Sierras

Tuesday. 5 a.m. Joe, Everett and I hit the road for a six hour trip up to the Sierras to look at some pasture for next summer. I went to a concert the night before and only got three hours of sleep, so I slept most of the way up to the mountains. When I woke up, I was surrounded by beautiful, rocky peaks and tall pines. I like the mountains.

We were in the Sierras to look at pasture at The Grizzly Ranch - a summer camp of sorts for handicapped kids. Jesse Smith, who runs goats around Northern California, has been working there for the past 4 years, doing fire protection work with the goats in the summers. He approach T.O. with an opportunity to run cows with his goats for the summer months while he's there. The benefits to this would be that cows would finish faster and be fatter because of the more nutrient grasses in the mountains, that stay green longer. The cows would be managed in a way that promotes the land health, which is something Jesse has worked on with his goats. Incorporating the cows would allow for the grasslands to be managed more intensively and also help with the fire prevention because grass would burn slower then most of the brush that is around. We would also be able to have a fall harvest, which opens up more marketing opportunities for the business.

So we drove on up to check out the land. It was really beautiful - set into the hills along a vast mountain valley. The land looks really good, with more than enough feed for the cows and ample water. It's now a matter of working out the details and getting final approval from the land owners - but things look pretty good!