saboranch.com » Sustainable Agriculture

Sabo Ranch Internship Blog- Jules Feeney 2/1/10

saboranch — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:19:49 +0000

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.

2011 Grassfed Beef for Sale

saboranch — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:17:52 +0000

: Sabo Ranch Red Angus cows with their Devon/Angus calves, grazing on a lovely June day

News:

Sabo Ranch will be offering Devon Grassfed Burgers, fresh for dinner at Bogert Park Farmers Market this summer, Tuesdays, 5-8pm. ALL LOCAL and organic, with everything from ketchup to side salads grown and prepared as close to Bozeman as possible.

Watch for us, mention you found us on the web, and get your first Devon Burger FREE!

2011 GRASSFED BEEF OFFERINGS:

Sabo Ranch Devon/Angus Quarter Beef Options

Butcher Dates starting October 2011. Delivery to Bozeman 2-3 weeks post butcher date.

10% off for 2009 returning customers! First come first served. Order now, only 48 Custom Quarters available for 2011.

$4.75/lb boxed and frozen, 90-100 lbs of meat per mixed quarter (Rib steaks, Sirloin, T-Bone, Brisket, Skirt, Flank, Round and Rib roasts, Burger, (free Bones and Fat if desired). $100.- deposit required to reserve your beef. Prices subject to change without notice.

TO ORDER YOUR 2011 GRASSFED BEEF, raised without hormones, antibiotics, or toxics on hay or pasture,

email: saboranch1@gmail.com, (406)685-3248

Internships available

saboranch — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:26:30 +0000

Rebecca Kurnick milking Cupcake on a December morning, 2009.

SABO RANCH INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE

March 2011 onwards, positions available, 2 references required, written or telephone interviews.

MINIMUM STAY, three months, unless you come with serious experience on another cattle operation. We recognize that there is lots to learn here, and we love teaching. However, the teaching requires lots of time and energy from us, Mark and Jenny, since we want to make every intern position at Sabo Ranch worth YOUR time as well.

TUITION FEES: $100.00 USD per week for the first three months (3 month minimum stay), which covers room and board, and time spent teaching.

Once a student is competent enough, we might choose to leave for an overnight trip, at which point we will pay the intern to cover the ranch in our absence.

If a student is also competent enough, there is the option of staffing a Farmers Market booth for Sabo Ranch, which is also a paid position

If a student is also competent enough, there is the option of staffing a Farmers Market booth for Sabo Ranch, which is also a paid position.

BENEFITS:

Daily delicious food, much of it raised on our ranch or by our direct friends. Eating LOCAL every day of the year!

Experience living in an off-the-grid home

Heritage breed beef cattle management

August & Sept will include embryo transfer work within our herd

Grassfed Jersey dairy cattle management (milking, breeding with AI techniques, caring for milk)

Mob Grazing with livestock

Pastured Poultry

Pastured Pork

Farmers Markets, including fresh food and frozen meat sales

Field to Table management training in our Grassfed Beef program

Publish your thoughts as you learn on our Intern Blog

Questions about our internship, or reference needed for us?

Contact Rebecca Kurnick, rakurn@gmail.com, who interned with us May-Dec 2009.

Field Day- Sabo Ranch- June 19, 2010- 11:00 to 4:00

saboranch — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:07:07 +0000

Jenny and Mark Sabo

: Sabo Ranch Field Day 2009

Come Meet the Sabos and Tour the Sabo Ranch – Saturday, June 19, 2010, 11:00am-4:00pm. Tent Provided this year for dry/shaded eating!!!

100% Grassfed DEVON and JERSEY Cattle, Management Intensive Grazing, Off Grid Living, Eating Local Foods, Grassfed Beef, Pastured Pork, Pastured Poultry. Only 150 Spaces available, Local Food Lunch served.

After Lunch SEMINARS: 2:00-4:00pm

1. GOOD FOOD/GOOD FUTURES- How to Source Great Local Food HERE!, Keep yourself Healthy all year on Local Food, and Why Your Purchases will Change our LOCAL ECONOMY for all of us.

2. FAMILY DAIRY ANIMALS- How to Choose the Best Genetics for Family and Friends, How to Keep Animals and Milk CLEAN AND HEALTHY.

Tour with Jenny and Mark Sabo will discuss:

– Breeding Jersey cattle to A2/A2 New Zealand bulls, tightening breeding season towards seasonal milking.

– Rotokawa Devon cattle: Harvesting embryos from “Sabo Abby”, our first Rotokawa Devon, implanting in other Sabo Red Angus previous recipient cows, using seasonal fertility patterns in cattle. Testing for A2/A2 status in Devon Herd.

– More Management Intensive Grazing (MIG)practices with beef cattle

– MIG with laying hens

– Sabo Ranch Interns- the importance of training future Sustainable Farmers/Ranchers

– Direct Marketing Grassfed Beef

– Devon Burgers for fresh food sales added to Bogert Farmers Market activities Summer 2010.

ALL LOCAL FOOD booth!

– 1/4 Carcass Beef Harvest, single week harvest, for compacted beef sales, premium Omega 3 levels in the grassfed beef

Tour and Meal: $15/Adult, Children 12& under FREE.

**$7.50/Young Farmers 12-21(free with reservation before 5/1/10)**.

Sabo Ranch Devon bull calf- born 5/09

saboranch — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:59:58 +0000

This nice, full bodied bull calf is an example of the Rotokawa bulls Sabo Ranch will have for sale in winter 2010. These bulls are Embryo Transplant calves from the Rotokawa Devon herd now living in Massachusetts. 933 is of moderate frame, gentle, 100% grassfed, and easy keeping, a great example of the Devon breed’s ability to thrive on sustainable, ranch grown forages.

Curious Teenagers!

saboranch — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:02:39 +0000

Some of the Sabo yearlings exploring a beautiful table set in preparation for the new “Zone 4″ magazine photo shoot. “Cinnamon”, the horned Jersey steer, nearly pulled off the tablecloth (and everything else!), as he tried tasting this new addition to his pasture.

Jenny Sabo will be writing an column for this new magazine titled “You Are What You Eat”. The column will explore the connections between healthy soil, healthy foods, and human and livestock health, all in relation to growing food in USDA Zone 4 of the northern Rocky Mountain states.

Once we usurped the yearlings’ table, the Sabos (Kiril, Jenny, Mark and Riley) and several other families sat down for a real autumn feast, all produced here on the ranch (except the wheat).

Menu:

100% Grassfed Beef Chili

Lacto-Fermented crackers, from Cherilyn DeVries

“Goatzarella” Cheese, from Rae Orhai

Sauteed Kale and Chard Salad with Cherry Tomatoes

Challa Bread with fresh Raw Grassfed Butter

Lacto-Fermented Corn Relish

Fresh Creamy Grassfed Raw Milk

Photo: Steve Simpson

Rotational Grazing Example

saboranch — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:47:40 +0000

This slightly blurry photo, taken at dusk, shows a newly grazed, now resting area of pasture on the right, and a yet-ungrazed section on the left. We use these electic fence ribbons in much of our grazing management, allowing us to quickly graze, then rest, our pastures, allowing for maximum grass growth and pasture regeneration.

We only wanted to cows to graze the right hand portion, which they did over a two day period. This area is full of common tansy, a plant whose tea can cause abortions in humans.

However, it is also a natural cattle wormer, and high in calcium. Previous to this, the cows grazed sections of our hayfield (back portion of this photo), a mixture of grasses and clovers. Upon introduction to the “weedy” area here along the irrigation ditch, they consumed every tansy plant in sight.

Within several days, as they moved along the ditch, their tansy consumption was down to nearly nil. They had their fill, consumed the minerals and medicinals they needed, and passed back, free choice, to primarily grass consumption.