What Hauling a Cow Actually Looks Like (And How Grass Fed Cattle Are Transported)

Lotta folks reached out about an email I sent on hauling cattle to our butcher, which I appreciated.

The end of the process is the hardest part to write about. It’s also the part most people never see, which is exactly why it’s worth explaining how grass fed cattle are transported when a small farm does it right.

It’s easy to tell you about most of the grass fed beef journey: moving cows, making hay, machinery mishaps, wacky farm shenanigans, etc.

But the last step of the process?

I don’t love talking about it.

I get stressed for 24 hours leading up to putting the cattle on the trailer. I worry about our last interaction being stressful for them. I feel uneasy the entire time I’m driving.

The Best Hauling Day We've Ever Had

Well, today I am ecstatic to report that everything went easier and better than ever. Literally.

You see, yesterday was our first time using the new corral to load cattle onto a trailer.

The corral has a built-in adjustable alleyway and chute. So once you back the trailer up, and get them into the alley, there’s nowhere to go but onto the trailer. With the width set right, the whole thing is so solid and well designed that it takes away the stressful “maybe I could spin around or bust out of here” decision point in their brains.

With no other options, they flow calmly through the well designed system and hop right onto the trailer with no stress or fuss.

It was seriously beautiful to watch, and everyone stayed calm and peaceful.

Jesse and I had 4 steers loaded in under 5 minutes - an almost unbelievable record.

The cattle remaining in the corral were never bothered. They didn’t get agitated or stressed. They just stayed there munching on the hay bale we’d plopped down while their buddies loaded up.

And the steers on the trailer were happy to be together, and had an easy ride.

Why a Truck That's Old Enough to Drink Is the Best Cattle Hauler

Jackson, who was riding shotgun, can confirm that we went about 40 the entire way out there.

Turns out a diesel truck that’s old enough to drink is the perfect cattle hauling vehicle. Powerful enough to pull anything anywhere safely. But antiquated enough to prevent you from accidentally speeding and making the cattle uncomfortable while you do it.

At least that’s what I tell myself.....

Anyway, we’re all feeling mighty chuffed today.

Investing in that corral was a leap of faith, but already it was clearly the right thing to do.

Scary as it was, making these investments in our business always leads to producing more and better beef (with less stress for all involved). We’re proud of our commitment to producing the best beef, and providing our animals with the best life possible. (For more on the day-to-day side of that, here’s how we raise our cattle.)

A Confession: I Love Hauling

Now this is kind of a bummer for me, because I do love hauling....

God I love hauling.

The whole package deal.

Firing up the truck, hitching up the trailer, getting something ridiculously heavy, exercising my farmer privilege to not weigh anything and not need a Commercial Driver’s License, rolling down the windows and blasting songs about truckin’, and of course praying that the truck makes it up the next hill and blasting even louder truckin’ music when it does.

It’s a beautiful thing folks. The vibes are truly immaculate. 10/10 Recommend.

But the Random Errands Have to Go

As the farm grows, we’re paying more attention to things like “systems” and “being efficient”. There’s just too much stuff to do for us to waste time.

One big piece of this puzzle is figuring out how we’re all spending our time right now.

I hate this part.

I cannot handle the truth.

One glance at my wildly inefficient daily schedule is enough to turn me into Colonel Kurtz 3 hours into Apocalypse Now....

But I’m a team player. So I did what had to be done and wrote down what I’ve been doing every day.

It turned out that I spend too much time driving around. WAY TOO MUCH TIME.

You see we’re 20-30 minutes from everywhere we regularly need to go.

So by the time you get in the truck, start the truck, let the old truck warm up for 5 minutes, drive wherever, do whatever you need to do, and drive home....

Best case scenario you burn an hour. Realistically its 1.5 to 2 hours depending on what you’re doing.

And that’s without factoring in hitching and unhitching trailers.

This week I’ve spent like 1.5 days in the truck: getting compost, going to the butcher, getting wood chips, picking up hay, going to the bank, getting maintenance supplies for our equipment, etc., etc.

Which, with the sheer volume of other stuff I need to be doing, is probably not THE BEST way to spend my time. So we’ll do a little delegating.

You know what I won’t miss? At all.....

Random errands.

Realizing we’re short on packing tape and having to run to the store and waste time I could have spent DOING something or, even better, doing absolutely nothing with my kid.

So we’re on a mission to do more bulk ordering, inventory checks, and anything else we can do to avoid the “oh shit we don’t have gas for the chainsaw” kind of moments that waste an hour of your day.

Why This Matters For Your Beef

Which, of course, is a massive benefit of reserving a Beef Share and filling your freezer with up to a year’s supply of 100% Grass Fed Beef.

Sure having clean, nutrient-dense beef that you actually trust is cool (actually it f***ing rocks).

But you know what’s really great? Like REALLY REALLY AMAZING?

Having it on hand, in your freezer, ready to cook every single day of the week.

Having a dedicated freezer where you can see your supply dropping, and remember to place a reorder so you never run low.

Never wasting your precious time going to the grocery store for an inferior product ever again.

Being able to throw a BBQ or whip up a celebratory steak dinner at a moment’s notice.

If you want to save time, cross one frustrating errand off your list, and make eating nourishing meals so easy it’s almost automatic, here’s what to do:

1. Reserve a Half Beef Share with a free freezer (or pick the size that fits your family). Don’t wait to restock, it feels like our waitlist gets longer every warm night that another customer gets excited to fire up the grill.
2. Not sure what you’re actually getting? Here’s what cuts you get in a half cow and the ultimate guide to freezers if you’re trying to figure out storage.

Your Farmer,
Josh

P.S. After you reserve a Beef Share you’ll get the option to order a Mini Share for shipping next week at 10% off. Just place your order and the offer will pop up. Then you’ll have the safety net of planning ahead AND a box of beef to hold you over until your share arrives.