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“I’m cutting back on meat”….
….I don’t know how often I hear that. Just the other day, a woman was raving about the taste of Thistle Hill meat but added, just a bit apologetically, that sadly she was “cutting back” for “health reasons”. Of course, I answered that it might well be that, in fact, she might better improve her health by increasing the amount of grass fed beef she eats. A significant percentage of our customers do indeed buy our meat precisely because they have decided it’s good “for what ails them”. The biggest source of propaganda against eating red meat, of course, is our very own government. The bureaucrats are still tied to…
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Eating the baby….
A diner in England has garnered a lot of publicity by offering a “Kidz Breakfast” which they claim weighs as much as a baby. No one seems to have succeeded in polishing off the breakfast until now, which is when Robert Pinto walked in and “ate the whole thing”….9 pounds of bacon and eggs…and sausage. It prompted calls for it to be banned and had one expert warning that someone could die after eating it. But the “Kidz Breakfast”, described as weighing the same as a small child, has remained the talk of a Norfolk seaside town. Consisting of a dozen sausages, 12 bacon rashers and enough eggs to be produced…
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Gluten..or not to gluten…
has been an on-going question at our house. We’ve gone gluten-free twice and have felt the benefits. Our “daughter the doctor” supports it without reservation. But in the past we’ve just liked some breads and pasta too much to stick to it. Right now, it’s not an issue since I’ve been on a low car diet, but here’s a pretty good summary of where the science seems to be right now. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/gluten-free-whether-you-need-it-or-not/?ref=science
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A cow of a different color….
….or, “you can’t tell your Whopper without a dna test”. http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2013/02/01/burger-king-to-dna-test-its-beef-after-food-processor-used-horse-meat/ We’ve said several times that repeated studies show the most dangerous things you can consume are hamburgers and chicken. Studies also show that the top sellers in fast food restaurants, meaning in the country, are……
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So God made a farmer…
…in case you missed it on the Super Bowl last night, Dodge built a commercial around the old Paul Harvey essay: “So God Made a Farmer”. For me, this moving recitation is always a reminder of how much we’ve lost to pay for the “progress” we’ve made. Thomas Jefferson, of course, thought our country could not survive if it moved away from its agrarian roots. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sillEgUHGC4
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Addendum…..
….or should that be addenda? Addendae? Anyway, here’s more on managing heifers growing out of our Roundtable below. Both Bill Roberts and Juliet Cleave have posted comments along the way the past several days but I thought these two were worthy of special attention so I brought them up here. If you haven’t seen Juliet’s video, I hope you’ll do so now. Turn up the sound. http://youtu.be/S_kKoeRcmwM First, to re-introduce Juliet. She’s one of our partners in the Traditional Devon project in England. A native of Cornwall, living and raising Devon on land her family has farmed for well over 100 years. She has a spectacular herd and it was…
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Comparison shopping….
Our son-in-law Curt sends a picture of the grass fed beef case at the Central Market in Dallas. We found the prices, let’s say, “impressive”. Of course, there are all those wealthy oil men out in Texas. We followed (in parentheses) with the Thistle Hill price, assuming any individual cuts were available. Filet Mignon 31.99 (22.00) NY Strip 18.99 (16.00) Sirloin steak 11.99 (10.00) Burger 6.99 ( 4.50) No, this isn’t laying the groundwork for a price increase. Certainly, one reason prices for grass fed meat are higher than conventional cuts at the market, or on line, is that not only does it take more time to raise a grass fed animal (increasing the cost) but grass…
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Commenting on the comments…
Two readers of our blog (see the Roundtable below and the comments added) have prompted a response from Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grasslands Beef. To comment on both thoughtful comments to the blog: We work with top grass fed cattle producers coast to coast. Several run grass cow/calf operations in the thousands and several finish fats in the multiple hundreds. Other than genetic potential, the three most common issues concerning limitations of grass cattle to grow and breed early or finish early are 1) Total nutrients available for the daily grazing 2) Adequate energy to meet animal requirements in the volume consumed daily 3) Mineralization 1 – is…
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Breeding heifers…and more…
The other day some of us got into a discussion, via email, about breeding heifers. But as these things go, we wandered off topic quite a bit. When I signed off, I realized that there might be some thought-starters in our ramblings for readers of this blog and so I have reproduced it here with the permission of the participants. Taking part were myself, and our two partners in Traditional Devon, Bill Walker and John Forelle, as well as two people whose counsel we frequently seek out: Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grasslands Beef and Dr. Sue Beal, a holistic vet in Pennsylvania. The give-and-take began when I posted a video…
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Well, there’s that….
….alright, there may be some economic benefits, now that we think about it.