How We Raise Our Grass-fed and Finished Beef

All of our beef are raised on pasture using the following:

• Rotational grazing in appropriately sized paddocks behind polywire
• The ability to free range our entire 10 acres as they please during the summer and winter months so they can seek our stock pond to cool off during the summer and shelter during winter
• No antibiotics or hormones added to the feed ever (life-saving antibiotics on a case-by-case basis -- which we have never had to use except on a cull cow for our own freezer)
• Vaccine for tetanus is given to bull calves twice before castration at 6 months of age -- disclosure of this practice is given in the item description when it was used in an animal
• Vaccines for 5-way respiratory and Blackleg 7-way are given to breeding animals only -- any breeding animals sent for processing and sale will have this vaccination status disclosed on the product page until all of that product is sold
• Hay is sourced from local farms that use organic fertilizer (fish emulsion, sea kelp, molasses) and is fed during summer droughts and the winter months
• Emergency hay is only purchased when we have a shortage and is sourced from a local feed store if we can't get our regular organic hay and is fed for short periods (not longer than 2-4 weeks) until more organic hay can be sourced. The hay from the feed store is conventionally grown using commercial fertilizer and practices.
• Treats are given on occasion to move cattle when necessary or when we are training them -- treats are in the form of alfalfa/timothy hay cubes and are conventionally grown using commercial fertilizer and practices. No more than 50lbs of treats are fed per year, per head.
• Cattle mineral is given using our own mix made in-house using Kansas gray salt (mined in the USA), Redmond conditioner (volcanic clay and minerals mined in the USA), biochar produced ourselves or from another local source, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), and dried molasses as an enticer all in a 1:1 ratio. Free choice apple cider vinegar with the mother is offered alongside this custom mixture. This is our deworming and fly control protocol for our cattle.
• All beef is processed and inspected at a local butcher with a certified USDA inspector on site
• Of note, we genetically test all of our beef using the Igenity Leptin/Tenderness test and only breed animals that have scored a 6 out of 10 -- we benchmarked a steer that scored a 6 in the Fall of 2024 and we were not disappointed with how tender the beef was!  Anything that scores a 6 or better will be made into cuts, anything that scores a 5 or lower will be made into ground beef only.