Rusty Bayonet Farm

03/25/2026

IT'S A BOY! 🎉💪

03/18/2026

03/18/2026

New baby on the farm. Pancho is the best best Momma! 💪🫶

11/22/2025

Y'all come on down to the Christmas Market tomorrow, 9 AM - 4 PM at Studio 23! 10% off of our booth. Thank you to our amazing customers for your support.
Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁

11/20/2025

It changes you.

I’ve delivered a dead calf before. I’ve stayed calm, helped an older vet who didn’t have the strength, held the chains, pulled with purpose, and accepted loss as part of this life we live.
But today… today was different.

Last Thursday, our cattle vet came out to begin AI prep for Big Mama. Everything seemed routine, he palpated her, inserted the CIDR. On Monday, I followed through, gave her the shot. We were supposed to AI her tomorrow.

But this morning, while feeding the Corrientes, something felt off. Bloody, stringy discharge. No interest in food. Uneasy. Distant.

At 8:45 AM, she started pushing. My heart sank. Something wasn’t right.

I called the vet’s office. Left a message. No reply.
I sent frantic texts, pictures, and videos to my husband.

By 9:05, she let out a deep, guttural moo, laid down… and I saw the water bag.
We had no idea she was even pregnant. The vet had literally just checked her.

I was alone. No vet. No husband. Just me, Big Mama, and something bigger than both of us.

I had my little brother Brett on speakerphone, walking me through every step. But I wasn’t ready. No gloves. No chains. Not even a clean pen, we had been prepping for AI, not birth.

But there she was. Hooves showing. And I knew I had to try.

I grabbed her legs, braced myself against a post, and pulled as Mama pushed. The baby’s tongue slipped out. My heart raced. If Mama sucked it back in, he could suffocate. I held on. With everything I had.

She looked at me… with the softest, most trusting eyes. “Thank you, Mom.” That’s what it felt like she was saying.

Then… he got stuck. Panic surged. I begged her to stand. She did. I pulled. She pushed. And finally, he fell to the ground.

I cleared his nose, adjusted him gently. He shook his head. He was alive.

And I broke. Collapsed in sobs. All the fear, all the pressure, all the “what ifs”, it all poured out.

I called my husband, unable to speak. He sent my mother-in-law. Then Brett’s wife, Heather, came. I wasn’t okay. But I wasn’t alone anymore.

Later, the vet texted:
“If you hadn’t been there, neither Mama nor baby would’ve made it.”

I’ll never forget that message. I’ll never forget this morning. Terrifying. Beautiful. Everything at once.

Big Mama’s okay. Her baby boy is okay.
And I’m forever changed.

10/18/2025

When a new baby is born on the farm, all the other animals come to meet them. Welcome to the world, Jonnie!

UPDATE: Jonnie is a mini MOLLY mule, and weighed 24.4 lbs at birth.

Unfortunately Jonnie has been rejected by her mother, just as Cash was. 😪 Bottle feeding is going well! 💪🫶

04/27/2025

Cash got a new little toy today. He sure has grown! Looks like under his winter coat he's still the Mule in Black! 💪🫶🥰

01/27/2025

Pancho had her new baby a couple days ago. Meet Tri-Tip! What a beaut!

Pancho's first calf didnt survive, and poor thing cried for days. This is her third. She's such a good momma! 🥰

01/27/2025

This.

This is not the way to sell your products. I’ve seen this three times today on my feed. When you make a statement about your product, please exclude the logical fallacies.
First of all, telling someone who buys free range or cage free or organic that their choice is wrong is silly. The fact that the actual statement is really not that long and they managed to fit a whole bunch of logical fallacies in it is kinda funny. False Dichotomy, Straw Man, Tu Quoque, Appeal to Emotion and even a sprinkle of loaded language.
I see this a lot and wish it would just stop. If anything this really just says how out of touch the original commenter is with the average American. There are plenty of people who cannot afford pasture raised and are also not buying a Starbucks. They are spending every dime to feed their family, put a roof over their head, and put gas in their car. They are often one paycheck away from food insecurity, homelessness, or a health crisis.
When I see comments like this, after working in food insecurity for as long as I did, it makes my blood boil. A mother buying Aldi eggs instead of a box of cereal might be making the best decision she can afford.
There are sooo many farms that utilize pasture raised and holistic practices that don’t feel the need to bad mouth their fellow farmers. Follow them as they are truly a wealth of information without gaslighting you into purchasing their product.
Shaming people for the food they consume (or afford) is about as low as you can get. Now I’m going to go buy a GIANT SUGAR LOADED Mocha and drink it along with a mess of pastured raised scrambled eggs. That kind of paradox is exactly how I choose to live.