DS Family Farm
Worried about what you are "really" eating? Have peace of mind with pasture grazed meats.
The Factory on our Farm
Raising Pasture Grazed grassfed beef from conception to table is not an easy task. We may have four different animal classes in our herd at any one time. But it all starts with the COW, the factory on our farm!
We make our cows work, they must:
- Conceive and raise a calf each year
- Raise that calf providing milk for 8+ months
- Refer to Weaning Weight Post 2015
- Weaning at an older age fully develops the calf’s rumen for grass based production.
- While milking a calf for 8+ months, she is developing her next calf inside her.
- While milking this years calf, she will watch over her previous two calves in a low stress herd environment.
- Graze our pastures in nature’s pattern to improve our pastures soil and grasses!
WOW!
We ask a lot from our cows, but they love their job from what we can tell. They are definitely a factory when you look at all they crank out. The cows do all the above listed items and all we give them are:
- Free choice minerals.
- Fresh water & sunshine.
- A fresh portion of pasture nearly every day.
- Supplemental hay at various times through the year.
- Hay is provided to keep their rumen functioning properly when our forages slump or go dormant.
- We are importing some ENERGY and PROTEIN for the Factory to work at full capacity.
If a cow cannot do all five functions listed above (calf every year while grazing every day) she is removed from the herd. No slackers allowed. There are very few cows that can do what we ask of our girls. We are just trying to mimic how nature works here in our small pastures. There is a movement underway across this country with more folks farming in natures image. This movement is called Regenerative Agriculture. We are not just “sustaining” our natural resources but IMPROVING our soils and grass while creating product! If you would like to support the Regenerative Agriculture movement, seek out products from these growers. Will these products be higher priced? Most likely yes. For the higher price you will get a better quality product and your health will thank you for it.
Let’s just say it takes an amazing Factory to deliver a product while at the same time improving its environment to repeat the cycle in the future. Take another look at what is happening in the photo. This photo is a great way to display why we are “Animal Welfare Approved” and “Grassfed Certified”. Farming in nature’s image, trying to work within God’s design (without messing it up too much).
2017 Pasturegrazed Beef
We continue to learn and adapt to raising beef in nature’s image. Our Animal Welfare Approved and Certified Grassfed beef are not pampered. These steers were never separated from the rest of the herd and fed a high energy diet to lay on fat. The fat that these animals do carry should have an Omega 6 to 3 ratio below 2:1. We will again test following harvest to verify quality as we have done the past two years (check our “About” page for details).
We have been blessed with another year in this endeavor. We thank our customers for their continued interest in what we are trying to do. We thank the Lord (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) for the gifts he has entrusted us with.
Weird Beef
Unfortunately, our beef is not normal.
Looking at a “normal distribution” of HOW all beef is raised in our country, we are definitely weird!
Normal is for the masses, we like being weird! No status quo around here. Actually, if you look at the pattern of nature and IF you consider nature normal, then yes we are normal. That is why we say, “unfortunately, our beef is not normal”. We hope in the future that pasture raised beef will be the norm, until then, we choose to be weird.
Fortunately our weird is some folks normal. We are currently seeing great demand for our beef and are happy to spread the word and connect interested customers with other weird beef producers.
Weird vs Normal beef:
The problem with normal food.
Seth Godin points out that “Normal diets made it easier for mass food manufacturers to generate a profit.” We have seen the results of the Standard American Diet (standard = normal). Our society has reached a point where some of the masses are realizing that their diet is directly linked to their overall health and they are seeking out healthy/weird food.
“We are all on a diet, be on a healthy one!” – Dr. Joseph Mercola
Being weird is not easy, as Godin also points out, “Do the hard work – be real.” For real health, you are going to have to do some work! Raising REAL BEEF, in natures image requires some hard work and commitment. Give us a call and come see some Weird Beef. As Dave always says:
“Be Weird!” – Dave Ramsey
(If you have comments, please leave a message on the DS Family Farm FaceBook Page.)
Cow Pie Testing
Viewer discretion advised, cow pies ahead!
We all know cows communicate by mooing. Cows also communicate through their “back-end”. Note the caption under the cow pie photo above. A “healthy looking” cow pie means the cows are healthy! We, I mean Doug, spends a lot of time looking down (at cow pies). A cow pie will tell you how the cows are doing nutritionally.
Want to learn more about how to “read” a cow pie?
Here are two posts from The Samuel Roberts Nobel Foundation (Oklahoma):
- Here’s A New Kind of ‘B.S.’ Degree
- Manure scoring determines supplementation needs (photos included)
Let’s talk quantity
A cow will poop and pee around 4 times every 24 hours. The cow consumes about 3% of her body weight in grass every day. Remember a cow cannot digest grass. That’s around 30 pounds (every day) a cow grazes to feed the microbes living in her special stomach (called the rumen). The trillions of microbes inside of her convert grass into nutrients she can use. It is her job to manage the microbes in her rumen by selecting the best possible diet. It is our job to give her the right size paddock to be able to select the right balance of forages for those little critters inside of her. In the end or should I say OUT the END we gain lots of manure (about 80% what goes in comes out!). Manure is fine when grazing on pasture, not so good for feedlots you drive by with cattle standing around in mud or on dirt.
After taking the photo above I marked out a 2000 square foot area and counted about 70 PIES. That comes to about one pie every 30 square feet. A quick estimate = 1,110 pounds of manure per acre!
Let’s talk quality (nutrient value)
Did you know you can have manure tested? If you are interested in the process, visit the folks at Texas A&M University. The Grazing Animal Nutrition Lab has the corner on the manure testing market with their Nutritional Balance Analyzer (NUTBAL) system (NUTBAL Facebook page). Basically you take a scoop or two from a number of pies, put it in a plastic bag, freeze it and send it to the GANLAB. At the lab, they slip some manure under a near infrared analysis machine and compare it to a database of known results. Using the information they estimate the herds future condition based on a current cow pie test. Based on the results, the herds diet can be adjusted to meet a limiting need such as energy or protein. Let’s just say, sometimes the results don’t quite match what we see in our visual cow pie testing. We are a little bit out of the norm for the database being used.
Total Output
Using the actual manure test results we find reported Nitrogen and Phosphorus values. Running averages on our herd size and also checking against UN-L book values for feedlot manure, following are some estimates for our herd:
- Cow herd was leaving behind ~1100 lbs. of manure per acre
- (Refer to the distribution photo above)
- Nutrient Value of Manure:
- 15-20 lbs. of Nitrogen per acre
- 2 to 4 lbs. of Phosphorus per acre
- Note our Phosphorus value is low compared to UN-L book values
- Urine Nitrogen (N consumed – N found in Manure – N in new animal growth)
- 10-15 lbs of Nitrogen per acre
- It takes 0.04 lbs of Nitrogen for 1 lbs of animal growth
Our overall estimate for Nitrogen per acre = 25 lbs based on our herd management and manure distribution. Reading UN-L information, up to 25% of feed lot manure will be lost to the atmosphere depending on temperature and moisture. For our pasture situation, we think our loss would be lower.
Summary
This post was mainly for Doug’s reference. Thank you to the folks at the GANLAB for their guidance in running some of my calculations. Feel free to scrutinize the estimates here and we will adjust this post as more information becomes available. Our estimates are based on a specific herd size at a specific time and place using field and lab information. To make some rough calculations for any herd size I would start with the following values:
For each 1000 lbs of animals in the herd:
- 0.25 lbs of Nitrogen per day output
- Subtract 0.04 lbs of Nitrogen for every pound of new animal growth per day
- Consider a feed test to check total Nitrogen going into the herd/animal
- Crude protein lbs intake / 6.25 = Nitrogen intake
- Consider a percent loss to atmosphere
- What is the distribution?
- If manure is piling up in a lot, under a tree or next to a water source, we are not recycling nutrients properly.
- We should always be looking at ways to improve animal impact.
Chicken Tractor Pull
Our son Jacob graduated from High School this past weekend. Congratulations Jacob!
Chickens started our “pasture grazed meat” business and Jacob has been the “pasture poultry” guy. Raising chickens on grass requires a shelter. Shelters provide protection from weather and predators. We call the shelters “chicken tractors”. There are many kinds of chicken tractors. All chicken tractors have one thing in common, they must move to fresh grass daily. Jacob has been our main chicken tractor puller!
Soon Jacob will be on to College but the tractor pulling will continue. The old saying is that many things taste like chicken, but you haven’t tasted REAL chicken until you have tried a pastured chicken. The ONLY way to get a chicken that has had the opportunity to graze is from a local farmer. Taste the pasture poultry difference:
- GRASS!
- SUNSHINE!
- Non-GMO grains.
- No antibiotics.
All possible due to the power of the chicken tractor puller!
Never saw a chicken eat grass? Check out the video at the end of the linked post below.
A Cows Calling Card
Warning, poop photos!
One of the many benefits of having the herd always on the move is manure distribution. A cow herd in a tight group, on the move, will evenly distribute nutrients (poop) throughout a pasture. In season long grazed pastures (cows left in a pasture for weeks at a time), nutrients will not be evenly distributed. Manure will accumulate near water tanks and shade. These ‘loafing areas’ will have high nutrient and pest loads that result in health and water quality problems. In our “herd on the move” system, cow pies don’t pile up in a few locations. We mimic natures pattern of herds grazing, trampling and pooping and then moving on. Where in nature do you find animals standing around for days in their own poop and pee?
This early April photo shows excellent ground cover and manure distribution. The herd has grazed and trampled the standing stockpiled grass, left their “calling card” and moved on. Left over grass flat against the ground with a dose of manure and pee wakes up soil microbes. Soil microbes and other critters will do their magic to create a new lush prairie. What a wonderful cycle. While the herd consumes their current harvest of grass, they set the stage for a future harvest! How can man improve on this system? Unfortunately man in many cases has complicated this process.
“The cattle business is a simple business; the hard part is keeping it simple.” Tom Lasater, Colorado rancher.
Not all paddocks will have the excellent manure distribution shown in the photo above, but many do. I did a quick count of piles in the area shown above. With some math we estimate about 1,450 piles per acre! Prior to our herd arriving on the farm in 2011, the pastures were nutrient starved, remember we need the poop!
Warning, close up photos!
So why did I call these cow pies, calling cards? Have you herd of dung beetles? Unfortunately I do not have a photo of a true dung beetle, but below you can see what kind of activity these “calling cards” result in.
An old dried out cow pie doesn’t do much good. Old cow pies will actually smoother out grass causing “dead” patches in a pasture. By keeping the herd tight, many piles are physically broken up as the herd moves around. Critters like this little beetle are an important step in decomposition. This little beetle is a sub-aquatic critter that can fly along with the herd. What an amazing cycle, critters that live predominately in a moist environment are able to travel far up the landscape to dry hill tops or wherever they find the cows “calling card”.
We are thankful for the patterns established in nature by our Creator. We are happy to help orchestrate the natural process in our pasture. Please give us a call if you would like to visit the pastures and see the herd in “mooootion”.
Schedule cows to MOVE!
How is our beef different from 99% of other beef? We keep the herd in MOTION. This requires planning, implementing and tracking. Grazing guru Joel Salatin says it this way, “I’m just the orchestra conductor, making sure everybody’s in the right place at the right time.” His way of saying we are practicing “precision agriculture” 3 R’s; right place, right time and right amount.
The high-tech “precision ag” tools we use every day:
- Braided poly/stainless steel/tinned copper wire
- Electric pulse fencer
- Grazing Schedule – digital maps
The poly wire (1) and electric fencer (2), keeps the herd IN the right place. Our grazing schedule is the tool that keeps everything in MOTION (right time). Folks have developed many different techniques to create and keep up a grazing schedule. We do it with digital maps, very simply, in what is called a geographic information system (GIS).
The most important part of our Grazing Schedule are the principles behind our moves. We use the GIS to help us follow these principles:
- Provide a fresh pasture break nearly every day of the year.
- Prevent re-bite on any fresh grass regrowth.
- Graze, followed by plant rest AND recovery.
- Rotate date of use each year.
- Current animal needs, including wildlife.
Here is a simple example how our Grazing Schedule works:
- View on left, today end of March 2017, the herd is near the large solid orange triangle. The yellow lines outline the paddocks we have grazed this winter (no grass to graze in these small blocks). The larger open areas with question [?] marks are where we could go next.
- In the view on the right, I turned on black lines and “dates” that show our grazing during this time period from a year ago. Last year at the orange triangle (where the herd is now) we grazed in June meeting our principle of not grazing at basically the same time of year. I have placed a yellow [X] over areas that have a [?] mark in the left photo. We want to avoid these areas based on the timing we grazed during the previous year and some other factors.
- So the remaining open areas in the right view are options for where we will graze next.
If you look again at the right view map, note that our “moves” or “paddocks” are rarely the same (yellow lines versus black lines). Most cattle grazing across the country is on permanent pasture areas getting grazed the same year after year. At DS Family Farm our cow herd grazes different patterns across the landscape every year, creating chaos and diversity. We feel this is better for the grass, animals, wildlife and overall ecosystem of our pasture.
We schedule cows to move! This is why we call our beef “Pasture Grazed” and not just “GRASSFED”.
Farm Audit
Visit our farm if you are curious about how we care for the herd and pastures. Public roads boarder two sides of the farm, so drive by inspections are possible any day of the year. Please call ahead to make sure we are around if you would like to see the herd first hand.
Annual Farm Audit
If you are not able to visit the herd or wouldn’t know what to look for, we are glad to have an annual inspection to verify our beef herd as:
- Animal Welfare Approved
- Certified Grassfed
Kim Alexander recently visited the herd as part of our annual Animal Welfare/Certified Grassfed audit.
Auditor Kim Alexander visited the farm this year. This was our second audit and a new auditor comes each year. Kim walked the pasture and inspected the herd. The audit is completed every 11 months. This allows inspectors to view the operation during different portions of the year (growing season versus non-growing season). Following the field review, we spent some time going over plans and records for our beef operation.
Auditors Know Their Stuff
Kim just doesn’t check boxes as an auditor, he practices what he reviews on his own farm. What a great opportunity to have an experienced grazer like Kim come and look over our operation. We shared some ideas and gained some insights to what we are doing and how we could improve.
Change Is Good
We have a few years of grazing under our belt now but every year is different. What worked last year may not work this year. When working with mother nature we need to be ready to adapt. The factory where we produce beef for your table is not a climate controlled building with a consistent stream of incoming parts.
Change Is Required
That is what Kim was checking on. Are we ready to provide for our herd when the unexpected happens?
- Records document what happened.
- Records help us compare from year to year.
- Plans make us consider our pasture and our herd.
- Plans make us prepare for emergency situations.
If you are curious about the different plans and records we keep, just drop us an email. We would be happy to share with you what we are doing.
Labels, certifications, what do they mean?
We advertise our beef herd as “Animal Welfare Approved” and “Certified Grassfed by AWG“, but what do these labels mean? I don’t know about you, but when it comes to checking out claims, I turn to Consumer Reports. In August 2015, Consumer Reports published a “Beef Report“:
Let’s take a look at some of the report findings:
Consumer Reports – Sustainable Beef-Production Practices:
- Cows are ruminants—their natural behavior consists of grazing. Allowing beef cattle to graze on well-managed pastures from birth to slaughter (often referred to as 100 percent grass-fed) is at the core of sustainable beef production. What’s good for animal welfare is also good for the environment and for consumers.
- … pastures can only feed herds of a certain size, and in a properly managed pasture, the stressful and crowded disease-promoting conditions of the feedlot are eliminated. Healthier, less stressed animals need fewer antibiotics and other drugs to stay healthy.
- Soils of grazing land can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Managing cattle carefully to ensure that pastures are grazed moderately means restoring soil quality and cutting greenhouse gases by keeping carbon in the soil as organic matter rather than releasing it into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
- More water is conserved in grass-based systems compared with conventional ones.
- Grass-fed beef isn’t just better for animals, public health, and the planet; it may be healthier for individual consumers as well.
If you have followed our past blog posts, the above findings are familiar information. It is nice to have the credibility of Consumer Reports back up what we know as common sense observations in the natural world.
OK, but what about labels?
The 2015 Beef Report had plenty to say about labels. From “Highly Meaningful” labels to labels that have no meaning at all. Please refer to the full report for all the label categories. A quick look at the first two labels under the “Highly Meaningful Labels” as “Verified” we find:
- Animal Welfare Approved
- Certified Grassfed by AWG
In a January 26, 2017 update at http://greenerchoices.org/, Certified Grassfed by AWG, is one of the four “labels to look for” when “choosing grass fed”.
Curious to read more?
Our farm is third party reviewed for Animal Welfare Approved and Certified Grassfed by AWG. For more information on these specific labels we direct you to these resources:
- A Greener World (AWG) — “North America’s most trusted and transparent farm certifier.”
- Animal Welfare Approved (Program of AWG), remains the only label in the marketplace to ensure the following:
- Meaningful, verified, outdoor pasture and range based systems–not just a door at the end of a building or an outdoor concrete run
- No cages, crates or feedlots–ever
- Verified environmentally sustainable farming and ranching
- Responsible stewardship of public resources like air, water, soil and antibiotics
- Independent farms/farmers meeting the highest animal welfare standards in the U.S. and Canada
- Prohibit the use of hormones (like rBST), animal byproducts or routine antibiotics
- Industry-leading high welfare handling and management from birth through slaughter
- Independent standards for the inspection of slaughter plants
- (January 2017 AWA Press Release)
- Meaningful, verified, outdoor pasture and range based systems–not just a door at the end of a building or an outdoor concrete run
- Certified Grassfed by AWG
- Guarantees food products come from animals fed a 100 percent grass and forage diet, raised outdoors on pasture or range, and managed according to the highest welfare and environmental standards on an independent family farm.
This is all good and well, but remember:
We invite you to come see the farm and our animals for yourself. Join other past visitors of our farm. We urge you to know your farmer and your food. We prefer to be certified by YOU, our customer.
Mirror or Selfie your microbiome
Back in the day I remember hearing “take a look at yourself in the mirror”. Today one could probably just say, “take a look at yourself in your selfie”. Whatever your choice (mirror or selfie), why don’t you take a look at yourself? What do you see? Hello – your microbiome!
We are looking at a huge walking micro organism ecosystem. The same goes for the dog next door or the cow in our pasture. How you look and feel has a great deal to do with the state of your “microbiome”.
Our goal should be to keep the good “bugs” we carry around happy. With a healthy supply of good microbes surrounding us, it is hard for bad bugs to make us sick. The foods we consume will have a huge impact on the bugs living inside of our stomachs. With most of our immune system linked directly to our gut, our mental and physical health is directly linked to the company we encourage to live within us.
A recent webinar put on by the folks at the Society for Risk Analysis pointed out that our unique microbiome will decide how our body reacts to:
- drugs
- food additives
- minerals (such as heavy metals)
That is why there are so many “side effects” listed in drug commercials, our microbiomes react differently. The Food and Drug Administrations prior testing on drugs and food additives for “safety” have not accounted for the biology living within us.
So what’s safe to eat?
Refer back to our “Traditional Food” post. Keep it simple and eat foods that our Grandparents would actually recognize as food. When you learn more you will probably want to encourage those good bugs in your microbiome.
Eating locally raised foods is a great place to start, including grassfed beef. Eating right can be an important part of your overall life/health plan. For a holistic approach to life consider the 7 spokes in Zig Ziglars Wheel of Life:
- Mental
- Spiritual
- Physical
- Family
- Financial
- Personal
- Career
Here’s to a happy healthy YOU (microbiome).
