DS Family Farm
Worried about what you are "really" eating? Have peace of mind with pasture grazed meats.
Pasture crop – Year One Experience
We completed year one of the CCTA-Farms Advancing Regenerative Management Systems project. The main practice we tried out was seeding annual covers into perennial grass pasture. Refer back to our September and October blog posts for more information and early results.
Bale grazed area
See below for a series of photos from an area that was bale grazed January 4, 2019. The first photo below shows a nice circle outline of where the bale was placed. The perennial grass below the bale was set back due to the left over bale residue. The seeded annuals did well.
We only clipped the annual covers (rye, vetch, winter pea) that were growing. We did not clip the growing perennial grasses. After air drying the the two samples shown in photo above:
- Grazed sample had the equivalent to 450 lbs. of growing annual cover (rye) per acre.
- Not grazed sample was equivalent to 6,700 lbs. per acre of growing annual covers (rye, vetch and pea).
Non bale grazed area
The first photo below is from September 2020. The seeded covers have emerged and growing well as the native warm season pasture grasses are going dormant.
Summer broadleaf seeding
We are seeding in old Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands. Native warm season grasses make up the majority of the current vegetation. Earlier this month we tried seeding warm season annual broad leaf covers. We are curious if these annual forbs will find a niche in the predominant grass pasture. From the photo, it appears the cattle herd is also curious!
Based on our early results, cattle impact prior to seeding is key. In the photo above, the pasture grasses have been “set back” by a recent graze. Stay tuned for results.
Chicken Omega 6:3 Ratio
We have six years of Omega 6:3 data on DS Family Farm grassfed beef, so this past year we decided to test our No Soy – No Corn, GMO free Pasture Chickens. The first thing to remember is that a chicken is not a herbivore like cattle. Chickens are omnivores, yes, just like humans. Traditionally, chickens were kept around a farm to clean up kitchen scraps. Scraps of meat to veggies, along with grass, bugs and small critters are all fair game for a chicken!
A chicken can consume a wider range of items than a human since they have two stomachs. First a glandular stomach, similar to ours, is an area where chemical digestion occurs. Second, chickens have a strong muscle called a gizzard, that they fill with small stones. Mechanical grinding and mashing of the food occurs here. The gizzard allows a chicken to eat seeds/grains. During the non-growing season, when insects are not available, mixed grain rations are the common feed for chickens.
Green = Omega 3 fats
Previously we have explained that our world is awash in Omega 3 fats. Where ever you see green growing vegetation, you see omega 3. Plant chlorophyll is a great source of omega 3 fats, but these fats are highly perishable and do not persist very long. When we harvest grassfed beef directly from green growing pasture, the omega 3 fats are present and the omega 6:3 ratio is very low as our beef do not consume any grains.
Seeds = Omega 6 fats
Since omega 3 fats are highly perishable, plants use omega 6 fats, stable fats, for long term storage of energy in their seeds. When cattle are fed corn, consuming omega 6 fats, corn fed beef will display a higher omega 6:3 ratio. Our pasture chickens, supplemented with plant seeds (oats, barley, peas) consume these omega 6 fats as part of their diet.
Pasture Chicken Omega 6:3 Ratio Results
As you can see, DS Family Farm Pasture Chickens consume grains (unlike our Pasture Grazed Beef). So we would expect our chicken meat to test with a higher Omega 6:3 Ratio compared to our beef. Midwest Lab Fatty Acid test results testing our chicken:
2020 Pasture Chicken Breast Omega 6:3 Ratio = 5.6 : 1
At the time of writing this post, we have not researched what typical grocery store chicken tests for O 6:3 ratio. This seems like a very good ratio considering these chickens ARE feed grains. This ratio is well below grocery store grain feed beef that we previously researched and typically has an O 6:3 ratio of ~14:1.
Feel free to chime in on our FaceBook page with any comments you may have.
Omega 6:3 (2020 Results)
We now have 5 years of laboratory data from testing our pasture grazed beef. Since the label of “Grassfed” is meaningless, at DS Family Farm we go the extra steps to ensure customers that our beef is truly grassfed from birth to harvest:
- Third-Party Certification by A Greener World (Certified Grassfed by AGW).
- Annual Fatty Acid Profile testing of beef by Midwest Labs, Omaha Nebraska.
- DS Family Farm beef born and raised in U.S.A – Nebraska.
Why is the label “grassfed” meaningless?
With awareness of how food impacts our health, the demand for real, nutritious whole food, such as grassfed meats has increased dramatically over the past two decades. The term “grassfed” is just another marketing strategy being used by the large-scale meat industry. Along with terms like “natural” and “free-range”, “grassfed” is a way to trick consumers into buying a product with less than accurate advertising. True, almost all beef are “grassfed” for a portion of their lives but that is not the “rest of the story”.
As an informed consumer of “grassfed” products, you need to know how the animal was raised from birth to harvest. Not only that, but you also need to know where the animal was raised! Currently, about 80 percent of “grassfed” beef found in grocery stores came from outside of the USA. This includes grocery store “grassfed” beef from other countries with the label “Product of USA”! This is a loophole in our labeling laws since Congress eliminated country of origin labeling in 2015. (Information from recent “The Regeneration” newsletter.)
Why analyze Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio?
Unlike carbohydrates, certain fatty acids are “essential nutrients” we must consume in our diets. We have discussed the need for both O6 and O3 fatty acids in past posts. The current Standard American Diet (SAD) includes high levels of omega-6 seed/vegetable oils resulting in a SAD intake O6:O3 ratio around 15:1. “Several sources of information suggest that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids of approximately 1:1.” (PubMed Source)
Past studies have found that true pasture raised beef results in meat testing with a low O6:O3 ratio. Beef are ruminants and are designed to eat forages. When they live their entire lives on forages, as designed, their resulting meat fits a low O6:O3 profile. (Beef Tallow Study, Rib Eye Study)
Know your farmer know your food!
This study from 2019 confirms that grocery store beef labeled “Grass-Finished” will not consistently exhibit a low O6:O3 profile. The study only includes 12 producers. Some producers noted they used grain by-products for supplementation even though they labeled their product as “Grass-Finished”. The five producers with the lowest O6:O3 ratio reported their finishing diets were pasture-based. My guess, these producers harvest from green growing forages.
Though the Rib Eye study from Mother Earth News included 23 pasture-based farms. We do not know how many samples were in the beef only analysis (included beef, eggs, poultry and butter). These farms advertise as being pasture farms, and the resulting O6:O3 analysis holds true with a low O6:O3 analysis at 2:1.
Impact on your health.
As we have previously said, we are all biochemically unique. A similar diet consumed by different individuals will have different results. With that said, many of us could benefit from consuming “true grassfed beef” that exhibits a low O6:O3 fatty acid profile.
As noted by Diana Rodgers, RD, and Robb Wolf in the book SACRED COW, The Case For (Better) Meat: “swapping out 690 grams per week (about 24 oz) of red meat from conventional cattle for red meat from grass-fed cattle and lamb has been shown to significantly increase serum concentrations of total omega-3 fatty acids, including DHA, and reduce the ratio of serum omega-6 to omega-3 (2011 study). Daily intake of DHA was shown to increase by 4.5 milligrams from 9.5 to 14 milligrams, which is in line with values of DHA found in grass-fed beef. (2019 study)”
Diana and Robb go on to note that (1) you need to make sure the beef exhibits the low O6:O3 profile (know your farmer know your food) and (2) the 2011 study did not include individuals who include oily fish more than twice a month in their diet.
Should you try true grassfed beef to improve your blood serum O6:O3 fatty acid profile? Maybe you should start with testing. Then we recommend that you cut all vegetable/seed oils and watch the seed/nuts in your diet (all sources of omega-6 fatty acids).
Doug’s personal notes:
- O6:O3 blood serum is definitely below the average for people eating the standard American diet
- I do on occasion have a can of sardines, but I much prefer Sardines Of The Plains.
- I am biochemically unique.
Easy Keepers
All of us have a friend that seems like they can eat ANYTHING and not gain weight. Chances are, you are thinking of someone right now. That person is NOT an “Easy Keeper”. As for myself (Doug), I am an “Easy Keeper”. I can look at one of my Mom’s cinnamon rolls and put on a couple pounds. An “Easy Keeper” is someone who can gain and keep weight, with little to no effort. In the grass fed cattle world, easy keepers are the kind of cows we want in our herds.
Are we currently on a food joy ride?
The United States and other developed countries are experiencing an obesity epidemic. Did most of us just evolve into easy keepers over the past 50+ years? Or did the industrial food system take us on a food joy ride?
What do I mean by a food joy ride? Let’s look at the cinnamon roll example, using the “nutritional” information from a Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll. We find the following results from the Protein:Energy Ratio Calculator:
- 37% of calories from Fat (Energy)
- 58% of calories from Carbohydrates (Energy)
- 5% of calories from Protein
This is a perfect example of our food system taking us for a joy ride. The combination of high fat and high carbs in a “food”, hijacks our brains with a drug-like reward. Just one hundred years ago, high concentrations (95%) of ENERGY, in a readily available “food like substance”, was not an option to humans on a daily basis. When we did encounter high energy in a food (i.e. fruits at the peak of harvest) we were wired to consume them while we could, in anticipation of the on coming energy deficient season. In today’s world, energy in our diet is available 24/7/365. Our bodies keep storing the energy (as fat) in anticipation of a low energy season that never happens!
In The P:E Diet book, Dr. Ted Naiman and William Shewflet, explains how our recent obesity crisis is an Energy Toxicity problem. We are simply consuming way to much Energy, more than what our bodies were designed to handle.
Solution to energy toxicity…PROTEIN
Three steps to jump off the industrial food system joy ride:
- Avoid those “food like substances” (not found in nature) that are High Carb and High Fat (i.e. cinnamon rolls).
- Sure they are fine for a treat, but not everyday on the way to work.
- Decrease Carb Frequency (stabilize your blood sugar and your mood)
- Think intermittent fasting.
- Limit daily food intake to an 8 hour window (i.e. Noon to 8 PM)
- Increase Protein
Increasing Protein consumption is really the key point of the Protein:Energy Diet. When we focus on protein consumption (especially quality animal proteins) we feel fuller! The vitamins and minerals that our bodies innately seek are not found in high energy sources, but these key nutrients are found in protein. The P:E Diet book explains “we are wired for protein prioritization, we will continue to eat until our protein need is met.” Looking back at our cinnamon roll example, we would just keep eating roll after roll and never feel full! Increase your animal protein consumption and sit back and relax after a meal, you will feel full. If you try this, be prepared, it may feel weird at first. Like any change, take it slow and allow time for your body to adjust.
Protein is impossible to overeat. Carbs and Fat are impossible NOT to overeat.
THE P:E Diet
Soil Health under snow
A number of years ago we heard a speaker tell us that some of the greatest soil microbial activity occurs under the snow. Now how could that be? “Snow is one of the most amazing insulation materials in nature. It limits heat exchange. It stabilizes temperature.” (http://www.actforlibraries.org/the-insulation-properties-of-snow/)
Farmers with a winter wheat crop in the field were happy that we had the snow before experiencing the subzero temperatures. From the photo above, the fall 2020 pasture crop seeded into our perennial pastures look excellent and will hopefully really take off with the warm weather we are experiencing.
Soil not frozen?
As the herd moves through our pastures year round, we need to move portable fencing year round. Doug was surprised that he was able to just push portable fence posts right through the snow and into soft soil. He came up with the idea to investigate with a spade. Ok, not one of his best ideas, but it did make for some interesting photos and video.
How do the cattle fair in subzero weather?
Actually the herd does quite well in cold weather. In fact they probably do better in this cold weather compared to very hot weather. The reason? Cattle carry and active fermentation vat around with them year round. Read our summary in the Instagram post below:
Freeze proof tank
In an effort to mimic nature, the cattle herd is constantly on the move. Mimicking the roaming bison herds that developed the prairies in this part of Nebraska. The past two winters herd impact was focused on new pasture areas near our home and the herd had access to water from the house well. In 2021, it was time to get some animal impact on stockpile pastures only served by a water well with a solar pump.
The information highlighted in this post is a follow-up to a video (Livestock freeze proof water tank 2018 video) posted in conjunction with a blog titled “Subzero Frost Free Tank“. The “Subzero Frost Free Tank” post describes the steps used to install the tank and includes an overview of how the solar pump system works. We were recently surprised to see that the 2018 video had over 8,700 views at the time of this post.
Since this is a topic of interest to others, we are happy to post the video below and provide an update on powering the solar pump when our farm experiences multiple days without sunshine.
2021 Freeze Proof Tank and Solar Power Backup video:
The above video is not expected to go “viral” but we do think there should be more COW videos and less cat videos!
Herd behavior
Appropriate animal impact is a main area of focus at DS Family Farm. We are constantly trying to balance herd size with available forage over an area that will experience appropriate herd impact. The goal is to keep the herd happy while at the same time, animals are confined to an area of the pasture that receives the correct amount of impact. We are focused on positive animal impact to the pasture that includes:
- Hooves breaking crusted soil
- Old standing forage is stomped to the ground
- ALL plants in the area experience grazing pressure
- Manure and urine (nutrients) are distributed evenly
Cattle have a natural instinct to form a herd. It is the movement of animals in a herd that provides the valuable impact to the land that improves soil health, plant health and ultimately the health of the herd. It is an amazing design of nature, a regenerative design by our Creator.
Natural Herd Behavior
Through numerous past posts, we have highlighted the benefits of herding animals and the positive impact in healing land. Here we would like to share with you a sample of the social side of the herd. In daily interactions with our cattle, we have a unique relationship with most individuals in the herd. At the same time, we take for granted the relationships we observe between herd mates.
The following video will give you a glimpse of the social side of a cattle herd. As always, we invite you to stop by the farm to visit and see what really goes on in our pastures.
Precision bale grazing
Actually the herd is less than precise when they munch on a bale of hay this time of year. In this post we cover HOW we decide where we want bales placed in our stockpiled pastures. If the cows aren’t picky where they find a bale of hay, why are we choosy with bale placement? Here are some items considered when placing hay bales:
- How will cows travel to and from water?
- What level of animal impact are we planning for?
- How much stockpile pasture is available?
- Where do we want wasted hay left on the land?
- Is there protection from cold north winds?
If you are not familiar with “stockpiled pasture” you can review our previous posts on stockpiled grass. As for “bale grazing”, this is when we place bales of hay in our pastures. These include large round bales and also small square bales. The hay is a supplement to the dormant (non-growing season) stockpiled pasture grass being grazed.
What precision is involved?
In another post we described using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to plan our grazing. The same principle applies to planning our pasture moves while bale grazing. Using GIS we can see where round bales have been grazed in the past. Review imagery looking for “poor soil” areas where some wasted hay and extra animal impact would help heal the land. Finally run some simple calculations to make sure the herd has adequate feed for the amount of time planned for each move.
Follow along as we use GIS to plan and place the round bales:
With the areas planned (above image) we can use GIS to pre-plan the actual bale locations and about how big each pasture move will be. We know about how much standing stockpile is available, along with how much hay is in each bale. With our current herd size we can calculate how long the herd can be in each paddock.
Precision Placement (kind of)
With the bale locations tentatively marked, we export the data into a smart phone APP (iGIS) for use in the field. This takes the guess work out of bale placement to make sure our paddock sizes will be close.
Once in the field and navigating with the bales, we fine tune the final placement looking for areas near the planned locations that would benefit most from wasted hay and animal impact. This includes poor soil areas, thin grass stands and brush patches.
Results we are looking for
Many sources will tell you the best grazing during the winter will be on stockpiled grass. So why do we bale graze at all?
- An opportunity to bring carbon and nutrients to our pastures.
- Balancing a manageable herd size with the land we have to work with.
- Hay is insurance for unfavorable winters.
- Hay is readily available in our area.
We bale graze for the reasons listed while at the same time providing fresh stockpile grass to the herd.
Pasture Crop fall 2020
As described in our previous post, we are trying our first Pasture Crop as part of the CCTA-Farms Advancing Regenerative Management Systems project. Pasture cropping is simply planting an annual crop into existing pasture. The pasture is made up of primarily warm season perennial grasses that grow back every year, we don’t need to do anything and the grass just comes back.
So why would we try to add an annual crop, that we must plant with a tractor and planter into this same ground? Since warm season pasture grass goes dormant from November to May, this creates a window of opportunity for a crop of annual cool season grass. The cool season grasses will be capturing sunlight, and CO2 while pumping sugars (carbon) from photosynthesis into the soil while the warm season grasses take a break.
In the photo above, the warm season pasture grass is turning brown and going dormant while the newly seeded cool season annual pasture crop is actively growing. The pasture crop is utilizing free solar energy and putting that energy into the soil as carbon that we would not normally be capturing this time of year.
Herd prepares pasture for cropping
We grazed the herd this past summer at various levels of intensity across the pasture where we seeded annual grasses. In addition, we mowed a small portion of the pasture for the chicken coops to more easily move through. Below are photos showing different levels of grazing in the pasture and what we found for the new pasture crop. The left side of the photo is a view of the grazed pasture and the right side of the photo is a ground level close up of the new seedlings (photos taken September 18th, 13 days following planting).
Seeding information
The pasture crop seed mix obtained from Green Cover Seed, Bladen Nebraska:
- 73% Winter Triticale
- 10% Winter Peas
- 6% Annual Ryegrass
- 5% Hairy Vetch
- 3% White Clover
- 3% Red Clover
Planting date September 5th. Our fields were dry at planting and a few days after seeding we received a 2 inch rain (prayers are answered). Since then, we have had very little precipitation but have experienced dewy mornings and last week, 2 inches of snow.
The various seeding rates tried: ~55, ~60, ~70 and ~80 lbs. of seed per acre. Next spring we will clip and weigh final pasture crop growth to see if there was differences in total grass grown versus seeding rates.
What has nature accomplished so far?
Below are some seedlings we dug up over the past two months and gently washed the soil off the roots. The first photo below gives an excellent comparison of an annual grass plant root system versus a perennial grass plant roots.
How much root impact is that?
Currently our soil moisture condition is ok. We did have snow and cold last week but the 10 day forecast includes multiple days of sun with temperatures in the 60 to 70 degree range. The pasture crop will easily provide 2+ months of extra solar energy capture and carbon inputs into our pasture soils this fall.
If we just consider the winter triticale, seeded at an average rate of 67.5 lbs. per acre… that comes to 1,080,000 (yes that would be 1 million +) plants per acre. Each of these plants dribbling photosynthesis sugar into the soil microbiome through their roots while our native warm season plants go dormant. Granted, all of those seeds probably did not germinate, but that still sounds like a lot of additional soil ecosystem food already released this fall. And remember, these cool season plants should have a longer growing season yet to come next spring! On top of that, when was the last time the microbes living in our pasture soils had the opportunity to gorge themselves on winter triticale sugars? I would venture the guess of never. So we have added new root systems (habitat) and root exudates (food) that should diversify our soil microbe population or at least make the existing population healthier and happier. We like to see happy cows and happy microbes in our pastures.
From skeptical to optimistic
You can read why we were skeptical in the blog post prior to this one concerning this pasture cropping test. We still may be a little skeptical. But based on the results we have seen so far, things are definitely looking up! Stay tuned for future updates and we will leave you with a few final photos of the 2020 fall pasture crop.
Soil health project
We are excited to be working with the Colorado Conservation Tillage Association in the FARMS (Farmers advancing regenerative management systems) project. Previously on this blog, we have discussed the importance of soil health and how it relates to all of us. Healthy Soils = Healthy Plants = Healthy Animals = Healthy Humans. Remember, we have a direct link to the soil. Humans are “beings of the soil”.
Quick review, the five main soil health principals (that apply anywhere):
- Keep the soil covered
- Disturb the soil less
- Plant diversity
- Living root as long as possible
- Animal impact
Pasture Crop
Our Soil Health plan involves a number of practices but the one of most interest to us is the idea of accelerating land regeneration through a process called “pasture cropping”. The idea is to add an annual crop into an existing pasture stand of perennial grass. Let’s say we are intrigued by the idea but at the same time question the overall concept.
We question:
- Why would one want to add “inputs” like the cost of seed, labor and drilling, into a system that will produce grass with basically no inputs besides proper grazing management?
- Will the added plant diversity and living root increase soil health more rapidly?
- Will the added crop even survive?
Since the area we are trying pasture cropping is old cropland, it seems easier to justify the effort of pasture cropping. This land was reseeded to grass about 35 years ago and currently has limited plant diversity. We know we can improve this land with grazing alone, but maybe pasture cropping will accelerate the process. It would be more difficult to justify trying this in a native prairie that already has excellent plant diversity.
I guess others thought it was worth investigating, so with the support of the FARMS Project, we will give it a try. Stay tuned as we share more information about the practices we are trying, how we will monitor change and our progress along the way.
