Going from boat days on the river to calving checks at 3am is not a small leap — and Annie from FW Cattle Company is here to tell you exactly what that transition really looks like. This week Lori sits down with Annie to talk fencing failures, BVD testing nobody warns you about, and the uncomfortable truth about chondropositive calves that social media will never show you. If you're new to Highlands or thinking about getting started, this episode is packed with the kind of hard-earned lessons most people only learn the expensive way.

Annie and her husband traded city life for a farm in Stillman Valley, Illinois, and built FW Cattle Company from the ground up — fencing, infrastructure, education and all.

Key Takeaways

Build your fencing and infrastructure before the animals arrive, not after.

Always BVD test incoming cattle, even from reputable sellers — a negative mom doesn't guarantee a negative calf.

Confirmation matters more than size or color when choosing breeding stock.

Quarantine new arrivals for 10-14 days, even if they look healthy.

Chondropositive does not always mean small — thick, structurally sound calves can carry the gene and still be substantial.

Episode Highlights

Annie shares the real story of trading river life for farm life and what nobody warns you about with fencing.

The conversation gets into MooCall calving sensors, why a health certificate doesn't always mean what people think it means, and the heartbreaking realities of breeding chondro to chondro.

Lori and Annie talk honestly about the financial side of this hobby — including embryo losses, bull calf pricing, and why "this'll pay for itself" rarely holds true.

Plus the social media myth of the apartment-sized mini Highland gets fully busted.

Timestamps

00:01 — Welcome & Annie's transition from city to farm life
03:35 — Building proper fencing and infrastructure from day one
08:07 — Designing pastures and dry lots that actually work
12:53 — Why a headgate is non-negotiable
13:55 — The truth about social media and "teacup" Highlands
16:22 — Confirmation versus color and size
20:01 — The real cost of embryo work and low success rates
22:13 — Bull calves, collecting semen, and realistic returns
24:29 — BVD testing and why it matters even with reputable sellers
28:08 — Health certificates: what they actually guarantee
33:04 — Chondro to chondro: a hard lesson learned
35:39 — MooCall sensors and why they're worth it
44:20 — Supporting customers long after the sale

Learn more about FW Cattle Company at fwcattlecompany.com

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Production Credit: Edited and produced by @the32collective_ / https://www.the32collective.co/