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View Full Version : On web: Sites promoting eating Local & Seasonal



Backyard Permaculture
09-30-2008, 01:00 AM
This is a site that was linked from Yahoo's main page, Monday Sept 29 alt 11:30pm

http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/09/29/ten-ways-to-eat-local-seasonal-food-all-year/

Eating local is getting some mainstream coverage.

Ron

Backyard Permaculture
01-01-2009, 01:08 PM
Here is another web site, talking about " Where's the Beef". They refer to it as Cowpooling. LOL

http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/restaurants-bars/70212/cowpooling

Garden Green
01-01-2009, 08:56 PM
Great articles. We are just finishing our side of beef that we purchased several months ago from a local farm that is very eco friendly. Ranged raised beef that don't even have sterilization implants. We plan on doing that again as soon as possible. There really is a huge difference in taste and color and how it cooks. It came vacuum sealed and already frozen for us and was much more cost effective than purchasing at the grocery store. I recommend it to anyone that has a family to feed.

Backyard Permaculture
01-01-2009, 10:15 PM
Right now, I am raising my own beef animal. He is a black Angus/something else mix. I could not use all the meat myself so I will share some with the property owners who are graciously allowing me to graze my calf, goats and chickens on thier property. Also I will probably sell quarters to others locally and use that $ to buy the next calf.

He's got at least a year before he's ready for that.

Does anyone on this list know about what I should charge for this meat by the Pound.?

Ron

plantoneonme
01-02-2009, 01:16 PM
For those who cannot raise their own meat animals, check out eatwild.com. They list farmers in each state that raise grass fed, free range meat animals.

Kim

Garden Green
01-02-2009, 08:08 PM
Does anyone on this list know about what I should charge for this meat by the Pound.?

Ron

I'm not sure what anyone else would charge, but I was charged $1.20 per pound on hoof. I didn't have to pay for the butchering or the disposal of unwanted items, delivery of some of the animal to a rendering plant (apparently the FDA requires this and some ranchers charge for this drop off), packaging or delivery, it was all included in the price. My bull dressed at ~1100 pounds so you do the math on that.

I got a lot of different quotes from a lot of different folks, so you may want to consider calling around to your local ranchers/butchers/farmers and find out what they are charging.

plantoneonme
01-02-2009, 09:48 PM
Ron,

I purchased a 1/4 cow in May 2008 and paid $3.60 per lb hanging weight. I bet that different areas of the country probably charge different prices so I would call around to see what is common in your area.

Kim

Backyard Permaculture
01-04-2009, 01:51 PM
WARNING: THIS POSTS CONTAINS SOME GRAPHIC CONTENT RELATED TO ANIMAL SEXUAL ORGANS. IF YOU WOULD FIND IT OFFENSIVE, DO NOT READ!!

Well whatta you know. Boy have I got egg on my face. The Black Angus/something else mixed bull calf I got from a local farmer, well after about 4 months of putting off cutting him to make a steer out of him so he would remain tamer, I finally got around to attempting to do so yesturday. Had everything ready to do it as recommended by Joel Salatin in his book "Salad Bar Beef", had the calf restricted in movement. Got down on my knees to do the cutting, and there was nothing to cut. No male hardware.

Being raised in the city I did not grow up automatically with this knowledge of castration of calves. I had raised a steer, a Holstein bull calf my parents bought from my aunt and uncle who had a dairy farm in Chandler AZ for a school project in the Animal Husbandry class I took as a sophmore in High School. That calf I castrated using an "elastrator", a device used to put a very tight rubber band around the scrotum and testes to cut off the blood supply and they dry up, die and fall off. Later on a field trip to the home of another student who also was raising a bull calf that needed to be made into a steer, our teacher showed us how to do it with a pocket knife and removed one of the testes, then asked the students surrounding him for a volunteer to remove the other. I got shoved forward as they also vocally volunteered me. So I ended up cutting the other side and removing the other testes. I think the calf lived. For a while anyway. That was all when I was about 15 years old, about 38 years ago.

Anyway, back to my present calf, I was unsure if the "Bull Calf" I was supposed to have, had already been cut and was already a steer or if he was a she, a heifer (female calf) instead.

Shortly afterwards I saw the farmer friend that I had gotten the calf from driving by in front of my house. I succeeded in flagging him down. He was accompanied by his brother who also was a farmer. I related my experience to them. Jim, the farmer friend I already knew said he thought it was a bull calf, but maybe it had already been cut. He said the paperwork from the livestock auction where he bought the calf identified it as a bull calf, and I remebered that as being true. His brother asked me if it peee'd out the back or toward the front, and I just realized, if I remembered correctly, that just before I secured "him" to do the castration, "he" peee'd out the back the way a female cow would do. I had never thought of that. That would make "him" a "her".

Long time ago I read that it is not a good idea to name an animal you plan to eat, but if you do, name it with the name of some kind of food so that you always keep in mind that this animal's destiny is the table. But now, "T-bone"'s destiny has changed. I also wanted a heifer to breed and raise more heifers and steers to further my natural farming plans. I Just thought I was starting out with a steer rather than a heifer.

I am hoping to buy semen from the internet of a "Beefalo" bull to breed to her. Family of the above mentioned farmer friend have a nitrogen tank to preserve semen and work with a man who breeds thier registared angus cattle by artificial insemination.

Beefalo is a cattle breed developed by successfully hybredizing domesticated cattle with the American Bison (Buffalo) and having fertile offspring. Beefalo are reportedly able to forage on sparser range, have smaller calves than other beef breeds which facilitates calving for the cow, and the calves grow up faster afterwards. The hide also has about 4 times the hair follicles than other cattle, which supposedly makes the hide more valuable. They are supposed to be more disease resistant due to thier close relationship to thier wild ancestors.

For the curious, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beefalo

However, this project would probably be somewhat beyond the scope of many members of this group. I don't think Patti would be able to do this in her home, Right Patti???

LOL

Ron

HomesteadBaker
01-14-2009, 05:58 PM
If your heifer is actually half Black Angus, you might NOT want her bred to a Beefalo, she might not be able to carry and deliver safely. Angus is a relatively small breed compared to some. Many dairy farmers breed their first time Holsteins, etc, to Angus bulls so they get a smaller first time calf.... easier delivery, less chance of heifer and calf mortality because Angus calves are smaller.

What breed is the "other half" of your heifer?

Backyard Permaculture
01-14-2009, 07:06 PM
I don't know what the calf's other breed is, it is black like an angus.

However Beefalo are known for small calves, which makes calving easy. Then they gain faster to catch up with other breeds weights.

The following is a quote from this website:http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/beefalo/

Beefalo
Beefalo is a species cross between Bison (buffalo) and domestic cattle of any breed. The purpose of the species cross was to blend the outstanding qualities of the Bison with outstanding qualities of the bovine breeds of the world.
Many individuals have tried to cross the Bison and bovine but it was not until the 1960s that a major breakthrough took place. The cross between the Bison and the domestic and exotic beef breeds resulted in the best of both species coming together to produce a superior animal.

The cross between the Bison and beef breeds combined the superior hardiness, foraging ability, calving ease, and meat quality of the Bison with the fertility, milking ability, and ease of handling from the bovine. The cross has also given increased meaning to the term of hybrid vigor. Beefalo animals can be more efficient, which can cut input costs and improve profits.

The basis of the Beefalo program is the fullblood, an animal which is exactly 3/8 Bison and 5/8 bovine. There is no stipulation on the breed used to make up the 5/8 bovine, but any of the beef breeds is generally used.

I am anxious to try it.

Ron

Backyard Permaculture
01-14-2009, 07:27 PM
This also, toward the end lists the health advantages of Beefalo beef.

http://www.abwr.org/history.html

And Mother Earth News ran these articles:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1979-05-01/A-Home-Where-the-Beefalo-Roam.aspx?page=3

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1979-05-01/But-How-Does-It-Taste.aspx

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1981-03-01/The-Basics-of-Beefalo-Raising.aspx

Ron

gardengirl72
02-14-2009, 09:15 PM
Mother Earth News is a great resource.

MoniDew
02-15-2009, 11:17 PM
For those who cannot raise their own meat animals, check out eatwild.com. They list farmers in each state that raise grass fed, free range meat animals.

Kim

This is incredible! THANK YOU so much!