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Once more with feeling…
….we were at a party last night where, once more, someone in one of the conversation circles, announced her family “just doesn’t eat much red meat anymore”. Not a vegetarian exactly, you understand, just would rather not eat much red meat. Because I was a guest (and off-duty), I again let the remark pass. I did not tell the lady that the chicken and pork she was feeding her family was a whole lot worse for them than red meat. But still, despite all the evidence, it’s my impression that most of the experts today are still cautioning against “too much”, whatever that is, red meat. We’ve linked to various…
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Those who can’t….
….well you know the rest. And it’s certainly true in the cattle business. Some of the best-known consultants have never really successfully managed a herd, much less produced a notable cow. You can check. But here’s a Devon cow bred by a consultant, Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grassland Beef, that would be a star in any herd. Her name is 12 Stones Maxine and she traces her roots back to the Lenoirs Creek and Lakota farms. Bill not only produces beautiful animals but does a limited amount of consulting when he can fit it in between finding grass steers for processors and running a mineral business. I hope you’ve been tracking…
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The developing grass fed beef market (Part 2)….
Bill Roberts’ dissent from the old bromide perception is reality reminded me of another: “Each man is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts”. It’s generally attributed to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan but goes back a lot farther than that. And while we have some serious concerns over Bill’s article (see Part1 just below), we accept his basic fact: to meet the requirements of the commercial meat trade a steer must have a hanging weight of at least 600 pounds and that requires a live weight of more than 1,000 pounds. That’s Bill’s major concentration right now….putting together trailer-loads of grass steers…to be sent to processors. To…
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The developing grass fed beef market….
There is no one in this business of grass fed beef whose opinions I value more than Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grasslands Beef. Bill has not only an education in the field but years of experience in all levels of raising and marketing cattle. While a staunch advocate for natural food he has also been a critic of some of the fads and, let’s face it, the nutty theories of some of the well-known grass gurus. A recent article got us thinking…and worrying just a bit. And while I don’t disagree with his facts, I’m not sure I want to follow where they’re leading. So let the discussion begin! …
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Problem solved….
Our friend Tom Neal has considered the problem we’re grappling with—the demand for Thistle Hill Devon beef out-pacing the supply— and he has come up with the answer. He calls it: Tom’s Jim Dandy Devon Cow Stretcher and the prototype seems to work pretty well. We particularly like that the length added is in the higher-priced loin area. We’re hoping that, in future upgrades, Tom will be able to custom enlarge the cow to meat customers’ particular desires. But now we hasten to add that, of course, this is a Photo-shopped picture. Our fellow Devon breeders take all this pretty seriously, so we want to make it clear this cow…
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The agony of being “sold out”…
We finally had some beef to sell last week…briefly. We put an announcement out to our email list Friday afternoon that we were taking orders and, again, in less than two hours the meat was spoken for. That response is always gratifying. We do think Devon beef is something special but it’s good to get the reinforcement. As you know, we’re primarily developing seed stock here for other farmers but, since meat is always the “bottom line”, we do maintain a limited list of meat customers to check on how we’re doing. This time, though, there was a glitch…the computer Send function went down but the orders kept coming in…