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Post by genebo on Jan 6, 2015 14:46:55 GMT
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Post by Donlin Stud on Jan 7, 2015 21:10:36 GMT
As an Aussie I have a couple of things to comment on about this announcement:
Firstly, Mad Cows disease has not been eradicated. It will raise its ugly head again. And there will be many people who believe this as much as I do.
……so this could be a perfect opportunity for those Dexter owners who do provide meat to off-farm customers to begin preparations to ramp up their sale potential now to ride on the free press which is about to occur across the country to promote Irish, grass-fed, hormone-free beef.
The second comment is Australia is so stuck in the old ways that this opening of the American market to Irish, grass-fed beef should be a wake-up call to our export, and local markets.
We are already hormone-free and drenches recently underwent a stricter regulations going as far as some stating, if used, that the animal and its [future] female offspring are not to provide milk for human consumption etc.
But we are so far behind the return to grass-fed meat because majority of meat for export reside in the top-end, the north of Australia where [natural] feed is low and seasonal. Time in feedlots allows the animal to reach live-export weight requirements and [around the country] weights accepted by abattoirs.
I can still see the look of ‘WT’ on the face of the local butcher years ago when I asked which was grass-fed beef in his counter’s display fridge. (He runs his own beef on grass until the final 3 months before slaughter when they are feedlot fed)
Then when I asked would he consider offering this choice, his reply was “not in his life-time”.
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Post by genebo on Jan 8, 2015 1:44:54 GMT
We have a restaurant chain here called ARBY'S which states in their ads that they sell grass fed beef. One of my neighbors has been trying to get into the program to supply ARBY'S with his own grass fed beef, but he can't quite qualify. The ARBY'S people came to his farm with ultrasound scanners to check the fat content of his cattle. They are mostly Angus/Dexter crosses. He can't get the fat content high enough to pass their tests.
He has the best looking grass pastures I know of. He spends a lot trying to provide his cattle with the best grass he can possibly grow.
The technicians that came to ultrasound his cattle told him that ARBY'S is getting almost all of it's grass fed beef from New Zealand. Did you know that?
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 8, 2015 13:25:26 GMT
Gene I don't know if your neighbor does high intensity managed grazing or not, but I can vouch for the effectiveness of putting weight on steers when moving them twice per day to a new strip of grass. If he can afford the time 3 or 4 times/day is even better. Because of the competition for food, they'll get up and eat even if they're not hungry, and getting them on forage at its optimal nutritional growth stage is an added benefit. It also works extremely well for countering periods of drought or summer slump, because the grass isn't grazed down fully the root structure isn't compromised and regrowth occurs more easily because the grazed grass is not constantly trampled. They'll also spend less time wandering around, because they have limited temporary pasture, so they're not exercising off what they've consumed. In the worst case there is a stockpile of longer grass that they can graze while you wait for rain.
I'm not talking about rotational grazing, where they are put in a pasture for a week or two and then moved to a new one, I'm talking about strip grazing, a 5-10 foot wide strip of grass at least twice/day, with a back line moved behind them every couple of days to give them a large enough area to not pressure the temporary hot wire.
Using those techniques he may just be able to get enough fat on his steers to qualify.
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Post by Donlin Stud on Jan 8, 2015 20:39:12 GMT
You would think the meat aspect would be more important than the fat, which the majority would be trimmed off by the chef and the remainder by the person about to chow down  We are currently having a bit of an issue with those girls we 'rested' from calving this year. We saw they were quite......mmmm.... rounded with two having very noticeable fat pockets on their rears and either side of their tails with another practically standing like a bulldog because of the weight she is carrying. Plus the boys are carrying a little too much weight too with the senior man Bundy looking 'pregnant'. But on the good news side, mums with their coming up to 5 month old calves are looking better than fantastic and the calves are nice and plump as well. All in the middle month of summer. Arhhh Gene, yes the New Zealanders know how to do it right Edited to add our moos roam on 50acres each sex on unimproved (native) pasture - but this summer has been an unusual one with regular rainfall. |
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Post by genebo on Jan 9, 2015 0:21:44 GMT
My friend runs a full time job and his kids have gone off to school. He has to do what he can with the time he has available.
He has at least 200 acres that he's running 70 Angus brood cows on. His grass is talked about at our graziers meetings for its lushness and quality. He has several Dexter and Dexter cross dairy cattle that he runs on his homestead. Ruffles is a short legged Dexter/Charolais/Hereford cross that is a 3 gallon per day milker. When she stands in his pasture, even this time of year, you don't see any air under her. The grass tickles her belly.
The grass is a mix of native bluestem, overseeded with orchard grass, forage peas, clover and crabgrass (Quick-N-Big), with perennial ryegrass, BMR sorghum and other varieties in some of the plots. It smells good to walk through his pastures. I wish mine would grow as well.
The only fertilizer he uses is laying hen litter that he gets from an egg operation nearby. They compost it until it is up to a year old, then deliver and spread it.
He is a member of the brain trust that holds meetings in his workshop. I have sat in on them from time to time. The group includes two cattle veterinarians, a research professor from VPI, and a few people I don't know. They can talk about grass for hours or until the beer runs out, whichever comes first. Altogether, it's a fun group that discusses subjects I enjoy.
The whole group is in on this project to sell grass fed beef to ARBY'S. Everybody has suggestions.
Actually, you don't sell your beef directly to ARBY'S. Almost all cemmercial beef in this country is processed by Swift's. They process and package the commercial beef that you buy in the supermarkets. The Tall Grass Cattle Company operates an operation that processes and packages only certified grass fed beef. You have to sell your beef to Tall Grass to be processed, and they sell to ARBY'S. ARBY'S runs an inspection operation that certifies farms and farmers to qualify them to sell their beef to Tall Grass. That is the hurdle my friend is trying to surmount.
After the first time his steers failed the ultrasound, he switched from a short legged Dexter bull to a Devon bull with high credentials and a high price. The effect on the beef was noticeable, but it didn't work because using the Devon bull was costing him too many calves, too many difficult births. The calves were too big for Angus mothers. He even lost a couple of his high priced mothers.
So then, he bought a mini-Devon. What might be called a proportionate miniature. Pretty bull, about 3/4 the size of the first Devon. Another failure, because the mini-Devon bull threw calves just as large as the big Devon had. It looked like a smaller version, but it wasn't.
Both Devon bulls got eaten. I got some short ribs from the first one, and they had so much fat on them you had to skim the fat before eating the roast.
Next he tried a Dexter/Shorthorn cross. Brenn's son. That solved the large calf problem. Two things didn't suit him. One, the calves failed the ultrasound test because of the size of the cuts. His steers from the Dexter bull weighed about 900 lbs at slaughter, compared to an average of 1200 pounds for Angus steers. The steers from this short legged bull were well marbled, but just too small to suit ARBY'S.
He has been bouncing around from bull to bull, trying to find one that fits all the requirements. He may have the best grass in the county, but he can't put the whole package together in a way that suits ARBY'S. Meanwhile, his Dexter/Angus crosses are selling well. He almost never has a steer to take to auction. They all sell to his repeat client list (which he won't share with me). He's happy with his operation, but not as happy as he thinks he could be.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2015 1:23:14 GMT
gene, the thing that concerns me is the fertilizer he is using. I dont know what facility he is getting the chicken crap from but most of them i would not want on my fields. some give arsenic as a dewormer.
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Post by Donlin Stud on Jan 9, 2015 1:54:41 GMT
gene, the thing that concerns me is the fertilizer he is using. I dont know what facility he is getting the chicken crap from but most of them i would not want on my fields. some give arsenic as a dewormer. WHAT ??  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2015 2:18:22 GMT
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Post by lonecowhand on Jan 13, 2015 23:20:22 GMT
Oh , that's just scarey, Mike. At least only the Good Arsenic is left in! The article seems to have left out the reason for it's usage.
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Post by genebo on Jan 14, 2015 1:13:22 GMT
I ran into one of the men who worked at my friend's farm when the chicken manure was being spread. He told me that there was a lot of paperwork that changed hands every time. The seller of the chicken manure had to provide a lot of information to the government overseers. My friend had to sign the papers that stated that he had received the manure and it was spread on his fields.
Evidently, the practice of spreading chicken manure is closely regulated. It's enough to make me decide to skip having it done here.
I was seriously considering having it done, because it really greened up his pastures. Beautiful grass and lots of it.
My friend told me that the manure came from laying chickens, instead of broiler chickens. He said there is a lot of difference between the two kinds. One is wet, stinks and can burn your fields, the other is dry, composted with shavings, odorless after one day, and doesn't burn his grass.
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