Imagine it’s late spring in Kansas. A 150+-year-old farmhouse sits on a ranch nestled among large maple trees and a creek. Peppered throughout lush, green pastures are red cows eating grass to their hearts’ content while they await the arrival of their baby calves in the fall. Now add to that picturesque scene a married couple, a three-year-old minion (what I lovingly call my daughter), two full-time jobs and some hobbies. Welcome to my life at High Bar Cattle Company in Greeley!

I’m Brandi Buzzard Frobose, a thirty-something wife, mama, rancher and cowgirl trying to get in as much adventure as possible between the sunrises. My husband and I, along with our daughter, raise purebred Gelbvieh and Balancer cattle on our little slice of heaven in southeast Kansas. We both came from farming and ranching backgrounds and met at Kansas State University while pursuing our degrees in agriculture. There was never any question as to “if” we would raise cattle but more like “how many cows are we going to have?!” We love this lifestyle of raising cattle and can’t imagine doing anything else. We tried living in the city but we got claustrophobic pretty easily. Now we soak up lots of fresh air, sun, wind and wide-open, blue skies that are unimpeded by office buildings. We feel so privileged we are able to raise our daughter in this lifestyle where she is learning about compassion for animals, responsibility, hard work, respect, generosity and even receiving a few lessons in biology and nature along the way.

As I mentioned earlier, we raise purebred cattle, which means they are registered and have certificates to prove their bloodlines – very similar to dogs you would see on TV at the Westminster Kennel Club Show. We raise our registered bull calves on our ranch until they are approximately 18 months old and then we sell them to other cattle farmers and ranchers to use for breeding cows at their own farms and ranches. We keep most of our young female calves, which we call heifers, to be retained in our herd for breeding purposes. We also have some calves that will not fit our standards or expectations for being used for breeding stock, so they will be sold and marketed into the beef supply chain.

Aside from our cattle ranching lifestyle, we are just like many families in America. We are members of our church, we have hobbies and favorite TV shows, we forget our turn for snack day at daycare, we shop at the neighborhood grocery store, our toddler repeats things she shouldn’t and we generally wonder why life happens so fast.

We have a lot in common with our suburban friends but most importantly; we all want safe, nutritious food for our families. We pride ourselves on taking great care of our cattle because healthy cattle yield safe, healthy beef. On our ranch, we practice rotational grazing to care for the grass, we work closely with our veterinarian to manage the health of our animals and we follow federal guidelines for maintaining the integrity of our food supply. Our end goal is to help other farmers and ranchers meet the goals they have set for their herds while also raising cattle for safe, healthy beef. If the cows aren’t happy, we aren’t happy!

Now that you’ve learned all about me, look for more articles to come where I’ll talk about how we keep our cattle happy.