2023_cow_sale_list.pdfSome lovely belted heifers are ready to find a new home. All with a complete belt, some have dams that are not registered belted galloway cows, so the heifers are considered crosses. They are not registered, but could be. There are also heifers that are two years old and bred for Fall calving, some are registered and some are not. They are priced accordingly. Find a list with pictures and other information below. This list also includes a yearling panda bull calf if you are into exotic belties.

2023_cow_sale_list.docx

I have delayed too long in posting this update the webpage. Jeffery died on November 23, 2021 of a sudden heart attack. I was unprepared (as if any of us are when we lose someone) and it has been a struggle to do this all alone. Fortunate for me my son Cody Bryant and his family had recently moved in next door. He has become my helper and farm partner. He was already doing much of the orchard management and some beekeeping. Now he has been drawn into the Blackwater Bend Farm operation nearly full-time.

My friend Eddie Osborne has been my partner at the Warrensburg Farmer's Market on Saturdays. Life goes on even when we expect it to stop, and wish for some additional time to establish a new normal. Thank you all for your well wishes and kindness as I adjust to loving this life we built together, alone.  This is everything Jeff dreamed of and he made it possible for me to live it.  Dianna

Tomorrow is a new beginning at Blackwater Bend Farm! We will have four families visit our apple orchard and pay to pick apples. We have never done this before, but have been working since 2011 towards fulfilling this dream.

We hoped to open during Fall 2020, but COVID-19 threw a monkey wrench into our plans. There didn't seem to be a safe way to invite people to enjoy apple picking when no one was vaccinated. This year, the threat is still very real here in Missouri, but we are setting up reserved times where a family can come pick apples for an hour with no one else around (except us! And we are masked/socially distanced while outside.)

Visit our Apples page, click on the "You-Pick 2021" button, and learn how to reserve your private time to get outside, pick some apples, and make some family memories! We look forward to having your family come visit our farm soon.

It's been a long time since our last post. Shame on us! We will try to do a better job this year.

We are so glad that spring is here. Winter was tough this year. During February 2021, we had an extended cold period where we spent three weeks below freezing and had several days of temperatures at or below freezing. Every winter we know we will break ice daily in the cattle waterers so the cows can drink. But the cold spell meant that we were breaking ice two times a day! And during the coldest period, we broke ice three times a day to give the cattle access to the water.

But that is behind us now. Spring is here (we think) for good! There have been a few false starts resulting in some late frosts and an even more-surprising unexpected snowfall. When the temperature dips below freezing late in the spring, the cold can kill apple blossoms and even disrupt bee colonies.

The apple blossoms were in full swing when we caught a night of temps in the mid-20s. We still aren't sure how much impact there was on the apple crop. It will take another week or so before we can tell how many blossoms survived the cold.

About half of our bee colonies did not survive the winter. But those colonies which did survive were doing very well! We purchased some new queens and split the strong colonies and installed the queens in the newly-created colonies. The cold slowed the growth of the new colonies, but we think they will get stronger as temperatures warm.

The cattle herd did quite well through the winter. We had 15 calves during Fall 2020. They have now been weaned and the seven steers from this crop are now eating the new grass as they rotate from paddock to paddock. These steers should be fully grown by fall of 2022 or spring of 2023. We have a few cows who calve in the spring, resulting in three calves so far this spring (two heifers and one bull). Spring calves on fresh spring grass are the cutest.

That's our update for now! We will be at the Warrensburg Farmers Market every Saturday from 0800-1200 starting May 1, 2021. Come by our booth and chat, or make a purchase of apple butter (while it lasts!), honey, or retail beef cuts! See you there.  

We have been harvesting our 2020 summer honey! We have been fortunate to have a great crop (so far) and are continuing to remove supers and extract the bounty our bees have provided for us.

Summer honey is mostly from the clover growing in our pastures, as clover is the dominant flower during spring and summer. This honey is mild in flavor! However, because our bees also pollinate our 120 apple trees in the spring, we have been able to detect a hint of apple flavor in this year's crop!

Summer honey (and what remains of the 2019 fall honey crop) is available in 12 oz. bears, 1 lb squeeze bottles, and 1 qt glass bottles. The quart jar of honey contains 3 lbs of honey. You can find our price list on the Cattle page; just click on the button!

Did you know that the flavor of honey depends on the flower the bees visit? As described above, our summer honey has a mild, clover-based flavor with hints of apple. Our fall honey has a bolder, more aromatic flavor because the bees visit goldenrod and aster plants in the late summer and early fall.

If you have never tasted different flavors of honey, we are offering a "Taste & Compare" special. You can purchase 1 lb of summer honey and 1 lb of fall honey and conduct your own taste test for only $15! Just call or email the contact info on the price list.

It's been just over a month since our last post. We've been through a lot since then!

The Good!

We put up hay in early June. We caught some good weather and the equipment didn't break down! (If you know anything about farming, that's an amazing combination.) We put up 8 bales in a spare paddock on our farm, and put up 56 bales on the adjacent hay field owned by relatives. All of the hay is in the hay shed, and we are on a good start for our winter feed.

​We have picked up our half-steer that was butchered on May 29, 2020. We now have a decent supply of beef in the freezer and have posted a new price list on the Cattle page. Our next steer will be processed on August 7, 2020. There are still two split quarters available! Our last steer will be processed on October 8, 2020.

The bees have been bringing in honey like crazy this spring. Cool weather has led to lots of clover growing in our pastures, and the bees have been producing. We expect to harvest summer honey in the next week (if the weather holds) and have some 2020 mild-flavored summer honey available soon!

The blackberries are red, and we picked the first few black ones today. Hopefully, the Japanese beetles won't eat them all! See the Ugly entry below.

The Bad

Jeff tripped stepping over the hay rake drawbar and took a tumble. He thought he'd hurt his back, but several doctors later, it appears to be nerve pain in his right leg, not his back. (That part is good!) But he has been severely limited over the past few weeks. Physical therapy is helping, so we are hopeful for a recovery soon!

The Ugly

The Japanese beetles have arrived again, and we are trapping them like crazy! They are trying to eat the leaves off some of our apple trees. Some varieties are getting hit hard, while others remain untouched. Who knew Japanese beetles are picky eaters? We are drowning them in soapy water as fast as we can. Hopefully, the trees will survive the attack and we'll still get apples this fall.

Finally...

Remember that family farms depend on repeat customers. Even though we aren't at any farmers markets this summer, we offer no-contact delivery in the local area. Local food is all the rage, and we love our local customers. In addition to our beef, we also sell honey (mild summer honey and bold fall honey), blackberry jam, apple butter, and later this fall, apples, too! See our order form on the Cattle page!

Our supply of grass-fed, grass-finished beef is in limited supply! We are selling out faster than we can re-stock the freezer. See our current price list on the Cattle page.

What we have are (as of today):

• About 50 lbs of ground beef;
• Some filet steaks;
  
• A few ribeye steaks;
• Brisket;
• Soup bones, which are very meaty, almost a small roast for one person;
• Lots of summer sausage (1-1.5 lbs avg) and beef sticks (4 sticks average 0.25 lb - 0.35 lb); and
• Other cuts, like tongue, heart, oxtail, and liver.

What we are out of (as of today):

• Strip steaks;
• Sirloin steaks; and
• All roasts.

We are taking two steers to the butcher on May 29, 2020. Six quarters have been sold to individuals, while we will put one half into our freezer. We should have a little more supply about 21-24 days after butcher.

We have a butcher date for August 7, 2020. Three quarters are available as of today. We are taking reservations for these quarters.

We have a butcher date for October 8, 2020. Four quarters are still available as of today and we are taking reservations. This is our last steer for 2020.

Our farm (like other livestock producers) has been dramatically affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. We have had a significant increase in customers seeking quality meat from a reputable source. At the same time, local butchers have been overwhelmed by farmers who can't sell their cattle to meat processing facilities and are trying to sell them through the local butchers. And in our area, two local butchers have gone out of business in the past six months!

We are very glad to meet new customers and hope they stay with us a long time. We are also grateful for all of our existing customers who have been with us since the beginning. Thank you for supporting local food and our family farm!

The last 48 hours have been disruptive for small family farmers like us! The COVID-19 global pandemic is now causing difficulties for local beef producers. We have been overwhelmed by interest in purchasing beef, both by our regular customers and new customers. 

Here are the ways we are being affected. First, we have a limited number of animals available each year to harvest for sale. Some of our animals are used for custom processing. This is how you buy a quarter or half of a live animal. We also reserve some of our animals to supply our retail beef sales. Our retail beef is USDA-inspected and privately labeled, so we can sell individual cuts and packages directly to the customer. Demand for custom processing this year is rapidly depleting our supply of beeves.

Second, the local butcher shops have been overwhelmed by farmers looking for an alternative way to sell their beef animals. Meat processing plants have been shut down due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, which is the way most beef is produced for market in the United States. This has led to reduced supplies of beef in the store, along with rising prices. Unstable supplies and prices also lead consumers to alternative choices, such as purchasing direct from farmers like us! The lead time for scheduling a butcher date has mushroomed in the past week! 

Last week, we scheduled 2 steers for butcher on May 29, 2020. Yesterday, we inquired about a butcher date with our regular processor. We were given a date of August 7, 2020. We grabbed that date, but we were surprised how far out the scheduled date has leaped! We have talked to other local butchers and their next-available dates are in September 2020. In addition, processing costs are beginning to rise as well.

Third, because of the lead time now required for scheduling a butcher date, we can't refill our freezers as often. In addition, new customers seeking high-quality alternatives to grocery store supplies are increasing our sales. We are concerned that we may not be able to continue to supply all of our retail customers.

What are we doing based on these disruptions in the local beef markets? We have discontinued sale prices for most of our beef products, reverting to our regular prices. (We still have a good supply of beef sticks and summer sausage, so this sale continues!) Our prices on retail sales are still comparable to grocery store prices, but we believe our beef products are a higher quality.

We have also discontinued the sale price on custom processed quarters and halves. Our supply of steers for 2020 is limited to those who were born two years ago! The time between supply (the birth of bull calves) and demand (24-30 months of natural growth on healthy grass) makes it difficult for small producers like us to predict the market realities.

We will continue to supply our customers with high quality local beef as long as possible. Please contact us to identify the current availability. And remember, we also sell honey, blackberry jam, and apple butter grown and produced on our farm!

Now is a good time to think about how you purchase your beef. Beef supplies in the grocery store are uncertain, and you can't know how many different cows are in your pound of ground beef. Were they raised in an sustainable manner? Did they get to graze in a natural manner? Did they eat fresh grass every day? Or cows are able to do all of these things, as well as drink clean well water daily!

We offer ground beef and specific cuts of beef from Belted Galloway cattle who rotate daily through 14 paddocks. This ensures fresh grass every day, along with access to strategically located waterers to minimize how far the cattle have to walk. These animals live good cattle lives!

Our May 2020 specials are posted on the Cattle page of our website. We are highlighting the following specials for May 2020:

• Ground beef for $5.50/lb, marked down from $7/lb. Ground beef is packaged in 1 lb plastic tubes. This special is no longer available. See post on May 8 above.
• Beef sticks for $7.50/lb, marked down from $9/lb. Beef sticks are packaged 4 sticks to a package; most packages are between 1/4 lb to 1/3 lb in size. So you get 3-4 packages to the pound.
• Summer sausage for $7.50/lb, marked down from $9/lb. Summer sausage is vacuum-sealed, with each package containing 1.25 lbs to 1.5 lbs. Both beef sticks and summer sausage are made from the same recipe using Belted Galloway beef from Blackwater Bend Farm!
• A package of ten 1 lb tubes of ground beef for $50! Our ground beef is very lean and comes from only one animal at a time! This special is no longer available. See post on May 8 above.

Individual cuts of beef are also available. We also sell honey, apple butter, and blackberry jam produced and made on our farm. Please see the order form on the Cattle page for more details.

As always, we can deliver in the Warrensburg/Knob Noster area with a $50 minimum order!

We have added 15 new apple trees to the orchard this spring, including six new varieties! Our new varieties include both heritage varieties as well as some newer varieties. All of the trees planted this year are bare root trees. This means that the root stock has developed roots about one foot in length, with a grafted piece of apple tree about four- to six-inches long. New buds are growing from the grafted piece before we plant the new tree. It usually takes about five years for a bare root apple tree to grow enough to produce fruit!

The picture to the left is a bare root Gala apple tree with new growth above the graft! The white on the trunk is actually wax holding the graft into the root stock. The wax also protects the open wound on the tree while the scar tissue grows and seals the graft joint. (The taller single-trunk trees are four-year old Fuji apple trees, which were planted last year.)

Our new apples trees include the following varieties:

• Baldwin,
• Enterprise,
• Esopus Spitzenburg, 
• Gala,
• Royal Limbertwig, and
• Ruby Limbertwig.

​We now have more than 120 apple trees, with more than 80 trees producing apples this year. 22 varieties are now growing. Honey Crisp is a modern apple which had a few apples available last year. We expect more this year. Fuji is another modern apple, but our trees are not yet producing apples. Liberty is a newer disease-resistant apple, which is a sweet-tasting crisp apple with more than 20 trees producing pickable fruit.

Some of our heritage apples include Missouri Pippen (which originated here in Johnson County, Missouri), Jefferies, Ben Davis, and Arkansas Black. Some of the heritage apples have unique names, such as Peasegoode Nonesuch, Redfree, or Red Prince. Some names originate from characteristics of the tree, such as Red Limbertwig or our two new Limbertwigs (Royal and Ruby). And any apple with the name "Pippen" included means that the original tree was grown from a seed!

Most apple trees are reproduced today by taking a cutting from the original tree and grafting it onto a root stock variety. The root stock controls the size of the mature tree. Almost all of our trees are semi-dwarf in size. The fruit grows on the tree which grows above the graft, maintaining the same taste, size, and shape of the apples grown on the original tree.

We hope to invite guests to the orchard this fall to pick apples. Of course, if the global COVID-19 pandemic is still with us, we will have to observe physical distancing! Stay tuned for more information!