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Building a Herd on Grass By Sheila Stogsdill
Sara and Jim Shelton market their farm-born and raised, grass-fed beef across Oklahoma
Sara and Jim Shelton’s cattle are fattened naturally on Oklahoma’s fin- through early October in order to match the nutritional needs of our pregnant cows to est grasses. the availability of forage for them.” Shelton Family Farm and Sara’s Grassfed Beef is in Craig County, near Vinita. This gives the pregnant cows time to get in great shape on summer grasses before they The cattle receive no hormones and lead very low-stress lives, said Sara. calve and the grass is still good as they go into early lactation, she said. When processed, the beef is dry-aged, offering a rich beefy flavor. High in omega-3 fatty The goal is 60-to-75-day calving season followed with a fence line wean in early June, acids and conjugated linoleic acids, the cattle are delivered to a USDA-inspected facility she said. in Big Cabin. “We have fescue that will help us out in the fall until it starts to frost,” Sara said. “We For more than three decades, Jim was an ag lender at a locally-owned bank while Sara stockpile grass for winter feeding.” was busy raising the couple’s four children and helping with the cattle. The Shelton’s like the fall because with adequate stockpiling of grass in late summer That all changed in 2010, when Sara’s helps mitigate the need to feed hay and they father retired, and Jim decided to leave can avoid the hassle of calving in January the bank. and February because of the harsh weather. “We like to have as many “We began leasing some pastures from “About 20 years ago I attended a Stockhim and increased the number of stocker man-Grassfarmer seminar on grass fed different forages — grasses — steers that we buy,” Sara said. beef and started direct marketing grass-fed as we can so our cattle have Sara grew up on a cattle ranch northwest beef,” Sara said. of Vinita, a cow/calf operation using com“For the grass-fed beef program, we use a good selection for grazing. mercial Hereford cows and registered bulls. our replacement heifers that did not breed “In the late 1970s and early 1980s, my We do supplement the cows or lost a calf,” Sara said. dad switched to a stocker steer operation,” Shelton Family Farm and Sara’s Grassfed and stockers with a high-proSara said. Beef is listed on eatwild.com and have been Jim grew up 6 miles east of Vinita on a tein feed through the winter picked up by a couple of other similar lists. cattle ranch and began buying land and his “I market both individual cuts of meat as as well as stockpiled grass own cattle while in high school. well as selling whole and half beefs,” Sara “We got married in 1975 and have had said. “We sell from our home, and I have so they do the work to graze cattle ever since,” Sara said. participated in an informal Saturday farmrather than us feeding hay.” The ranch, which is about 3,500 acres ers market at Langley for several years.” in total, runs about 150 cows and replaceShelton Family Farm and Sara’s Grassfed — Sara Shelton ment heifers and graze enough stocker Beef has customers in Northeast Oklahocattle to utilize the remaining grass on the ma, as well as the Oklahoma City area. couple’s pastures. “We are currently selling around 12 to The Sheltons have considered multi-species 15 head a year,” Sara said. “I only sell beef grazing but have not had the time to add the infrastructure needed to incorporate sheep that has been bred, born and finished on our property.” or goats. “We like to have as many different forages — grasses — as we can so our cattle have a “We used small-medium frame registered Red Angus bulls from Ozark Hills Genetics good selection for grazing,” Sara said. “We do supplement the cows and stockers with a and Pharo Cattle Company for the past 15 years in an attempt to get our herd to a high-protein feed through the winter as well as stockpiled grass so they do the work to 1,000-to-1,100-pound weight for our mature cows,” Sara said. graze rather than us feeding hay.” The cattle do very well in a grass-based program, she said. Shelton Family Farm and Sara’s Grassfed Beef has some baled hay “We buy stocker steers in September and October,” Sara said. on hand in the event of extreme weather events, she said. Vinita, Okla. “They are backgrounded in Texas, arriving in Oklahoma in late Other cattle are supplemented with alfalfa pellets. October through December and pasture on native prairie until sold and shipped The cattle are wormed, vaccinated and any other preventive meaout late July.” sures, Sara said. Shelton Family Farm and Sara’s Grassfed Beef uses natural cover breeding “We deworm with Safeguard as needed and a pour on for ticks in program. the spring,” Sara said. “Heifers are calfhood vaccinated for brucello“We aim for a 60-to-75-day calving season,” Sara said. “We calve in late August sis and all calves are vaccinated for blackleg, lepto and IBR/BVD.”
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MAY 30, 2022
Ozarks Farm & Neighbor • www.ozarksfn.com
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