Our farm is not a commercial venture - it is a place to live and raise kids and a place where we can produce our own food supply.
We intentionally raise longhorn cattle due to their lean meat and the feeling of many, ourselves included, that their meat is a healthier choice than that of the more conventional breeds. Most people want fattier beef and the associated characteristics and are less concerned about health impact.
Our animals have the following positive characteristics;
- they are born and raised on the property. They do not have an "unknown" medical history.
- they get to graze on land, portions of which have been heavily fertilized with organic matter but untouched by chemical fertilizers. Further, the land is never sprayed in any way.
- they have more than enough pasture area and the vegitation on the land is varied with a large variety of grass types as well as bushes and shrubs. The animals are not confined to a mono-culture pasture area. They decide what they will eat.
- winter hay is cut and baled on land that has not been sprayed or fertilized with chemical fertilizers. I do the job myself so that I know what I am getting. Much of the land has unusually high organic humus content. The animals are well fed in the winter - we do not scrimp on winter food supply.
- the animals get insignificant amounts of organic grain - treats/bribes - and are totally grass fed in summer and winter.
- the animals get minerals but no protein suppliments and no recycled animal byproducts. They have top quality water that is readily available via automatic waterers.
- the animals have never been touched by penicilin or vaccinations or hormones. And there have been no disease issues to encourage the use of such.
- increasingly the herd is moving toward longhorn genetics with the good health and low meat fat level associated with that breed. We want low fat meat for our own use and the enthusiasm for longhorn beef, from those who have used it, is high! Check it out. If you love fat and cholesterol and heart attacks, then look elsewhere!!
- the animals are never in crowded conditions, summer or winter, and they are treated like pets. They have very low stress levels during their lives. They do not get kicked around nor treated badly in any way. They do not live in a sea of antibiotic laced manure with wall to wall crowding. And this is good for them and it is good for the quality of their meat and it is good to not have antibiotic fired microbes in and on an animal that is going to be processed for human food.
- and finally, I do not get off on putting great effort into animals during their growing period only to end it all with a short period of intense terror. Force loading pets onto a strange cattle trailer for a trip to some execution site does not do good things for the mind or chemistry of the animal. The animal is going through this process so it can be eaten shortly after! I believe in the "low volume, bliss to burger" technique of knocking an animal out with a single gun shot as it enjoys a treat of quality hay in the farm yard that it is used to. The process needs to take place, but let's do it in a humane manner. Most people are used to mass production food. I am not.
- in a world of economically forced "bigness" and "enforced profit focus" it is almost impossible to find beef with the combination of characteristics that our animals have.
There is a difference. We value that difference and put in the work required to achieve it. Always willing to talk about such matters. Nice to meet others who entertain similar views and exchange ideas!
George can be reached at 306-382-2728, call or text 306-280-4100, or write gcm457@yourlink.ca.
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