“On my outfit (Frank Eathorne of Douglas Wyoming) I run beef cattle. But I also raise Corrientes and keep a set of roping steers year ‘round. Summertime and green grass pasture grazing make the stock contracting business easy. To the contrary winter time is a bit more challenging. I’ve tried to pasture steers in the winter and supplement with alfalfa hay and lick tubs with marginal success. Energy is the common missing component.
The winter of 2000 1819 brought more challenges to the equation as winter roping‘s have been extremely popular, greatly increasing the number of runs for these cattle during a weekend. The cattle were becoming undeniably fatigued. From cold pastures and lots, to three hour hauls and then unloaded into warm, humid barns and ran 6-8 times every two to three weeks on average; the work load was heavy.
A solution was needed as this set of roping steers had a steady schedule ahead of them. There are no replacements until fresh cattle are weaned and trained to rope and that is not ordinary until March/April at the soonest.
I recall talking with Steve Campbell of Tailor Made Cattle not only about ACV, but remember him mentioning something about apple juice. Picked up the phone and called Steve and he described a product he has and called it Apple Jack, the heavy leftovers from processing the clear fermented apple juice. Steve added that the Apple Jack contained both the liquids from the Organic apples and the solids where the protein, enzymes and vitamins are more concentrated.
Sounded like it be worth a try so I bought a tote of the applejack. Five days before the next roping I kept the cattle in and provided an average of 8 ounces per head poured on top the hay.
The results have been nothing short of dramatic. Energy levels were noticeably increased. The cattle acted and performed with much more enthusiasm. The individuals that were acting very close to quitting picked up a gear and sometimes two. The medium and faster cattle also picked up speed, nearly 25% were running as fresh and hard as they ran seven months prior. I will continue to supplement these cattle with Apple Jack and add apple cider vinegar as needed. I am convinced of the results of these supplements and would recommend them to anyone.”
W Frank Eathorne
Apple Jack—Apple Cider Heavy Juice
Yesterday I finally put out my lick wheel tub with approximately 90 gallons of Heavy Apple Cider Juice and 100 pounds of sea salt. See video link below....
I get the Heavy juice from Golden Valley Vinegar in 275 gallon totes. It is the heavy remains from the bottom of the 50,000 gallon organic apple juice tanks. Once the ALCOHOL content has reached 6% GVV takes the thin portion and runs it through the acetator and converts the alcohol to Acetic Acid (apple cider vinegar). In the alcohol state this product has quite a bit of energy and some protein, plus its natural vitamins, minerals and enzymes.
I took the grass fats about 30-45 minutes to find it.
In Texas, a friend did this and over the course of three weeks his cows went from eating 4 round bales of hay a day, loosing weight and manure piling up ... down to ... 2.5 bales of hay per day, with his cows now gaining weight and manure back to nice patties. We "fat thumbed" the math and they were consuming approximately 18 ounces per cow per day. His reduction in hay cost was approximately 3 times the cost of the juice he fed...and they started gaining weight again.
Call or email if you would like to know more about this product
Steve Campbell 208-315-4726
The Thinking Rancher's Guide to Making Brine for Cattle
Watch these videos to learn how to make mineral rich salt brine to greatly improve the health and vitality of your cattle.
How does “form follow Function” in Nature?
In 2009 and 2010, the Aleutian Feral Cattle became known to a number of us. I have wondered over the years how nature selected for the animals we were offered a glimpse of at that time. On an Island named Umnak, with 686 square miles of surface area, there were approximately 3700 cattle that had had very little human interaction for 80 years.