Well, it’s that season again. It’s time to wield the all powerful voting punch-card, an American right and tradition, vital to our Republic. 
​
In 1787 a woman asked Benjamin Franklin as he was exiting the Constitutional Convention, “Well, Doctor, what type of Government have we - a Republic or Monarchy?"

​His response, was both direct and prophetic “A Republic, if you can keep it”

And, with this season comes a peppering of “what say you” emails and inquires to our Ranch, regarding, policy, procedures and methods.  As such, we do appreciate the confidence you have in asking our opinion, but I must warn you now, if you continue reading, all bets are off. We are sure to disappoint, at least, everyone, once. 

So here it goes… (Turn back now if you like me and wish to continue holding my opinion in high esteem). As my Pops once said “you can please some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people some of the time”

Of course, most are asking what is the deal with Proposition 12 – the one that is supposedly designed to “stop animal cruelty”– yeah right, that will surely be the result.

In detail, here is how this will go down. Most folks will vote “yes” because it makes them feel good. Just like buying a package of meat that says “grass-fed”, from Sprouts will make them feel good. The Truth - It’s not real grass fed, and the Semi-truck backing up to the rear of the building, unloading pallets of factory Beef, all labeled “grass-fed” should be your first indicator. 

Or, one of my favorites (or not) is the “cage free” label. Meaning that, according to law that… "an indoor or outdoor controlled environment for egg-laying hens within which hens are free to roam unrestricted; are provided enrichments that allow them to exhibit natural behaviors, including, at a minimum, scratch areas, perches, nest boxes, and dust bathing areas; and within which farm employees can provide care while standing within the hens’"

​Now, does that sound like this… 

Or this...

I bet you’d be shocked to know that your well intentioned vote was circumvented when you passed measure 8, a few years ago and voted for “cage free”. That’s right, you intended for hens to be free to roam, as in video above, but the industrial, conventional, factory CAFOs and their well trained lawyers (and there are plenty, believe me) found a hundred loopholes so that what is occurring in the former pictures is legal, whilst the latter picture is what most voters think they got.
​
Here’s another thought for you – any idea why, if measure 8 was so effective, are we are voting again on this issue? Yep, you guessed it – because the CAFO industrialists always circumvent the rules. In other words, it didn't work.

In Fact, in this latest measure (Prop 12) you will notice that the required space for a laying hen is no “less than 144 square inches of usable floor space per hen”. This is totally unreasonable! No hen can live healthy in that amount of space – no matter what the cute drawing on the egg carton depicts!

They need acres, not inches.

So, you will soon see massive, factory hen CAFOs in California with 144.01 inches of floor space for each hen – and it will all be legal.

So, what is the answer?

Simple – Vote

Just not with a punch card. Instead, use a dollar.

That’s right. Stop taking meaningless action that only results in increased pay for Lawyers working for industrial farms splitting hairs on one-tenth of an inch measurement for a hen CAFO and start hitting them where it hurts.

Take your voting dollar away from them and give it to an integrity food farmer. Stop buying at the supermarket. It doesn’t have to be us, in fact, we don’t currently offer eggs. But, you could frequent a Farmers Market where eggs are sold and support a hard working farmer with your voting dollar. (Pastured eggs are very common by the way) Just be sure to ask all the right questions. Yes, it will require more effort than just voting once every few years, but, at least it will be rewarding and effective. Plus, the Farmer will really appreciate it!
Here are three general guidelines you should look for…

• Look

Does it pass the look test?
In beef, this means yellow fat – indicating the presence of beta carotene. This means the beef is truly grass fed, as the beta carotene color (the same element that makes a carrot orange) can only come from a cow eating grass. If it is eggs you are looking for, look for orange yolks. This will indicate pasturing.

• Ask

Does it pass the ask test?
Ask about the methods? Be specific. Say things like “Does this chicken’s feet touch green grass every day?” That’s pretty specific. Notice, I did not use any of the most popular catch phrases like “Free-Range”, “Pastured”, “Outdoors” etc. This is because almost all of these terms are adulterated by the industry. Another tip - if he or she doesn't answer your question with a single phrase, but excitedly explains, in detail, the sheer ecstasy of his or her latest pastured farming methods for 30 minutes, and you leave with enough information to start a small farm, your on the right track!

• Think

Does it pass the disappointment test?
Is your Farmer ever out of stock? Does he or she ever struggle with seasonality? Farming is biological, not mechanical. There are rain storms and droughts, ups and downs, predators and prey. All this effects supply. One of the primary reasons Henry Ford invented the assembly line factory, was to get a uniform product with predictability and consistency. By nature, this cannot (or should not) happen in true, biological farming.
I got a call a few weeks ago from a patron of another farming operation. She told me that she believed that her Farmer was buying factory meat and selling it at the Farmers Markets as their own product. I asked her why she would think such a thing. Her answer was telling…”They always have what I want, and in plenty. Plus they attend over twenty Farmers Markets and only farm a few acres” – I told her to trust her instincts and find a different supplier. It’s this kind of thinking that will help steer you in the right direction. Trust your gut – there are shysters out there, even at the Farmers’ Market. In short, does your farmer disappoint (occasionally)? This is a good indicator of true sourcing.

The campaign supporting Prop 12 has collected 12 million dollars; the opposition has spent just under $600K. Imagine, just for a moment if all those dollars were used to ”VOTE” for a Farmer who kept his hens out on pasture (like us) or cared for his brood hogs (mama Sows giving birth) in a field instead of a factory? Can you imagine the ground swell of inertia to collapse CAFOs if all that money went to hard working, small farmers?

One last thought – do you really trust the very agencies that brought us Mad Cow Disease, by advising Farmers to feed dead cows to cows, to regulate CAFOs?

Do we really want the wolf to guard the sheep?

Come on folks, really.
​
So, in conclusion – Vote next week, then every week after that. Keep voting and never stop.

I conducted a phone interview with a graduate student the other day that shocked me. She was writing a paper on Grass-Fed and Finished Beef (pasture-based livestock) and could not find anyone, and I mean anyone, who could answer her questions.

Very specific questions - like how is Grass-Fed Beef "Finished"?

A few years ago, I met with the same frustration. For the life of me, I couldn't wrap my head around why the concept of Grass-Fed and Finishing Beef was so hard to research. Even today, I hawk daily for nuggets of information regarding this totally foreign concept. Oh, I am not talking about the fake stuff imported from overseas and distributed by technology companies like "butcher box" in Massachusetts - I mean the real deal, real Ranchers who know how to grow cattle on grass and make them taste good. Guys and gals who understand ecology, care for our earth and have a soul-filled yearning for sustainably. 

Why was the skill of Grass-Finishing Beef so rare? Why is it so hard to find good, talented and proficient Finishers in the industry? Why are large, supermarket supplying companies taking so many short-cuts, by feedlotting beef and calling it "grass-fed" because it had one blade of grass two years ago? 

What could be so hard about this... isn't grass everywhere? Just let the Cows out and feed them...

To answer these and other questions, we must first lay some basic guidelines, define some essential terms and understand where we have come from, before knowing where we are going. 

The conventional cattle industry is split into three main sections, delineated by time. These are "Cow-calf", "Stocker" and "Finisher" operations. They describe, loosely, the three stages of life; Birth and weaning for "Cow-calf", teenage years for "Stocker" and the final stage of life where the animal is fattened for slaughter - known as "Finishing". Each of these three stages are separate enterprises, meaning that companies own one stage, but rarely or never two or all three. Subsequently, they collect revenues when they sell or transfer their "crop" from one stage to the next. So, in essence, a "Cow-calf" operator's job is done when a "Stocker" operation purchase their calves and moves them to their facility for "stocking". This process is repeated until a "Finisher" sells a full-grown, fat beef to a slaughterhouse for processing and eventual shipment to the grocery store shelf.

Ok, so now you have that, right? Cow-Calf, Stocker and Finisher - three stages, all distinct, all separate.

This chain of events has been in existence for many years. Companies have learned to specialize in each segment. They have refined, honed and perfected their operations for profitably. The system works with modern, breathtaking efficiency, until it doesn't...

In recent years, mountains of evidence have been collected to prove that Grass-Finished Beef is healthier for the consumer than Conventional Beef. The same can be said for the environmental impacts, and for the health of the animals involved. All three of these precepts witness against the current, industrial, confined Beef growing operation - and with the introduction of the world wide web public opposition to them is gaining ground at an alarmingly fast rate.

The departure from conventional to Grass-Fed and Finished Beef comes just prior to the last stage.  This last stage, known as "Finishing" is where the CAFOs or, Confined Area Feed Operations exist. These animal torture centers are the apex of cruelty. Activists rage at the mention of these facilities - and rightly so! 
​
They are truly an abomination.

But, the industry sees them as necessary and functional. Only confined animals, allowed little movement and no other free choice of food will voluntarily consume large portions of grains and corn for fattening. This produces the intramuscular fats that the average American consumer desires on their plate - but it comes at a price. The obesity epidemic, the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, that is now slightly larger than the state of New Jersey and the recent flooding of CAFOs resulting in the breech of manure ponds washing into rivers as this summer's hurricanes blew ashore are only a few of terrible consequences of this type of food production. 

Not only does Grass Fed and Finished Beef not have these terrible consequences, but, to the contrary, pasture-based production systems enhance the environment, sequester carbon, produce a superior health product all while allowing  the Farmers who care for them to sleep sound knowing that their animals are not being raised in a manner contrary to nature - like knee-deep in their own manure.

Conventional Beef cattle are fattened on grains and corn - all grown on the nicest farmland (called "class 1 & 2 soils"). These nutrients, in the form of harvest crops such as corn, are then transferred to a Finishing operation, or "feedlot" (commonly called a CAFO), by truck or train. Cattle are fed these feeds to fatten them quickly, often in as little as 180 days. This produces a "Finished" Beef in 18 to 21 months total time from birth to butcher. 

Kinda gives a new meaning to the term "fast food" huh?

​In contrast, true Grass-Finished beef is never sent to a feedlot or CAFO. These cattle are given the richest, fast growing, high carbohydrate grasses to add a layer of external and intermuscular fat to their bodies. This requires exceptional grass, soils and symbiotic, carefully planned cattle-to-grass management process. Producing this type of Beef, using only Grass, Sunlight, Water and Intuition is truly an art. 

It is for this reason that commodity style, conventional Ranchers have always seen cattle as a way to add value to otherwise useless land - land that could not be developed, farmed in crops, etc. 

With conventional, factory beef, at the finishing stage, the carbohydrate inputs (grains, corn) come from somewhere else, so the land is basically a "holding facility" for the cattle to be fed on while they eat. The land could be useless - they could use an old tennis court if needed. It would make no difference if grass was growing there or not. Conventional "Finishers" just need a place to feed.

Grass-Fed Finishing Ranches, such as ours are totally different. They see the land as adding value to cattle. In this way, we focus on soil to grow nutrient-dense grass. Then the cattle harvest that nutrient dense grass directly (without the use of petroleum intense equipment) and transfer that value, through nutrients, directly into the animal's tissue and fat for sale. This is an entirely new and different approach. It also takes an additional 10 months to "Grass-Finish" Beef. 

And, in farming, like any other business enterprise, time is money!
'
So, then, why is Grass-Finishing so hard? Well, for one, no one teaches it. You need to learn it as you go, or as the old saying goes... "On the Job Training (o.j.t.) is the only Way". Overgraze your grass, an the beeves you are raising will be lean, flavorless and tough. Under Graze the grass and it will grow to maturity (giving it an off-taste to the cattle), lose nutrition and be useless. Grass Grazers are always walking a tightrope between over and under grazing while balancing the re-growth and biodiversity under their feet. We work tirelessly to manage the pressure on grass, in terms of foot lbs/acre - so as not to damage the soils, yet reinvigorate with proper manure dispersion. We time movements, to replicate what nature does with predators motivating a large herd of herbivores to move. And make darn sure the plants are pruned correctly, and rested between grazing rotations. 

One thing can be sure. Grass-Finishers care about the grass, and subsequently about the soil. It is the resource base for their operation. If abused, their venture fails. It's that simple. You will never find a proficient Grass-Finisher who is not in some way, deeply concerned about the environment and the ecosystem he and his cattle are plugged into.

Now, perhaps, you see why is it so hard to find these folks - they are a rare breed indeed. 

But, you may also see why Grass-Finishers are so interested in biodiversity, resilience and sustainability. Frankly, its our job - you try your hardest at work, right? We do too. It means more to the bottom line. It feels good to succeed. When we see plants flourishing, wild species working in conjunction with our large herbivores, and carbon being sequestered at twice the rate we are producing it - we feel good! 

Come join us...