Summer and Fall on the Farm at Phelps Cattle Co.

The Summer and Fall seasons have been full of hard work, blessings, and big steps forward here at Phelps Cattle Co. God gave Jana and I a little extra time this year, and we used it to really buckle down and make progress on the farm—together with my dad Bud, my mom Karen, and my brother Chad. Those days working side by side are ones we don’t take for granted.

One of our biggest accomplishments this season was fencing. We built a lot of barbed wire fence and installed pipe fence where it was needed, all in preparation for a new rotational grazing plan for our herds. This investment will help us better manage our pastures, improve animal health, and steward the land we’ve been entrusted with.

We also took a big step forward on the management side by investing in CattleMax to keep better records on both of our herds, including our Hair Sheep. Good records are a key part of running a sustainable operation, and we’re excited about what this will allow us to do moving forward.

Right now, we’re in the middle of an intense lambing season, and it’s been a busy one! So far, we’ve welcomed 38 lambs, and we’re grateful for healthy ewes and babies during this demanding time.

Our Highland herd has brought us some exciting news as well. We were blessed with three new Highland calves—two bull calves named Georgie and Fergus, and finally, a heifer we named Ruthie. Over in our beef herd, we’ve also welcomed three calves: one bull and two heifers. Last month we were able to purchase our first round of Semen from a Farm in Kentucky. We are pretty excited about this. We recently upgraded our Merck Allflex Sensehub system by adding another antenna, with the help from a good friend of mine that is a genius in the IT world, to cover the other side of the Farm. This system not only allows us to see the optimal time that our cows come into heat, but also monitors their health in areas such as daily and hourly rumination, daily and hourly eating, and their activity trend. Plus, it notifies you if the animal is in distress. It's a great system.

As if that wasn’t enough, we’re kicking off a new project this month—redoing the corral system back at the barns. It’s a big undertaking, but an important one, and we’ll be chipping away at it step by step. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as progress is made.

Thank you for following along with us and supporting Phelps Cattle Co. We’re thankful for a

productive season, for family, and for the opportunity to continue building something meaningful—one project, one calf, and one day at a time.