Tag Archives: Pasture-Raised

The Things We Say During Cattle Work

Farming provides an almost endless supply of hilarious inside jokes and quotable little sayings. It seems we live very much “on the edge” and “by the seat of our pants,” never knowing what challenges the day will bring. One of my favorites you can find on various t-shirts and mugs, and it reads something like this, “I’m sorry for what I said while we were working cows.”

The average city-slicker doesn’t really know what it means to “work cows,” and I suppose it varies from farm to farm.

Since, unlike the very large majority of cattle farms (even many of the self-named “natural” ones), we don’t use pharmaceuticals routinely in our cattle, the only real reason we would need to move a bunch of them through the cattle chute all at once is to do some annual herd maintenance, such as when we need to castrate young bulls that aren’t ideal for breeding, or to put on ID tags on the new calves so we can track genetic lines and better manage our herd, and to check exposed cows (as in, “exposed to bull”) for pregnancy status. So that makes for roughly twice a year that we “work cows” as a scheduled thing, and the chute provides a safe restraining location so we can perform necessary procedures and nobody gets hurt.

But actually, we weren’t even really performing procedures this time, so we didn’t use “the chute” at all. We just used the working pens, which are sturdy, permanent cow-proof enclosures with lots of closeable exits and holding pens. Very convenient for sorting live animals the same size as a small car!

Our mission: To separate eligible breeding females (and their unweaned calves) from the rest of the herd in order to turn them out to pasture with the bulls!

So why wouldn’t we just breed every female available? I guess you’re about to get a crash course in cattle-breeding 101!

There are many possible reasons we might remove a breeding-age female from the breeding herd. Disqualifications might include things like lack of motherly instinct, poor milk production (no, we don’t milk the cows, but we can tell if they produce adequate milk because of how well their calves grow!), or just plain-out crazy behavior. One nutso cow can make the whole herd nervous and difficult to work with. And interestingly… it turns out that most of the time, their calves grow up to be nutso, too! So we tend to file those in “freezer camp candidates” to make everyone’s life less stressful.

Another little management tidbit is that we do not allow our females to breed until they’re at least 2 years old. Younger than that, and their frames just aren’t developed enough to deliver a healthy-size calf, and they may also have difficulty with milk production once the calf is born.

That means the yearling females “freeload” for an entire year (actually more like 2 years!) while they wait their turn to join the momma herd. What happens to the yearling bulls? Well… there’s no such thing as a chastity belt for cattle, so we go ahead and “promote” the year-old bulls to bulls right along with the big fellas, and that goes just fine. Do they fight? No, actually. They get along fine!

Humorously, the bulls freeload for most of their adult lives. They actually only “work” for 2 months out of the year. This is not typical of beef operations. A lot of producers allow their bulls with the herd for 6 months or more in order to improve calving efficiency and to space out calving over two seasons. But we like a nice tight breeding window so all the babies are born after risk of severe winter weather, but before the intense spring grass growth takes off, lest the babies grow too quickly inside their mommas and make calving more difficult than necessary. Anyway, that means bulls go in for two heat cycles, starting first of July. They stay with the cows 60 days, and then they go on vacation until the next summer!

So during that 2 months, we have to get all the yearling heifers, cull cows, and other misfits, out of the breeding herd, and the best way to get that done is using the sorting pens.

A few weeks ago, I logged on to my online cattle-tracking software and printed a big list of cows and 2-year-old heifers we want bred and the tag numbers of their unweaned calves. Some of the calves are only 3 months old, so it would be very bad if we accidentally separated them from momma too early. Then I made a big list of all the not-for-breeding females and THEIR calves (because even though they aren’t on the list to produce a 2023 calf, we’d like them to finish raising this year’s calf!). Then I made a list of the yearling heifers, etc, and got everything all squared away. We really like this cattle tracking software and make notes throughout the year of any distinguishing characteristics about specific animals, so that helps when the decision-making time arrives of who to keep or not.

I had all my paperwork ready, and I knew that Matt would suddenly say to me some unknown morning, “I’m going to separate cows today.” That’s how he rolls.

*If you’re a cattle-person looking for a way to track breeding records, check out CattleMax. We are fans!*

Now, he could probably do this cattle work by himself. He’s pretty good at running a highly minimalist farm. But I insisted on helping him. He at LEAST needed a gate-opener! So I had my papers ready. I had my boots ready. And sure enough, one morning, off we went to play with the cows!

I would like to emphasize that, like most things that go from theoretical to actual, cows-on-paper is MUCH easier than cows-in-real-life. So often they’ve lost ear tags or want to stick with a particular herd-mate, so sorting is “interesting.” We have a backup ear tag that’s a little metal clip that stays put very well, but our cows don’t like being in that close of contact with their human bosses, so there’s really no way to get eyes on it when they’re out in the open. But Matt knows his cows. He deals with them every day, after all. Even so, the lists really help!

*Matt managed to get all the girls he wanted into the breeding group!*

I am happy to report that no apologies were necessary after cattle working. We’ve been married more than 16 years now, and you learn how to respect one another and work as a team. But there were still some silly little quips overheard during cattle working:

“There’s a good chance there are wasps in this ragweed so if you feel a sting get out of there quick!”

“Come on. Let’s go. You can poop later.”

“She won’t go by herself. She’s only got one good eye and she’s nuts.”
“Why don’t we just eat her?”
“That’s a good idea.”

So there you have it. My contribution to cattle work was suggesting to eat Number 513. I’m more of a journalist than a herdswoman. But I like being a help to my hubby even if it means I just open the gate every now and then. Matt did the hard stuff. I just enjoy seeing our cows!

Fun fact: Less-handled cows will rarely approach a human facing them in an assertive posture, so it was much better for me to turn away after opening the gate to get the cows onto the trailer. I used my phone as a rearview mirror in selfie mode!

Organic Egg Deception

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An interesting little story came out last week about the day-to-day practices of a major brand of organic eggs. The article subtly criticized the confined quarters that offered no apparent access to outdoors, and gave readers some insight into how the actually-quite-deplorable practices still meet organic standards.

There will always be your occasional outbreaks of over-and-above corruption, like the CEOs who got caught repacking and selling expired eggs, which led to a food illness outbreak, and ultimately their imprisonment.

But that is not what this is.

This is just a brief and not-very-widely-reported peep under the veil of regular, approved, organic production that reveals not an acute problem, but a deep, festering, chronic misuse of customer trust and understanding.

Organic Egg Rules

Sure, the rules sound really good: access to fresh air, outdoors, direct sunlight, with “continuous total confinement indoors” being prohibited. But it is so easy to just have in mind to “check the boxes” of compliance, while missing the mark entirely. Anyone could make the case that 2-inch holes drilled in the side of a building at floor level provide “outdoor access” to the chickens because they can stick their heads out there. If you stuck your arm out a window, is your arm inside anymore? No! Of course not! So doesn’t that mean you now have “outdoor access?” If your arm could breathe, it would be breathing fresh air, wouldn’t it? You have to concede the argument.

But is that really meeting the intention of the standard?

What about the next provision? “Direct sunlight” sounds good, but then again, one could argue that this whole side of the building with the chicken-head-holes faces south and gets 6+ hours of sunlight per day. Not that the environment actually benefits from the sanitizing and Vitamin-D-enhancing properties of the sun…. Still–we have access to direct sunlight. Check!

I have it on good authority that a certain major organic egg producer complained that higher-ups were trying to force them to allow actual pasture access for their hundreds of thousands of hens. “That would require us to be buy more land, and it’s too expensive!”

Instead of thinking in terms of scaling down size and scaling up quality, the producer was only interested in figuring out how to fit the square peg into the round hole. Checking the boxes. Minimal compliance. Is that the kind of mindset you want for the person manufacturing your kids’ car seats or the roof of your house? But we so often accept this quality of management in our everyday consumption of nutrients by continuing to support these kinds of food systems. The best-but-cheapest eggs. The biggest green sticker on the package. The one with the most healthy-sounding claims.

This is a very convoluted issue, and the reason it will never be straightforward is because you can’t define standards specific enough to enforce true quality, without alienating 90% of good producers. Our various climates, land profiles, farm size, labor force, and ingenuity, necessitates highly customized solutions to pasture-based farm production. You really can’t even say how often the chickens ought to be moved because even that varies based on time of year, rainfall, hen age and breed, and paddock conditions.

I once wrote that running a farm is like flying a spaceship. Developing production standards specific enough to cover all scenarios would be like trying to write a step-by-step protocol for every maneuver your spacecraft and all its personnel might ever make during a trip to the moon. It can’t be done. There are simply too many variables. Even if it could be done, maybe it shouldn’t because it just might accidentally eliminate a really fabulous small-time farmer.

I know you’re busy and just need to know how to wisely feed your family. I could talk all day about this because it’s such an important and interesting issue, but I won’t bore you with the ponderings of a pasture-farmer. Here’s the takeaway, as pertains to eggs in particular:

Cage-Free Eggs

“Cage Free” means eggs were produced “by hens housed in a building, room, or enclosed area that allows for unlimited access to food [grain], water, and provides the freedom to roam within the area during the laying cycle.” Notice: no actual outdoor access of any kind. Does not address GMO feeding practices or drug use at all. Practically meaningless in the poultry world.

Free Range Eggs

The term “Free Range” requires “outdoor access” but does not define what that means. Remember your arm-out-the-window idea? Lots of abuse happens with this term. Does not address GMO feeding practices or drug use at all. Practically meaningless in the poultry world.

Organic Eggs

Slightly better than Free Range in terms of GMO feeding and drug use, but as seen above the the infamous example of the largest organic egg producer in the nation (supplying over 10% of the organic eggs sold in the USA!), it’s very easy to check the boxes and not actually have a substantially better product for the price.

Pasture-Raised Eggs

This one is dangerous because, just like “Grass-fed” for beef, it is considered a marketing term and is not officially defined or regulated. In the states where we are licensed to sell eggs, there is effectually no oversight regarding label claims, leaving it to whistleblowers to report on false advertising, which virtually never happens. Yes, we use this term because we feel the mental image it invokes is accurate to describe our operation, and we try to maintain transparency by allowing farm visits and answering consumer questions. But in practice, industry use of the “Pasture-Raised” term doesn’t speak to the conditions of the pasture, feeding standards (i.e. GMO or not), drug use, or rotation of the environment.

Why Animal Rotation Matters

If you’ve ever kept chickens or a dog in a small permanent outdoor “run,” you’ll understand that it doesn’t take very long for the “pasture” to turn to a manure-caked desert. Sure, the hens may actually be outside in cases like these, but we feel the main benefit to having hens on pasture is that they can consume living vegetation to increase their nutrition and detoxify their bodies (chlorophyll is an excellent detoxifier!).

But the chickens have to keep moving to new ground to keep the pasture healthy and growing, and that’s where it gets really complicated and expensive to produce eggs truly “on pasture,” especially for very large producers. Not saying it can’t be done on a large scale, but there are a LOT more hurdles to outdoor production than indoor. For example, the nest boxes have to be close to the chickens at all times. Chickens won’t walk to a barn from out in the pasture, so their coop has to move with them, and be large enough to provide roost space and shade during the heat of the day. But a traveling coop means you have to go out to the coop to get the eggs, then carefully haul them back in to where you can grade, candle, and package them. How do you drive across the pasture with thousands of eggs without breaking any?

Then there are considerations like getting water and food out to the chickens (no, contrary to popular belief, chickens can’t survive on grass alone–could you survive on only dry salad?), and keeping predators away from the hens. Everything LOVES to eat chicken. It takes some major thought to eliminate predation by owls, hawks, crows, skunks, opossums, coyotes, dogs, bobcats, bears, snakes, etc.

But even the deployed state of the adult chickens isn’t the only infrastructure question. You can’t put baby chicks in the same living conditions as adult hens and expect them to survive. They need warmth and protection from the elements, and an extra degree of predator protection. So you have to have separate facilities for babies, and then another living situation for the “teenagers” that haven’t begun laying yet, and perhaps are too small to stay inside a mobile net fence. And you have to move the hens from space to space as they grow up and have new and different needs. It takes 6 months to get that first egg. No wonder eggeries just keep them in a single building their entire lives. It’s just simpler.

How You Can Know For Sure

This concept of discussion applies to all aspects of natural livestock production, not just eggs. People want to know what brand is best because then they don’t have to think about it either–they can just check the box. But there is no one-size-fits-all answer to regulation of animal farming practices. This question bounces around constantly among pastured poultry producers, because it would be so much easier to have that one magic word to describe what it is that sets us apart from the rest. But some things have to be done the hard way, the old fashioned way. We can’t microwave this one.

I believe the best way to handle the accountability issue of food production is for you to find a farmer you can trust and build that relationship with. Local farmers are often excluded from the mainstream marketplace because there are many bureaucratic hurdles that a small-scale producer cannot overcome, and they need avid and loyal supporters to continue producing the superior quality products on a smaller, but better, scale.

You have a doctor, a lawyer, a mechanic, a pastor. Why not have your personal farmer, too?

Are you falling asleep at the kitchen stove?

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There is an interesting thing happening in our culture. Advertising. Advertising wins. If you can come up with the prettiest ad, the cleverest motto, the most touching video clip, you can sell anything. But what if you can’t…

Farmers aren’t usually very tech-savvy, at least not compared to the big-wig corporations out there nowadays. And we’re definitely not very up to speed on large-scale advertising trends. We are busy delivering calves, repairing water lines, baling hay, and changing giant tractor tires!

Even if we were able to keep up, it’s thousands and even millions of dollars just to get in the door and get in front of a larger audience. We tend to get pushed aside with our quaint paper flyers and our old-timey market cashboxes.

After all, there are more options available to consumers now. There are more convenient options.

Why would any sane person pay more for the lesser convenience of buying from a local farm out in the sticks, when they can just pop in to the local supermarket on the way home from work, and get their grass-fed beef, their pool toys, their toilet paper, a new toothbrush and a Happy Graduation card, all in one place? All on one plastic transaction. Using a shopping cart. And a scannable coupon on their phone. In the air conditioning. Talk about efficiency! Convenience abounds!

Did I mention the price is right, too? That supermarket can offer an everyday price that’s $2 lower per pound than the local farmer’s version. Sure, the local farmer’s product is probably better. But this product is good. The label says so. It has to be.

Right?

It has all the right words… But remember—that’s what advertising is about.

I know you don’t have time to read my ravings on the wiles of slick marketing majors working to gain the edge for one of the 10 major food companies in America.

But think about this: If you thought globalization and modernization was about diversity and choices… Guess again. Only 10 food companies own all the store brands you see on the supermarket shelf. What if you had only 10 shirts to choose from? That’s NOT much diversity. That’s hardly any CHOICE. It’s only the appearance of diversity. And yet we support and feed this ever-swelling, already-gigantic food industry controlled by less than a dozen entities, because of convenience. They have wooed us away from the real farms using convenience and marketing as the bait.

But it’s “free range!” It’s “organic!” It’s “hormone-free!” They know that consumers want better quality meat. Well, they know that many consumers will accept meat that SOUNDS like it’s better quality.

But not you. That’s why you’re here. You’ve seen behind the curtain and know that there is something better—something genuine. It can be a little hard to get to sometimes, but it’s worth the extra effort.

Still, it is easy to get sucked in and settle for “good enough,” especially with the fast-paced changes that are happening with the labeling laws today. Those giant food companies have money to throw at lobbying for dilution of marketing terms so they can reach even the better-informed and more conscious consumer.

Don’t believe me? Here are a few examples you may not have heard about:

They’re working hard to change “high fructose corn syrup” to “corn sugar.” Sounds better, doesn’t it? Another example: For years, there’s been major push-back against GMO-labeling, in spite of the fact that MOST consumers WANT GMOs to be labeled. Opponents cite “unreasonable fear” of consumers against this supposedly-safe technology. If it’s so safe, why don’t you just tell us you’re doing it?

Most of the terms in our industry are the same—the labels have become captivating marketing terms and really tell you nothing about the quality of the product you’re buying. “Free-range” chickens only have to be able to look outside, not actually go there. “Organic” beef can be standing in an organic feedlot eating organic corn and never eat one lick of actual grass. “Hormone-free” pork and chicken? It’s illegal across the board to administer hormones to pigs and chickens. EVERYONE’S chicken and pork are hormone-free. That’s like claiming that the package of meat you’re scrutinizing is “Sold in the USA!” OF COURSE IT IS! Tell me something I don’t know!

And my personal favorite… very quietly, about a year ago, THEY RENEGED ON COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN LABELING REQUIREMENTS FOR MEAT.

Packs of burger used to be required to disclose where the cow was raised—You’d see something like “Product of Uruguay,” or Brazil, New Zealand, Argentina, U.S.A., etc. Now they say nothing. This change was great timing because recently, the USDA starting having talks with Chinese chicken processing companies about outsourcing the processing of chicken before shipping it back to the USA for sale. The rules have changed, and no one has to tell you that your chicken was fileted and marinated in the People’s Republic. Organic, or otherwise! The Chinese Chicken thing hasn’t quite gone through yet, as far as I know, but it will soon, and how we will know when it does? They are no longer required to tell us.

Why would they take away a law that no one was complaining about, that apparently was able to be complied with, and that aided shoppers in choosing to support American farm economies and domestic rural communities and their own peace of mind? So much for choice… Why would they nix our opportunity to know whether our meats are imported?

It’s because deep down, the big marketers knew that no matter what pretty words they put on the package…“Grass-fed,” “Humanely Raised,” “No Hormones…” people would still be wary of meat brought in from overseas, as they should be. So they killed the facts. The facts are still there. You just can’t know them if you’re meat-shopping at the store.

They did the same thing with “Grass-fed.” They killed the facts. The Powers that Be suddenly decided that it was “unfair” to be policing such a widely-used term and officially declared that the term “grass-fed” was now strictly a marketing term, internally defined, and the burden of proof now falls solely on consumers to seek out. Officials said that consumers would now have to visit each company’s website to research whether that specific company’s definition of grass-fed matched their own.

Yep, I’m going to stand there at the freezing-cold meat counter with 4 hungry, squirming, noisy children asking me every 14 seconds when we will be home and what’s for dinner, with icecream melting in my cart and my phone buzzing repeatedly, reminding me that I’m already late for my next stop. I’m going to take THAT busy moment to go online, weed through the marketing nonsense to try to track down what Barbecue Bob’s “Grass-fed” Beef actually ate, and whether it was actually raised in America or not. Yeah, right!

Most folks think, “Well if the label says ‘Grass-fed,’ even if it’s internally defined, it still must mean the cows ate mostly grass, right?”

No. It’s internally defined. It’s internally defined! The word “grass-fed” as it appears on pretty green stickers at the meat counter is now completely meaningless, and your meaning has nothing whatsoever to do with the reality of the company’s meaning!

They call this era the post-truth era. Think about that for a moment. We’re a generation no longer interested in truth as much as feeling good about what we do. Many areas of our lives are suffering. The area relevant in this article is the local, really-grass-fed farm. Our farm, and many other small farms of integrity, are struggling to compete with our real products against a multitude of fake, but oh-so-convenient products.

Don’t fall asleep at the kitchen stove. Keep your eyes open to the truth about your food. We at Shady Grove Ranch have tried to make it really simple through online ordering, email reminders, attending farmers market, selling through local retailers, and offering free routine drop points.

You have to do your part, too, and eat the best food in the world every month, every week, every day. I know we sometimes have seasonal shortages of things. (Beef is almost ready—hang in there! Just a couple more weeks!!) That’s what real, connected-with-the-farm eating is like sometimes. I am the Ingredient Substitution Queen, and I am happy to help you find meal ideas that will please the tummies in your house while your favorite out-of-stock item finishes fattening on real grass in a real pasture, right here in Jefferson, Texas.

Thank you for supporting our work so we can be around to feed your grandkids and ours in 20 years! Please make it part of your routine to visit us at Shreveport Farmers Market tomorrow and support REAL pasture-raised foods raised by a REAL family farm!

3 Things You Didn’t Know About Grass-fed Beef

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1. The term “grass-fed” beef is no longer regulated as of January 2016.

This is a pretty complicated issue, but honestly, we don’t feel it’s entirely a bad thing. Why? Well, we were never terribly into government regulation of private industries. But when the standard was defined, there were still many loopholes and undefined parameters like antibiotic and hormone use, slaughter methods, and even feedlot use. You might have been buying beef that was fed grass a little grass throughout the finishing stage, but maybe the cows all had estrogen implants in their ears! The regulated term instilled a false consumer confidence because it didn’t cover all the bases.

Now, without official definition of the term “grass-fed” at the store, things have the potential to be worse because now the individual beef producers get to define what “grass-fed” means themselves, and all the government agency does is conduct auditing service. This basically means that the companies can’t cheat on their own self-established standards…

So what should you do?

We have always felt that rather than relying on government agencies to secure the moral outpouring of an industry, it is best to know your farmer and see your farm so you can know for sure whether things are what you think they are. Since when was it a bad thing to learn a little about the food you put in your body? You’re smart. Then you can decide for yourself whether the food you work hard to pay for meets YOUR standards. So ask the person who actually raised the animal what it was fed and what drugs it was given. Shake the hand that feeds you!

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2. Many private “Grass-fed” standards allow not-so-grassy supplements.

That’s right. Not all “grass-fed” cows eat just grass. This is a complicated issue because of course there is always the possibility of extenuating circumstances, especially when it comes to livestock. We ourselves have experienced times of flooding, drought, and even wildfires! A good farmer will do what he needs to in order to take care of his animals. If the cows are starving, by golly, feed ‘em some grain, if there’s nothing else. But we at Shady Grove Ranch feel that we would need to disclose that to our customers, should that ever happen (and it hasn’t). We’re into the integrity of this–we want you to get what you think you’re getting. There’s that “shake the hand” idea again…

But if what you think you’re getting is a bunch of cows daintily nibbling a St. Augustine lawn trimmed to 2 ½ inches, well… your mental image of “grass-fed beef” may need a little tweaking. Technically speaking, grass is just one type of natural forage food for cows. There may also be herbs, legumes, brassicas, etc. Our cows even eat trees and brambles when they feel like it! But we feel that things like soy hulls, canola meal, and beet pulp is stepping just a little too far over the line. And yet many of these things are allowed by most big-name grass-fed standards, private or otherwise.

Why do they allow that?

I’m sure there’s no single answer. I would hope that most of the time it’s a stop-gap solution to our nation’s depleted soils or unfortunate weather anomalies. But the truth is that consumers are waking up to the need for better quality meats, and more and more often, they are choosing not to buy conventional meat.

So, naturally, the big food corporations are jumping on the grass-fed bandwagon, too. Perhaps these “approved supplements” are a way for them to produce beef quickly and cheaply without taking the time and effort to improve pastures. Or perhaps along the same line, newly established “grass-fed” herds are comprised of cows not well-adapted to grass-finishing, and additional supplementation is needed to get profitable yields. But should soy hulls and canola meal be on the menu, especially considering that almost all of the soy and canola grown in the US is genetically modified? You decide if GMO beet pulp fits your expectations for the top-dollar beef labeled “grass-fed.”

We feel that this is an integrity issue, most easily solved by encouraging you, the consumer, to be in touch with us, the farmer. I can tell you that we have most certainly never fed soy hulls and canola meal to our cows. If for some crazy reason we ever had to do it, we’d let you know! But chances are, we’d put the cows in the freezer before we bought that stuff for them! There’s more than one way to … feed a cow? 🙂

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3. Grass-fed does not equal chemical-free.

You might not think there could be all that many chemicals in use in cattle production, but unfortunately, like most other industries, there are always clever new ways of avoiding natural production methods… And if you hadn’t already guessed, the “grass-fed” label doesn’t specifically prohibit any of those.

If you spot a package of “grass-fed” beef at your local supermarket, yes, the cows may have been eating grass (and as we’ve already pointed out, perhaps a few other not-so-grassy things). But there’s no guarantee that they haven’t also been receiving regular doses of chemical dewormers, vaccinations, antibiotics, and maybe even growth-stimulating hormones! Most of the issues requiring these drugs could be solved by simply rotating cows across pasture and managing the land well, using sustainable principles. But rotational production practices take more time and more man-hours. But isn’t it worth it, considering this is the precious fuel we’re putting into our bodies?

Let’s look past the labels.

If you’ve ever bought our beef, you probably noticed that it doesn’t have a single claim on the label. Why? Well, claims are expensive and time-consuming to develop, and as I’ve pointed out, none of the standardized claims is really all-inclusive as far as how we really manage our cows.

Yes, they’re grass-fed, yes, they’re hormone-free, no, they’re not fed soy or canola or anything else that looks like grain or is genetically-modified. They really are on growing, thriving pasture, and if the season causes the growing and thriving of the natural, grassy-looking vegetation to slow down, we feed them stored grass and forage–hay.

The beef tastes good, not because the cows are allowed to gorge themselves on corn, but because we make sure they have plenty of palatable pasture so they can graze to their rumen’s content and still have some grass left over so they don’t have to wander or compete to satisfy their hunger. When harvest time arrives, we choose animals for slaughter based on their appearance, not based on the calendar. If they’re not fat enough, we wait longer.

The cows don’t get diseases because we “breed the best and eat the rest,” meaning we choose the hardiest cows to re-breed, so our herd get healthier every year. And we never force them to live in their own manure. Even in winter, they are moved often to new, clean ground so they don’t have to eat or sleep in their excrement. We don’t prop up false health using drugs for the sake of a pedigree or for profit. Our big picture is self-sustained beef that promotes the eater’s health.

How do you put all that on a label? How do you teach busy but mindful customers what to look for in a beef source?

We hope this little article has helped, and we hope you’ll pass it on to someone you love. We love what we do and we want you to be part of it in your knowledge and in your enjoyment, and even in your experience, which is why we offer free farm tours throughout the year. Our next one will be some time in September, so we hope you’ll join us. Until then, buy really-real grass-fed beef from a farm you can trust!

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How we do Soy-Free Pasture-Raised Eggs