DS Family Farm
Worried about what you are "really" eating? Have peace of mind with pasture grazed meats.
Grass Fed Movement
What created the grass fed movement of the late 1990s through today?
Prior to World War II, all beef and most other meat production methods had grass as part of the animal’s life cycle. Today’s store purchased meats, only beef, lamb and goat have some type of green forage as part of their life cycle. Beef purchased at your local grocery store will have consumed forage for the part of their life span that they were with the momma cow after birth and most likely for a while after being weaned. Chicken and pork are just plain out of luck in today’s production methods to have had an opportunity to consume any type of green living forage during their life span.
What happened right after World War II?
In summary, excess war munitions were converted to cheap nitrogen fertilizer. When unleashed to U.S. farmers, surplus corn production resulted. The question became, where can we dispose the excess grain? The “solution” was to confine animals and feed grain based diets. For the chicken and pig, the grain was not a huge problem, they have simple stomachs, but the cow with her multiple stomachs and special rumen (designed for forage) took a health hit. A diet high in grain results in high levels of acid in the rumen. To counter high acid levels, low levels of antibiotics were added to cattle feed to keep the cattle growing and prevent further health issues. As you can imagine not an ideal situation for cattle.
A return to common sense and the Grass Fed Movement, enter Jo Robinson’s Eat Wild website and book “Pasture Perfect”.
An early promoter of the grass-fed movement, Jo Robinson’s website is full of grass-fed information from the basics to the advanced. Her information is well researched and documented. If you would like a free copy of her book “Pasture Perfect”, just contact us for a farm visit and the book will be our gift to you. WARNING: I find it extremely difficult to this day to eat fast food chicken after reading this book. For an alternative to conventional raised chicken consider finding a local farmer that raises chickens with grass as part of their life cycle (pasture poultry post).
Grass Fed Movement goes prime time, with Michael Pollin’s“Power Steer” New York Times article in 2002.
Pollin’s article follows the typical life of a steer (young male beef animal) from its birth place on the prairies of South Dakota, to a confined animal feeding operation near Garden City Kansas. The “power” part of the article title stems from the fact that there is a large amount of oil consumed for each pound of beef produced in this manner. The article does an excellent job describing the use of hormones, antibiotics and other concerns such as E. coli that are all issues related to store purchased beef.
So what’s the big deal about grass? I will let you answer that question for yourself. As for this farm, we have seen first hand the regenerating wonder of grass in our pastures, soils and with the animals we raise. On the most basic level of life as we know it, there is profound truth in the following verse:
- “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty (constancy) is like the flower of the field.” (Isaiah 40:6 (b), ESV, emphasis added)
Grass Fed Health Movement
How can soil, grass, animals and sunlight equal healthy people?
There are many pieces to this puzzle. When you begin to look at the big picture it is quite simple and natural. Take time out from your busy schedule to do some reflection and study on this topic and we think you will agree that it makes sense.
From Healing Quest, a nice 7 minute introduction to the Grass Fed Movement:
Healthy Cows Eat Dirt
There is actually a term for eating the earth, geophagia (geo = earth; phagia = eating). So what are the health benefits?
- Minerals
- Clay absorbs toxins
This article from Answers covers more topics than geophagia, scroll down to the section “Eating Dirt” for a little further reading.
Our pastures contain remnants of past glacier activity in this part of Nebraska. As the glaciers receded, sand, gravel and boulders were deposited across our farm. The exposed “sand pit” the calves are visiting in the photo above has very fine sand with clay. We have a few of these open sand areas across the farm where the vegetation is sparse. When the cattle move into these areas they take advantage of the naturally available minerals and clay.
As you can imagine, we and the cows, prefer vegetative cover and not bare soil patches in our pastures. Since the majority of our pastures are covered with grass, we can count on the local badger population to create small exposed earth patches all across the farm. When our herd encounters these badger earth piles, they will paw, scratch and lick the earth. During fly season the cattle will use their hooves to throw the “dirt” onto their bellies and backs as fly repellant.
In addition we offer clay as part of our mineral program to allow animals to self medicate when bare earth is not available. A quick search of the internet will give you ideas on how to add clay to your medicine cabinet also.
Please leave a comment if you have experience with the health benefits of clay as part of your diet.
Fall Prairie Flowers
Native pollinators need a constant food supply throughout the growing season. Various plant species take their turn to offer pollinators needed flowers. Below we highlight three flowers that we are currently enjoying in our pasture.
Driving by a prairie you would easily notice the maximilian sunflowers, but would you see the butterfly?
Take a walk among the tall grass and forbs and this time of year you can find the small white flower of heath aster.
A new find this year in our pasture is prairie gentian. Wondering how I missed this showy purple flower in past years?
Could it be that the reintroduction of grazing, hoof action and disturbance has stimulated the seed to sprout? Or possibly the result of the drought we experienced in 2012? Probably a result of multiple factors that we don’t understand, but none the less, beautiful to look at and the cows thought they tasted great. Not to worry, we left patches of these flowers ungrazed so they could go to seed for future enjoyment.
These photos are ok for an armature like myself. If you have not taken the time to view Chris Helzer’s Prairie Ecologist blog, you are missing out on world-class photos related to prairies’! Take the opportunity to check out his close up photos of insects, flowers and all things prairies’.
Pasture Poultry
Prior to our start with cattle, we practiced pasture animal production using poultry. Specifically chickens known as “broilers”, birds bred and raised for their meat, not eggs. Pasture poultry production is a fairly easy process. Day old chicks arrive in the mail. Their first few weeks are spent inside, protected from the elements. At around three weeks of age the young birds move to a portable (floorless) shelter. The shelter provides protection from weather but more importantly, security from predators. Without a floor, the chickens are free to pick and scratch through grass and excrete their waste right onto the soil. The shelters are moved daily to a fresh patch of grass.
Fresh grass is the key to chicken health. They do consume grains for a large part of their diet, but you would be amazed at the amount of grass a chicken will eat. In addition to grass and grain, chickens love to feast on any unsuspecting bug.
In the end, a healthy pasture raised broiler in your grill, skillet, oven or crock pot will translate into a happy healthy family. Email us for current or future availability of pasture poultry.
Hitting a Dip
This past week we hit a dip in our efforts to produce grass-fed beef. We have experienced dips during the past two years but this one was a little more significant. In a matter of a few days we had an outbreak of pinkeye among the cows. As soon as we recognized the problem we acted quickly to manage the situation and it seems we have things turned around.
What caused the problem? A number of factors most likely, but in the end it was a lack of management on our part.
1) Non aggressive fly suppression
2) Slower cattle moves
3) Cattle grazing low vigor forages due to recent weather conditions and past land history
We could have managed each one of these factors differently and the results may have been the same. Based on this experience, we will be more careful to avoid all three factors coming together at the same time in the future. When it comes to disease, prevention is always cheaper (and less stressful) than treatment.
Labor Day
Happy Labor Day 2013!
Previously we noted that “cattle love their job”, grazing, and they are extremely good at it. Cows will consistently select the highest quality food available (grasses and forbs) when given a patch to graze. You and I may see a nice pasture but a cow smells quality down to the individual plant!
You are familiar with how a dog will use their nose to check things out. A friend’s car pulls into your driveway; your dog immediately circles the vehicle sniffing away. The dog is reading a book about where this vehicle has been based on the odors. When it comes to a cow selecting a nutritious bite from an acre of pasture, she reads the grass in front of her by smell. Numerous times we have seen cattle walking along, head up, at a nice pace and then slam on the breaks to graze a specific plant. Cows also use sight in grazing, but it is almost comical to hear cattle blow air through their nose (reading) finding that next best bite of grass.
Our challenge is to coordinate cattle moves that give the cow an opportunity to select a meal that benefits her today and in the future. Today’s meal is pretty straight forward; it is planning into the future that becomes the challenge. When will it rain again? How long before a freeze stops forage growth? Have previously grazed plants recovered?
The cattle enjoy a labor of love. While at times for us, managing the many variables of an ever-changing environment can become stressful. This brings us to question “is this really what God wants us doing?” For now we continue forward, in the pursuit of providing healthy food for others through the work we are going about.
Making Hay!
Have you heard the phrase; “Make hay while the sun shines”? Late July into mid-August 2013 was unusually cool, cloudy and sometimes damp! Conditions not welcome for hay making. The “make hay…” saying now holds real truth for our family as the conditions have changed!
We have made small square baled hay since the early 1990s. It is an activity I enjoyed as a youth on my grandparents farm. For many years, hay making served as stress relief from my day job and the opportunity to make additional income. Like many things, now that we have cattle, my view on making hay has changed.
Stored feed (hay) is a large cost in cattle production. Reports indicate cattle producers from Canada to the Gulf Coast feed hay for about 120 days every year (think about that). We now have a cow herd in this country that is largely dependent on someone bringing them a meal for much of the year. We currently feed some hay on our farm as we work to improve our forage base.
Our goal is to view hay in our operation as “insurance”. Hay in the shed provides insurance against short-term climatic events that prevent cattle from being able to graze. The rest of the year, we expect our cattle to forage for their own meal. It is our job to coordinate the herd movements in harmony with grass growth so the cow can do what God designed her to do. By the way, cattle love their job!
Beginning Farmer Award – 2012
Our farm is located in the tall grass prairie region of eastern Nebraska. A rare remnant of this tall grass prairie exists within our pastures yet today. Most people are familiar that historically a key component of the grassland ecosystem involved large roaming herds of grazing bison. When we arrived in 1997, the prairie was in a degraded state, in a large part due to lack of grazing. A system built and maintained by the interaction of growing plants and foraging animals will decline when animals are removed.
Early efforts to restore the native prairie on our farm involved chain saws, herbicides and fire. The initial results were dramatic, invasive species declined and native species rebounded, but soon the grasslands returned to a stagnant state. Fire, mechanical and chemical inputs created an attractive short-term response but did not restore the key need of animal impact on growing plants.
July 2011 our first cattle arrived, 10 heifers (females) and a bull (male). You could say we became a “farm” at this point because we began producing livestock. From another point of view, the cattle restarted the biological processes that will bring balance back to the overall ecosystem.
We believe what we began on this small piece of land is for the betterment of the soil, water, plants, animals, our community and the world. In early 2013 we were surprised and honored to be recognized by the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society with the 2012 NSAS Beginning Farmer Award.
You can read more about the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society at http://www.NebSusAg.org/.
Why Start?
- available underutilized land
- desire to raise cattle
- a new understanding of managing cattle in a sustainable manner
- calling to produce healthy food for ourselves and community
