This is the story of Daisy Mae and Ribeye

Two years ago, I bought five acres with the intention of keeping my horse at home.  I had 100s of trees removed and eventually I wanted to start a pasture so I could bring my girl Luna home.  She isn't home and I don't plan on bringing her home for the foreseeable future.  I pay my mom board to keep her for multiple reasons.  One, she still needs more training and this allows me to be able to ride with someone there.  Two, it is much easier to get a farrier and vet out if they are visiting multiple horses.  Anyway, the pasture was growing and growing and it needed to be mowed.  My mother and I share a tractor but it lives at her house, so she would have to load it up, bring it over, mow and then take it back to its home.  So, one day, out of the blue my mother suggests getting a cow.  The cow could eat the grass, get fat and then fill a freezer.  That is an awesome idea!

That's when I started my quest to find some cows.  I have never had cows before and my family has never had cows but we were around them, when I was growing up.  How hard could it be?  Give them water and grass....boom....steak!

I did some digging and was referred to a woman out of Brooksville.  Her family has been raising beef cattle since the 1800s. I went and visited her home and she had some of the babies there.  There was a registered hereford that was fairly small(price goes up by the pound) and then the woman talked me into 'Peewee' one of the steers that was a bit on the small side.  She was going to give me a good price on him because he would take longer to fill out because he was a bit of a runt.  We scheduled for delivery, because I can't exactly put them in the backseat of my truck.  Although, that could make for a very interesting video trying to get a 400lb heifer in my backseat. 

A week or so later, the hereford was being delivered (September '21).  Peewee was trampled by some of the bigger steers and unfortunately never made it to my house.  He had damage to his leg and couldn't get up, so he had to be put down.  RIP Peewee.  This adorable brown and white cow gets off the trailer and she immediately looked like a Daisy Mae, so now she has a name.  She was very shy and skiddish and couldn't come anywhere near you.  Over the course of the next few days or weeks, I don't remember, during work breaks and after work, I would just go sit out in the pasture with her and talk to her.  Eventually, she would come in closer and closer and finally touching me, then licking me, then rubbing on me, then letting me rub her face and neck.  

She is lonely and well, her name is Daisy Mae and she comes and sees me when I go out to the pasture. I can't eat her now.  Now, it's time to find another cow to keep Daisy company.  I find a young bull that the owner said he would steer (so he is not a bull anymore).  He is part Jersey/part Angus and they are supposed to make excellent beef cows.  He is about 4 months younger than Daisy.

He gets delivered about 2 months (November '21) after Daisy came to live with me and decide that he is going to get a
food oriented name (Ribeye) to remind me that his purpose is to fill a freezer.  I'm not going to become friends with this cow and I did not intentionally sit out there with him but 6 months later, this boy comes when he is called (only because there is food), he chases cars when they leave the property, he comes to the fence to greet everyone.  This is a problem.  He is a problem and he is the reason why there is now a blog about the cows. He keeps life on the farm interesting.