Jason Angstadt had just returned from cattle school when I caught up to him. He was muddy (and I don’t even want to get into the constituents of said mud) from the knees down so I climbed into his 4-wheeler with him and Shelby, his rambunctious Australian cattle dog puppy, and said, “Take me to your favorite spot on the farm.” Up we went to the new dairy barn. Oh those lucky cows! You will be hearing more about the dairy barn as the operations there get into full swing. Jason showed me the milking stations and schooled me in basic cattle language, so that we could talk about what he learned in cattle school, namely, the ins and outs of “AI.” That’s Artificial Insemination in cattle talk. I will avoid the indelicate details and focus instead on why a herdsman on a hundred-acre property of an inn and restaurant needs to know how to “AI.”

First the basics:

A heifer is a female who has not yet had a calf.

A cow is a female who has had a calf.

A steer is a castrated male.

A bull is, well, you know.

Jason introduces new bloodlines to make better heifers, steers, and cows. Maybe an occasional bull—a single bull is able to service the Glasbern’s herd of 70 beef cattle and 13 milking cows (think about this) so steers are much more useful than bulls if your aim is producing grass-fed beef. And what does “better” mean in cow talk? Simply put, better is a heavier weaning weight, a shorter time to market, more milk. You guessed it: It’s all about the food.

You will see, if you wander around the farm, Jason’s carefully selected mix of breeds and hybrid crosses. There are russet-colored milking Devons, Devon-Highland crosses, assorted calves, and the photogenic Scottish Highland steers and heifers—they’re the ones with flowing hair and horns. You’ll see them “mob grazing,” that is, all together in the same fenced area. This is good for the soil, the grass, and the wildlife … and it means Jason has to move the entire herd to a new pasture every day. It’s a big job, he says, but help is on the way. Shelby is in training. Before long Jason will be putting his feet up in the 4-wheeler and watching her work.

Right, Jason?

Cattle in motion on the Glasbern farm