So what am I going to do with so many animals? Yet another bright idea! Small scale, grass fed start to finish, beef farm. I was leasing 35 acres to raise my cattle on, which didn't work out to well. So I managed to convince my daughter, son, and grandson to come in with me. Got them to buy a small farm, (now that was good planning on my part) and sent all the animals there. (By the way, there's a bit more work to raising Highlands than I was led to believe. So shipping them killed two birds w/one stone....if you get my drift.) But it's a pretty place with gentle hills and plenty of water, grass, and shade.
Now that WE had these cows, WE needed to have a plan, cuz as I said, it all started as a lark.
After some thought (which should have been done previously) we decided that we didn't want to overburden the pastures or have more work than we could handle. So we decided to raise just 4 to 6 animals per year to sell. Whether by the live animal, hanging weight, or by the cut. With our breeding stock, that would leave us with 10 to 12 animals to care for.
With that out of the way. Our next thought was HOW were we going to raise our animals. Which was really easy to answer.
" Raise em like we were going to eat em ! " Because we are. And we want our meat...OUR WAY.
Healthy, ----- No additives. No fillers. No preservatives. No Steroids, No antibiotics. No pesticides. No defoliants. Nothing but natural grass from start to finish.
Flavorful, ------ But you need to understand flavor. Meat has a flavor all it's own. And comes from what the animal has been fed. To get the REAL flavor of anything, you need to eat that thing by itself. No Herbs or Seasonings. Otherwise, the flavor you taste will be the Herbs, Seasoning, Salt. etc. So we want a tasty piece of meat to begin with, (thus grass, what Bovine were made to eat) and then add just enough Seasonings to enhance that flavor.
Tender, ------- Tenderness comes from several aspects. The feed. The raising environment, The dispatch. The Hanging time, and the cooking. All of these work together to give a tender piece of meat.
Affordable. ------ Everyone wants to get the best they can for the price they pay. But if the price is higher than can be paid ????. no one wins... SO we will endeavor to keep our prices as affordable as possible.
And we are pleased to say that this herd, from our first butcher, is just that.
For questions or more information we can be reached at theweecroft@yahoo.com
