up which it fortunately did. We have gone through the training to qualify as age and source verified suppliers to US Premium Beef and are therefore entitled to the premiums. USPB had done a great job in setting up an age-verified program last spring so that when Japan opened, they'd be ready. Thus far, they are leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. At this writing, USPB is paying $35/head for age verification on top of all the usual premium/discounts for quality and yield. All for keeping birth records. If you ask me, that is a pretty easy way to make some pure gravy. Call or e-mail if you want information on how to participate in an age and source-verified program.
We finished the year with a vacation up to Michigan for a little winter sports activity. I grew up there and my folks still have a place there. We used it for a base to do some ice-skating, snow tubing (an absolute blast!) and skiing. We didn't get to ski as much as we would have liked because of warm temperatures, but the last ski day dawned with 4-5 inches of new snow. Combine that with the moderate temperatures and it was the perfect skiing day. Laura Cate pioneered a new turning technique during her first skiing adventure. She'd ski until she was ready to turn, then drop to a hip, flip over her skis, pop up and continue on. It was a hoot. Chairlifts were not a hoot for nervous parents however. We made it through though without dropping anybody!
Next up for the crew....calving! We're scheduled to start February 2 but the first calf always appears about 2 weeks ahead of that. The girls will come home about Jan 10 so that we can watch them. We again have some heifer calve outs for some sale customers. We calve those right along with our heifers and it works out real well for both us and our customers. Click here for more information.