Food is an integral part of life. It’s vitality and content directly affects our health. It’s quite easy to see that we are what we eat. When we eat food that is low in nutritional quality or raised or processed in chemically intensive ways, our chances of being unhealthy or developing disease increases. However, when we adopt healthy eating habits, focusing on high quality foods, our bodies function better and are more likely to remain healthy.
It is our mission to work our farmland in a manner that promotes the HEALTH of our animals, the environment, and our family and customers. There are many environmental toxins that we are unable to avoid, but our diet is one area where we can make a meaningful difference. With that in mind, we do not use any herbicides, pesticides or hormones in our practices. In order to take quality care of our cattle we administer antibiotics only when absolutely necessary. When antibiotics are needed, we do not direct market the affected animal.
Rotational grazing, or Management Intensive Grazing (MIG) is the cornerstone to our success as grass-fed beef farmers and stewards of the land. In this form of grazing, cattle are limited to one slice of pasture at a time. With a specifically designed fencing and water system, we move our herd onto fresh grass daily and off of the previous section. This ensures that our cattle are always consuming fresh grass and forages at the peak of their nutritional value instead of overgrazing and depleting the health of our pastures. MIG also reduces parasites, evenly distributes fertilizer (manure, trampled plants), and builds the soil without the costly fertilizer inputs needed in traditional row crop farming operations. This symbiotic relationship is what allows us to raise the cattle as nature intended, resulting in healthier animals, improved soils and fewer off-farm inputs than traditional grain-fed cattle operations.
MIG follows the same natural principles that created the 10 foot deep topsoils of the great plains. Those rich soils are a result of roaming herds of herbivores eating, excreting, and trampling the plants into the soil, which broke down into organic matter. The plants evolved to depend on these herds for nutrition to grow and reproduce, just as the herds depend on the plants for the same reason. This is the basis of the operations on our farm.
With our health promoting farming practices, we’re able to bring you great tasting beef with exceptional nutritional value. Studies show that grass-fed and -finished beef offers significant health benefits:
- Lower in total calories and fat (up to 1/3 less) compared to conventional feedlot beef
- Extra Omega-3 fatty-acids – heart friendly, brain supporting, and a potent weapon against cancer
- Richest known source of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), another suspected cancer fighter
- Extra amounts of antioxidant vitamins including Vitamin E.