Fire & Salt

Nutritionally adapted cow vs. unadapted.

We’re doing a disservice to future herds by keeping cattle like the second picture around and propping them up with hay, protein and dewormer so they can reproduce. She will go as soon as we wean her calf. The first cow has had not one iota of special treatment since I bought her in April of 2022. Great cow.

Gorgeous harvest efficiency. Nice work girls!

CHILDHOOD DREAM COMPLETE!!! JESSICCAAAAA!!!

Balmain East is a cute little village on a peninsula across the water from Sydney’s CBD (downtown). With no through traffic, it has a small community vibe right smack in the middle of a massive metropolis.

August 17 in the depths of drought to November 6 after rains.

“How would you sum yourself up?”

Can you imagine the manure pile that came out of a brontosaurus?

My friend Brian has a compelling theory about dinosaurs...

He thinks that the vast oil deposits we have been utilizing over the last century might actually be ancient, carbon rich, soil beds that were covered and compressed over millions of years into the liquid oil we know today.

For that to be true, it would mean ‘dinosaur herd effect’ is the greatest creator of soil in the history of the world. 

Obviously, that manure pile would have had to be cycled somehow…

And since we know that dung beetles coevolved with dinosaurs and are the primary manure depositors today…

That would have to mean that millions of years ago, there may have been dung beetles the size of gophers!

Now we don’t have gopher-sized dung beetles today, but that doesn’t make what they do any less magical.

On our ranch, we have three kinds of dung beetles…

Tiny dwelling, dung beetles that live in the manure…

Slightly larger ones called tunnelers that take the manure into a tunnel dug directly below the manure pile…

And the large dung beetles we all know and love…the rollers.

These beetles roll the manure into a ball and push it a short distance to a nearby tunnel.

Dung beetles are an amazingly elegant creature.

In one fell swoop, they aerate the soil, fertilize, and remove the habitat for fly larvae.

Over the past 50 years, there has been a huge decrease in the population of dung beetles…

One culprit is the routine use of dewormers…certain death for dung beetles.

We also haven’t been helping them out too much by allowing our cattle to spread out.

By grazing very densely we concentrate large amounts of fresh dung in one area.

That’s a gold mine for our friends, the dung beetles.

We pay careful attention to the population of dung beetles here at Fire & Salt…

Because the more dung beetles we have…

The healthier our land…

The happier our cows…

And the tastier our beef.

Why does this seemingly unrelated fact matter?

It turns out that it plays a crucial role in the ranching practices we follow at Fire & Salt.

When it comes to cattle breeds, Angus holds the top spot as the most popular breed in the United States.

But here's the interesting part: Angus originated from Aberdeen, Scotland, where the weather doesn't quite compare to the scorching heat of Texas.

Obviously, we need a breed that’s more heat tolerant.

That's where Mashona comes in.

At Fire & Salt, we believe in using bulls adapted to very high temperatures, specifically the Mashona breed, to create cattle that are better suited to our unique ecology.

The result?

A more resilient and heat-tolerant animal that thrives in our Texas summers.

This year I’m enjoying the pleasure of observing our Mashona cross calves standing calmly in the sun, with temperatures reaching 100°F and humidity at 50%.

They are at ease even though shade is always available.

For conventional cows, this is an emergency situation, and almost all of them will be standing in the shade or a pond.

But at Fire & Salt, we want our cattle out eating during the summer when the grass is growing at its fastest rate.

Traditionally, ranchers focus on bulking up their cattle during short spring periods and rely on outside feed during the winter.

This is totally against nature.

Summer is when nature provides some of the most nourishing forage, so it's essential to have an animal that can thrive during this season.

By raising cattle that flourish in our Texas summers, we not only improve their quality of life, but also enhance the land more efficiently.

The end result is a superior beef product that you can savor.

If you had a big box of Chinese food that was your entire meal for the whole day, what would happen? 

You would eat a lot in the morning of all the stuff you like the most, then at lunch you would pick through and eat much less… 

And at dinner you would probably have very little leftover that you actually want to eat. 

Contrast that, however, with three small to-go boxes from the same Chinese restaurant with exactly the amount you can eat in one meal. 

What would happen? 

You would eat the whole box… 

And at the end of the day you would have eaten far more food in total than if you had started out the day with one big box. 

Less is wasted and you have consumed more.

Our cattle eat the same way.

Let me explain.

The way we are able to graze more cattle (than conventional practices) and improve the animal impact on the land is by grouping them up closely…

And only giving them enough to eat in one grazing period…

Then moving them, ideally, four times per day. 

At the end of the day they are satisfied and have consumed more (compared to spreading out in a bigger space)… 

The ground is impacted far more effectively and they have consumed just as many of the undesirable plants as they have the desirable ones. 

By doing this, we keep the undesirable plants from going to seed and spreading. 

Not only is this better for the environment, it creates better beef.

Would you rather eat beef that has a little bit of fresh forage once every several days and then leftovers for the remainder of the Grazing period…

Or beef that is given perfect, pristine, fresh forage four times a day?

This is one of the most underrated and important mechanisms for creating flavorful beef in the beef industry.

Texas Toadflax (native wildflower)
Burr Medic aka Burr Clover (legume)
Annual Ryegrass
Blue Field-Madder (broadleaf)

Click link in bio to get 15% off all merch with coupon code BLACKFRIDAY.

I had a dream that changed everything. 

I was in Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders.

But instead of gold, everything was red and black. 

It was hell. 

And rather than treasure, the cave was filled with thousands of broken guitars, smashed amplifiers, and effects pedals I had never heard of.

You see, when I had this dream I was a struggling guitarist. 

I had left ranch life behind because I was desperate to be known. Famous. Rich. 

I lived in a vacant warehouse in the desert and slept on the floor with my guitar in the corner and my amplifier against the wall.

I was pretty good. 

But I wasn’t making it. 

Back to the cave:

A glowing red guitar pedal with three k***s caught my eye.

On it was written:

“HYPER-CRITICAL SELF-JUDGMENT

Each k**b was turned all the way up.

I reached down and turned the volume k**b all the way to zero.

Boom.

I was instantly transported to a pasture filled with oak trees and short grass between the trees as if it had been freshly mowed.

There were amplifiers everywhere. 

Only this time they weren’t broken. 

And every one was plugged into a tree. 

I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the beginning of my journey back into agriculture – a journey to reclaim my heritage, build a future for my family, and make the beautiful music that had always been before my eyes but had somehow been unable to see.

It’s been ten years since I turned off my hyper-critical self-judgment, and looking out my window in Deep East Texas, I see a pasture filled with oak trees. The sun is shining through the canopy on the cattle grazing below. 

My wife is working upstairs.

My kids are playing in the next room. 

And it’s time to move the cows.

Or rather…make some music.

I broke down in the middle of teaching a guitar lesson.

Couldn’t stop crying and laughing. 

Became one with the mountains.

My dad thought I needed a psych eval.

But my mom, who studied Zen Buddhism, knew I was experiencing ego death 

It was bliss.

But in the next 2 weeks:
- My band broke up
- My wife and I got evicted
- Her business failed
- We found out she was pregnant

The head monk of a Zen monastery confirmed that I wasn’t crazy.

But my life was still an absolute mess.

We decided to move to Los Angeles from Central Oregon so that my wife could work in marketing and I could pursue music.

Now for some background.

I’m from a Texas family five generations deep in cattle ranching.

My best childhood memories are of watching cattle graze with my granddad.

But I somehow convinced myself that the only way to afford a ranch was to become a rock star first.

Well, LA kicked my butt.

Down to our last thousand dollars.

I realized I wasn’t cut out for the music scene.

My wife realized that she wanted to work from home so she could be there for our daughter.

And I realized I’d been dreaming about returning to ranching since we arrived.

So after six months, we were back in Central Oregon.

I leased someone's spare land, tied horse panels together with baling twine, and bought my first cows.

Two years later we had a profitable cattle company.

Which we sold so we could move to Texas and buy our own land.

Fire & Salt is my homage to my childhood and heritage. Laying out polywire fencing and moving the cows from one paddock to another is my walking meditation. Grazing the pastures is how I compose harmony. 

The landscape is my symphony.

Unlike the traditional cattle business, this way of ranching is kind to cows and good for the land.

There’s a story about a man who travels to the end of the world looking for a treasure only to realize it was right there all along.

That’s how I feel about cattle ranching.

And although I may just be the only regenerative Zen rancher on the planet:

I kind of like that distinction.

Is the official beer of in ? I’m just asking…