The Williams family knows fall is right around the corner and Calli Williams shares the latest update including finishing all the summer projects that need to be done and prepping for the next season of life on the ranch.
What’s New + Next
I’m writing this week’s article submission wondering where the heck the month of July went?!
Our family has thoroughly enjoyed the somewhat slower pace of summer, as we load up as a family to tackle projects together, attend cattle shows, and spend as much time with grandparents and cousins before the hustle and craziness of fall begins.
We continue to monitor our cow-calf pairs as they are out on summer pasture, and just recently moved our yearling heifers to a new pasture, where they will remain until they make the move to cornstalks later this fall.
Next up for our calves will be administering our pre-conditioning vaccinations before we wean them over Labor Day weekend.
The cows will remain on grass, moisture permitting, until they are moved to cornstalks with the yearling heifers. Tate recently finished baling the second cutting of hay, in between recent rain showers. We are optimistic about a third cutting this season!
Something we couldn’t say last year.
Beef Gets a Grade Too?
As summer can be a somewhat slower season for our seedstock operation, this is when our direct-to- consumer beef business keeps us busy.
Mid-July is when our steers are finished and ready for processing. In previous years we offered our beef strictly on beef shares; quarters, halves or whole beef. It was in 2022 that we launched our retail beef business due to the demand of consumers asking for smaller bundles of beef.
We offered beef shares again this year, and decided to not only offer our retail beef but expand on that side of our business.
Something new we did this year was grade the beef!
We are always happy to hear reviews from our beef customers, but to have the opportunity to grade the carcasses prior to fabrication was important to us. This information helps us as we step back to evaluate the genetics we use, and the nutrition program.
We are always striving to improve and keep our customers satisfied. We were extremely satisfied with the results as we had Yield Grade 2, Prime and Certified Angus Beef quality for our customers.
In 2022, our beef reached over SEVENTY households! Talk about an incredible feeling knowing over 70
households were providing their families with high quality, South Dakota ranch raised BEEF. We look forward to increasing that number in 2023, and continuing to provide BEEF for families across the area.