Mountain View Cattle
Company
The Farm
(360) 732-4446
The farm is located on eighteen beautiful acres on the Olympic Peninsula in NW Washington in the small town of Chimacum (that's about 40 miles NW of Seattle). The property is flat grassland where purebred Polled Hereford cattle are raised, in addition to a few Angus crossbreds.
Environmentally sound agriculture is practiced. The farm uses its "natural" fertilizer (courtesy of the cattle) and a minimum amount of commercial fertilizer to produce pasture that is nutritionally sound for the livestock. Hormones are not used. The cattle produced here must grow on grass. Those that don't meet the standards are shipped to the auction yard. The goal is tasty nutritious beef as close to organic as possible. The herd is usually 8-10 brood cows, their calves and always a purebred Polled Hereford Bull.
The farm has a creek running through it, and local conservation
district awards have been received in years past for work in preserving and
enhancing the creek. The cattle have been completely fenced out of the
creek since 1985 (when the land was purchased). Cattle and
tractors/equipment cross the creek over a plank and timber bridge.
Hundreds of deciduous and evergreen trees, both in many varieties, have been
planted on the property. The trees provide birds with shelter and food, as
well as shade for the creek and the cattle. The shade provided by trees on
the creek also helps smother out the canary grass naturally, which clogs many
local streams to the point that there is no water flow, resulting in flooding
during the winter. And the limited water flow means no fish either!
Also two tree lines have been established running the length of our fields to
the creek, forming a corridor for birds to travel down off the ridge behind the
farm to the creek. Because of the road between the farm and the ridge, a real
corridor for wildlife has deliberately not been developed to avoid luring local
critters to their deaths. The trees also provide windbreaks and shade for
the cattle in their pastures, and help to keep mud and standing water under
control by absorbing rainwater. The creek is now lined on both sides
with trees, and the plantings extend to the west along a natural swale into one
field.
Rodent control is ecological by Taz and Mina. Both cats are well-fed (via mice and humans) and much loved. Also, there are a couple of rescued disabled cats that live in the house. The cats do a good job of controlling mice in and around the barns. They both work very hard on the farm and into the neighbor's field as well.