Natural / Organic Beef

[LRW]

Like alot of people on this board, I have been lurking and reading all of the posts to increase my knowledge on farming. One item that I have noticed is that there are not alot of messages around natural / organic beef. Is there a reason that experienced farmers are not doing the natural / organic thing?

I'm in the process of buying a farm that has been in my family for two generations. It is roughly 400 acres, 5 ponds, lots of fence, cattle, equipment. etc. etc. My family is currently running it with conventional cattle. Living in the city the past few years has opened my eyes to the natural / organic market and I'm thinking that when I move home to take over the farm, I would like to move it in that direction. Has anyone on the board done something like this and did it pay off? I did do a search on all of message boards for natural / organic beef but there were only a few messages.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[RichieMaGoo]

Hi, LRW,

I am also interested in organic beef. I'm just starting out- and right now, I'm pretty much doing things the standard way- but I intend to get into the organic, farmer-direct-to-consumer market before too long. My steers are close to organic already- except for commercial milk replacer (which I will replace with real organic milk when I get a milking cow) and commercial farm feed (which I will replace with cow-harvested grain of my own).

Have you read any of Joel Salatins books on this subject? (Such as "Salad Bar Beef)? (I'm not sure if Salatin is purely organic- but even if he isn't, his ideas are well suited to what you and i want to do)

There are several good books out there on this subject. No sense being a pioneer when others have already blazed the trail, and we can start out learning from their experience and mistakes.

All of my neighbors are impressed by my success with my holstein bottle calves (and I'm a former city boy)- I attribute my success partly to the fact that I try and raise my calves as "naturally" as possible. I raise them in hutches, with large outdoor pens (not those little 4'x6' dealies)....and i don't pump them up with meds or vaccines.

I hope there will be some good discussion on this topic- the organic niche is probably the best way to make a good income with cows, while contributing to peoles health and overall enjoyment of life and your product.

 

[la4angus]

I guess most are like me and prefer the rich taste of grain fed beef. People in the cities have been reading all the propaganda that promotes natural and grass fed beef and they believe it, which is fine. To me this is similar to a few years ago when were told we not eat butter, or eggs, or when we shouldn't eat bacon and sausage and all other foods which the nuts recommended that we didn't eat. It gave a good market for these certain foods for awhile and still has people believing their propaganda.

 

[RichieMaGoo]

Ia4angus,

Organic beef can still be grain-fed....just so long as the grain is organic. ("Free-range grass-fed organic might be another matter)

One thing I can attest to, is that the quality of commercial supermarket beef these days is terrible! I had given up eating meat years ago, when I lived in the city because of the quality of the beef that was available to me at a reasonable cost in the city. Now I might not be a stickler that everything be 100% organic for my own consumption- but I certainly do want something that hasn't been fed slurry or by-pass protein; and that hasn't been injected with growth hormones, or fattened on a feedlot. The average cow that an average small farmer markets may be O-K with me....but when you purchase meat in the supermarket, there's no telling whether it came from a farm where it ate grass and a moderate ammount of grain- or if it came from a factory farm where it was fed undesirable things (which are causing Mad Cow Disease).

I'm looking forward to butchering one of my own steers for my own consumption, so I can eat tasty, healthy meat a few times a week.

Very true though- many of these fads are more hype than substance- but even if that is the case, if I can supply a commodity that is in demand, and will allow me to make more money than just shipping my cows off to the auction.....it sounds like a win-win situation. (And I guess the grass-fed vs. the grain-fed thing is more a matter of personal taste- all I know is that I love good wild venison...and that deer ate nothing but leaves and grass)

 

[SF]

There is a good market for natural and organic beef. It is hard for most folks to meet all of the organic beef standards. This includes all feed coming in from off your farm must be organic.

It costs more to raise beef to these standards, but I think there is more profit in it. We raise our exceeding the standards for natural beef. I can't guarantee that the hay we purchase meets the standards for organic, so that is a problem here for us. But I'm very satisfied with the natural beef program.

LRW, we are a seedstock producer and thus our calves we keep for processing are culls that are not of the quality we are looking for show or breeding purposes. We feel that we are able to sell natural beef at a price that is profitable and not as volitile as the traditional beef market. We charge a premium price for the beef, but it is premium beef also. No antibiotics, no hormones, steroids, etc....

 

[jennibluis]

I got my first 2 calves because I wanted to be able to KNOW exactly what I was eating. (And they were just TOO cute!) ;-)
I have had grass fed beef and it is quite tender and mild. I have also had beef from the man I bought the calves from and it is so tasty and almost sweet. He grains them for 2 months before he butchers them. Yum!

 

[LRW]

Thanks to everyone for their responses! I did have one question in regard to the post by SF. You mentioned that you were happy with the natural beef program since it wasn't as strict as an organic program. Do you have a URL to the website that has the specs on what we need to do to consider our cattle 'natural'?

Also, thanks for the book recommendation RichieMaGoo.

 

[SF]

Thanks to everyone for their responses! I did have one question in regard to the post by SF. You mentioned that you were happy with the natural beef program since it wasn't as strict as an organic program. Do you have a URL to the website that has the specs on what we need to do to consider our cattle 'natural'?

Also, thanks for the book recommendation RichieMaGoo.

I had to do a little research on this one. I was dissappointed in what I found. The USDA standards for natural beef are quite lax. The standards that we use when raising our cattle are nearly identical to those of organic. We simply cannot assure that the hay we purchase didn't have synthetic fertilizer applied, etc... In order to be all organic, all feed must be organically grown.

Hope this helps. PM me if you want more info and I'll send you my phone number. We can talk via phone about it.

QUESTION - What is "Natural" Beef?

ANSWER - The USDA definition is "minimally processed, no artificial ingredients. USDA permits no preservatives in this product". Most natural beef suppliers take this a step further by using "Production Claims" such as no antibiotics were used in the production of this beef. The USDA permits these production claims, which refer to cattle management practices before harvesting. Beware of claims that say, "no hormones added". This is a processing claim that refers to the package of beef. Hormones are never added to beef. Therefore, any beef processor can make this claim, as it is true for all beef.


http://www.usatoday.com/money/industrie ... anic_x.htm

http://thenibble.com/reviews/main/meats ... y-beef.asp

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Be ... /index.asp

http://www.creekstonefarmspremiumbeef.com/natural.html

 

[ChrisB]

I have also read where labels on meat claim that the cattle weren't implanted with "synthetic" hormons. What the consumer doesn't know is that there are many "natural" hormone implants that can be used.

Natural and Organic labeling is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. I have been unable to find any credible studies or tests showing that either natural or organic beef is healthier than conventionally grown beef. As mentioned earlier, there is a lot of people that buy into the propaganda and advertising claims that state otherwise. There is a growing market for organic food and I don't fault anyone for trying to capitalize on it. But if you are doing it thinking that it is healthier, you are just fooling yourself.

I have a related question; where can you buy organic feed grain? And how does the price compare to conventional crops?

 

[la4angus]

I have a related question; where can you buy organic feed grain? And how does the price compare to conventional crops?

I expect when you find organic feed grain, you better have some damn sure deep pockets or an arm or leg that you won't mind getting rid of if you do buy it.

 

[flaboy+]

Dang, I didn't realize I was in the organic market. I was in a business and I didn't even realize it. :lol:

Everything I have is organic. All mine get is grass, hay, minerals, and water. Some of my replacements get 12% "all natural" feed during their first 12-15 months.

Maybe I should put a big sticker on their sides advertising 100% organic beef huh? I bet there are many folks on here that raise them the same as I do.

 

[J]

Dang, I didn't realize I was in the organic market. I was in a business and I didn't even realize it. :lol:

Everything I have is organic. All mine get is grass, hay, minerals, and water. Some of my replacements get 12% "all natural" feed during their first 12-15 months.

Maybe I should put a big sticker on their sides advertising 100% organic beef huh? I bet there are many folks on here that raise them the same as I do.

Talk about something I didn't realize, the other morning was cookin' some eggs and on the carton of my egglands best eggs it said something about vegitarian (sp?) chickens or something to that effect? Now I am sure that someone on here will put me in my place on that one but when I read that I stood there and laughed at the site of a tree huggin', hippie/Peta looking, liberal chicken laying eggs.

Basically just marketinig I guess. It's funny how people jump all over stuff like this. Makes me think of growth implants. It's a naturally occuring chemical substance in all animals that affect such things as growth and devlopment, but let someone say it aint natural and your going to grow a third eye if you eat beef that was implanted and thats it. I guess it's good to be causious but in my opinoin you can't always believe what your told on the evening news.

 

[SF]

I have a related question; where can you buy organic feed grain? And how does the price compare to conventional crops?

If you lived around here there are a couple of places where you can purchase organic grown grains. It is for sale. Will cost more. It is available if you want it. Don't know about your area.

 

[Cheyenne]

LRW,

Check out your states Dept. of Agriculture website or give them a call. I too was looking at that market and checked into what Iowa's requirements were to be "certified organic". We would have had to have inspections, be able to prove that all feed, pastures, hay etc were organic. No chemicals of any kind were used in the last 2-5 years, can't remember the time frame exactly. Then there was a very long list of medications, fly sprays, wormers, cleaners and soaps and other things that were banned from use. A very short list of approved items that could be used. If you have to medicate a calf for something it has to be done organically or that calf has to be pulled and not sold as organic.

Then there were periodic spot inspections and what seemed to be a mountain of paperwork. It was way too much time and effort for the small operation that I would have so I scrapped that idea. We are as natural as we can be, but I don't even market that way. Just plain ol' Iowa grain fed beef.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

 

[LRW]

After reading some of the messages, I decided give some more info. While I'm intersted in the financial aspect of how my family's farm would do with natural / organic beef, my interest is much deeper than that.

I am not a tree-hugging hippie by any means, but I do feel strongly about eating food that is not fed antibotics and other drugs, or fed food that is not part of their natural diet. Someone else posted the issue about Mad Cow disease and it is a direct result of feeding cattle by-products of other animals which is not natural for cattle.

Most small farmers are 'natural' in that they don't pump their animals full of drugs or feed them inappropriate food. Most mass produced beef is not natural in any way.

As for evidence of natural / organic being more healthy, I do not know but I do know that doctors believe that human resistance to various antibiotics is a direct result of eating meat that has been fed antibiotics in their feed. Resistance builds up in the food chain which is bad for us.

Natural / organic foods are not a fad. Perhaps in the 70s or 80s but now people want food (veggies and meat) that are raised without chemicals and drugs. In WV where my family lives (which is very rurual) you can't find anything natural or organic in the grocery stores, but I now live in Atlanta and we have grocery stores that sell nothing but organic veggies and meat...and I don't mean one or two stores, but many many stores. It is something that as people become educated about our food supply, they are opting for natural and organic food. There is a $$ consideration and people in cities tend to have more disposable income so they can pay more for organic food, so even if it isn't popular country-wide, it definitely has gained market share.

 

[cowspider]

Here in Washington you have to have the county come out and inspect your fields and prove you have not put any chemicals on for I belivie it's the last 4 yrs.
than they will certify you as organic grass or hay or grain grown on that field only. you can not sell organic beef otherwise.

 

[Larry Sansom]

Have been direct selling the Natural Beef market for several years. No antibiotics, no hormones - grass only - no grain. Just 30 days of grain will drop the CLA level, omega 3 level etc by over half. Most farmers have no clue about the health benefits of Grass fed beef, but my RD Daughter and Rph wife saw the need, and for the past 5 years we have blazed a trail into this market.
There is more to it than just not buying corn. Right genetics is the first thing - conventional cattle will be a horrible eating experience on a no corn program. Also forage types and condition, plus winter feeding progam must all be addressed. Marketing is a big problem for many farmers that are used to taking whatever the stockyards give them. I have a waiting list on customers, plus seedstock sales of proven genetics with over 12 years of selection for forage only performance. More info on my web site, or pm me and I can help you without the "nay-sayers" adding their uninformed comments.

 

[docgraybull]

I attribute my success partly to the fact that I try and raise my calves as "naturally" as possible. I raise them in hutches, with large outdoor pens (not those little 4'x6' dealies)

What? :shock: As opposed to roaming a pasture and nursing its mama I suppose? :roll:

 

[Susie David]

Alot of good information....
We raise and advertise our "natural beef" no hormones, implants, additives or antibiotics used in the growing of the steer. We have found that there are few or little USDA regulation and definitions for the term "natural" as it applies to live animals...we advertise our production methods and the fact that we administer vaccinations, medications and worm to maintain the health of the herd and list the local areas where we get our additional feed.
Thought about the organic route but buy winter hay and grain that comes from non-certified fields...to many hoops to jump through. Besides, we don't have any trouble selling our cattle.

 

[flaboy+]

There is more to it than just not buying corn. Right genetics is the first thing - conventional cattle will be a horrible eating experience on a no corn program. Also forage types and condition, plus winter feeding progam must all be addressed. Marketing is a big problem for many farmers that are used to taking whatever the stockyards give them. I have a waiting list on customers, plus seedstock sales of proven genetics with over 12 years of selection for forage only performance. More info on my web site, or pm me and I can help you without the "nay-sayers" adding their uninformed comments.

Well Larry, here is one nay-sayer telling you I can put grass fed "only" beef in the freezer and corn fed beef in the freezer and you can eat it and never know which is which. As far as I am concerned this "Organic beef" stuff is just a bunch of bunk and a means of sucking more money from folks.

I don't implant and like I said, mine are raised on hay, grass, minerals, water and I bet mine eat and taste just as good as yours.

Genetically inspired organic beef is a bunch of crap. Respectfully, flaboy.