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Come meet the Sabo Family and some of their Devon and Jersey cattle at the MONTANA FARM and RANCH FAIR, Friday April 27-Sunday April 29.  Gallatin County Fairgrounds, Bozeman, MT.

Friday 5-8pm     Saturday 10am-8pm     Sunday 10am-4pm

There are loads of exciting exhibitors and great local food, and activities for the family.

Riley, Kiril, and Jenny Sabo will be having Milking Demonstrations, with a chance for kids to participate, at 11:00am, and 4:00pm, on Saturday at the Show.

We’ll be bringing a baby Devon bull, just 10 months old, and a 2 year old Devon/Red Angus steers, to share how excited we are about meat quality and QUANTITY on the 100% grassfed Devon cross cattle!

Photo below, SABO DANIEL, registered Rotokawa Devon bull at 2 years old in May, 2011.

Come see mother cows with their cute NEW calves at the Sabo Ranch Field Day, 6/14/12. Reserve your place by emailing us at saboranch1@gmail.com. Adults $15.-, Children under 12 FREE.

See how a Devon bull can put some extra BEEF on your Devon cross calves! We raise these Devons for their docility, easy calving, easy fleshing, and meat quality. Come see what all the fuss is about!

11:00–Welcome and Wander

11:30– Jersey Milking Demonstration

Noon–Tour of Ranch with Mark, Jenny, Riley, and Kiril Sabo, and Kim Keller and David Maxfield, new Market Gardeners for Pony Produce at Sabo Ranch.

1:00– Lunch: Sabo Grassfed Beef, Fresh Heritage Cornbread, Pony Produce Salad, Tapioca(Sabo pastured eggs and milk), Rhubarb, Lacto-fermented Drinks, Delicious Water!

After Lunch, there will be time to enjoy the creek, stroll through a field, ask Jenny and Mark, Riley and Kiril Sabo any questions,  look at the new Market Garden, pat a pig,  look for the bald eagle nest, soak up sun (we hope) or rain!

Come prepared for any weather.  $15.00/Adult, Children 12 and under free.  RESERVE YOUR PLACE NOW (only 100 places available) by emailing to saboranch1@gmail.com, then mailing a check to Sabo Ranch, P.OBox 65, Harrison, MT 59735.  Directions to SABO RANCH are posted on the home page of our website.  Please leave your dogs at home.

See our new Jersey baby calf, and the pastured pigs that Riley Sabo, age 12, is raising this year.

Check out our Four Season greenhouse, self heated by sun and chickens. This photo was taken in February, in June the greenhouse will be filled with tomatoes and peaches!

Just last week, April 17th, the Kindergarteners, First Graders, Second Graders and their teachers from Harrison School all visited Sabo Ranch to view the Bald Eagles nesting here for their 11th year.  Kiril Sabo, now in second grade, guided the group and helped everyone see the  nest.  The eagles obligingly took a few test flights around the nest for all of us!

The eagles first appeared soon after we stopped all toxic agriculture on the ranch and allowed the beavers to create dams.  Although the beavers’ flooding did kill some of the cottonwoods, a population of woodpeckers appeared son thereafter to benefit from the dead trees, and the creekside willows provide terrific summer habitat for moose and whitetail deer, shading the creek for trout.  The eagles even returned after a huge winter windstorm blew down their nest tree further up the creek!  We are pleased to host sandhill cranes, redtail hawks, eagles, and numerous small birds every year all over the ranch.  We have counted the nests of 11 species of birds, just around our house.

Kiril Sabo(age 9), the strawberry blond in the back row holding the binoculars, guided his classmates to the bald eagle nest on April 17. Notice the eagle nest between Kiril's two teachers! (Photo: Riley Sabo, age 11)

Are you interested in fresh, creamy Grassfed Milk?

Does your child have milk sensitivities that prevent consumption of this nourishing, nutrient dense food?

Come join us for a class on OWNING A FAMILY MILK COW!  Saturday, April 28, 10:00-4:00, Lunch included.  $75/person, Children 12 and under FREE, 4H members FREE.  Sabo Ranch, 303 Pony Rd., Harrison, MT, 59735.  406-685-3248.  Sign up here, or at http://www.brokengroundpermaculture.com/owning-a-family-milk-cow.html.

Riley Sabo, age 11, milks gentle Folly, a Jersey cross cow, every day for creamy, unpasteurized, grassfed milk for our family.

Many of us wish that we could have fresh, organic, grassfed, unpasteurized milk for our children and ourselves.   We can!  It takes some organization, but with access to land, a gentle house cow is not only possible, but an enrichment in many ways.

In years past, the family cow was often called “the Mortgage Lifter”, providing rich creamy milk for drinking, yogurt, cheese, butter, food for pigs, chickens, baby calves or bum lambs, manure for rich compost for a bountiful garden, and tender meat for the family freezer.  Using the bounty from one cow and her yearly calf, a resourceful farm family can provide for the majority of their yearly groceries!  And, any baby heifers can easily be trained and sold to pay for the rest!

Jenny Sabo and her sons, Riley(11) and Kiril(9), milk 5 cows daily, provide for much of their own kitchen needs, and train gentle “dude” cows for other families looking to start their own homestead.  Jenny’s husband Mark puts up the hay!

Learn what goes into caring for and milking a family cow, how much land, shelter and food is required, how to choose a good “starter” cow, and how to raise a healthy calf.  The day will also include a session on making butter, yogurt, kefir, whey, and soaking grains in soured milk or whey.

10:00am-4:00pm.  $75/person, Children 12 and under, and 4H members FREE.  Lunch is included.  Saturday, April 28, Sabo Ranch, 303 Pony Rd, Harrison, MT 59735.  (406)-685-3248.  10 spaces available for students.  Minimum number of students, 6.  See our Home Page for directions.

SABO RANCH FIELD DAYJune 19, 2010 11:00AM-4:00pm  303 Pony Rd, Harrison, MT

 PROGRAM:

11:00- Cow Milking and Welcome and Wander

12:00- Tour of Sabo Ranch Cattle (Devon and Jersey) and other Livestock, and Off-Grid Living. 

Tour Topics will include  Off-Grid Living, Heritage & Grassfed Cattle breeding, A2 Milk development, Eating seasonally, Management Intensive Grazing, Redeveloping Locally Grown Food Sources. 

1:00- All Local Food Lunch

(2:00-4:00)- Free Afternoon Classes

- Good Food/Good Health- Eating Local all Year Long

with

Tanda Cook and Sarah Marshall of Clearwater Health

- Family Dairy Animals- Keeping Your Animal Healthy, and Your Milk Clean

with Jenny Sabo, and Dave Scott of Whitehall,

Adults: $15.00 each, Children FREE

Only 80 spaces available,

Reserve your space now- (406)685-3248, saboranch@gmail.com

Much of this event is OUTSIDE, dress accordingly.  Please leave dogs in your car, to keep them safe from protective mother cows.  There will be a safe field for dog walking about 1/4 mile away from the cattle.

Bring your swimsuits and towels, and stop for a relaxing soak at Norris Hot Springs on the way home, just 13 miles south, near the junction of Hwy 287 and Rt 84.

Kiril Sabo and Jules Feeney start a snow fort on a winter afternoon

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

This is my first day on the Sabo Ranch and these are a few of my first impressions. Only some things are consistent. The cows and chickens need to be watched on a daily basis. The way in which the runts interact with the other animals effects the way the feeding is done. The overall rhythm of things is considerably consistent, every morning the cows and chickens are fed and checked on.

            The family is very much just a family with a significant amount of chores that need to be done. Kiril (age six) and Riley (age nine) help, play or work all the time. Riley seems to know everything there is to know about his ranch. Kiril is still learning the way things work from his brother. Both boys have their own set of things to do around the house. Every evening someone goes out to the chicken coup to collect the eggs.

The family could not have been more welcoming or better teachers. I look forward to more days of work and learning with this kind family.

Jules Feeney, age 15, calls the Washington D.C. area home. Jules will be spending two weeks with us for his Winter Special Session from the Field School.

Sabo Ranch remains fully committed to helping high school and college students experience life on a Montana cattle ranch. 

Jules Feeney will try his hand at driving the ranch pickup for feeding cattle, loading bales, milking cows, tending chickens and ducks, living off-the-grid, and eating in season in a Montana winter.  He will also attend a Bozeman Winter Farmers Market (as a farmer!), and watch a grassfed beef getting butchered, and cut up, at our local butcher “Montana’s Best Meats” for steaks and burger.

Before leaving- Jan. 26, 2010

Blog 1

by Jules Feeney

When I first decided I wanted to spend my winter internship in Montana at Sabo ranch I was expecting to do a few thing around and help out. But as the weeks went on and the time for me to leave came closer I realized I would be a real ranch hand doing everything and anything. So out of everything I want to learn to ride a horse because I’ve never actually ridden one before.

What I remember from the last time I was out on the ranch was the horse pulled sled riding. This a fond memory but not the driving force that has me returning as an intern. My dad has been encouraging me to get out in the world and work. We had talked about doing this in the summer but the time was never right. But when I had this opportunity with my school I decided this was my chance.

It’s had to say what I want to bring home with me before I’ve even seen what’s up for me to take home. However a sense of accomplishment and support that I can then provide for my family back home in the city life is something that sounds appealing.

The preparations were mainly thinking about my trip and preparing for the cold but also making sure I had the right clothes for the weather was another big part. But from what I’ve done in the way of packing and preparing I feel safe and ready for another learning experience.

Sabo Ranch has space for one Intern Sept-Dec. 2010.  Questions?  Contact us at saboranch@gmail.com, or 406-685-3248.