Our Beef Advantages
Our cattle have continual access to pasture even during winter months. They fatten according to their own body make. We do not force them to get fat by feeding them grain or other products. During winter months our cattle are supplemented with alfalfa hay harvested from our pastures during the summer months. Tami’s Grassfed Beef graze on a variety of greens, including alfalfa, brome, clover, orchard grass, and a variety of native grasses. Tami’s Grassfed Beef is “pasture raised” rather than “pasture finished”. Our calves are born on pasture and stay there until market.
Tami’s Grassfed Beef have a continual supply of fresh grasses during growing season. We practice rotational grazing and move the cattle every 24 to 36 hours to new pasture. This not only promotes good health and a quality end product, but also promotes humane treatment of the animals. If we need to move them to a new pasture they have not been to before, we may need to use horses or dogs to get them there. But we never use motorized vehicles to herd the animals. Fear is not the way to get them into a paddock. Since they are accustomed to being moved by humans, when it comes time to process them, they are not fearful. The process is done very humanely and before the animal even knows something is happening.
Grassfed Beef is typically higher in the good fats, Omega 3 and CLA (conjugated Linoleic acid), Vitamin E, beta-carotene, and lower in saturated fats and calories. This contradicts the notion that red meat is bad for you if you are eating grass fed meat. Ruminant meat and dairy is one of the only natural known sources of CLA. Synthetic forms are available, but logically not utilized by the body as well as the natural source. There is little or no chance of BSE or Mad Cow Disease when you are consuming grassfed beef as the animals and their parents were only fed grass for the duration of their life. No animal by-products were fed to the animal.
Grassfed Beef is not only better for the consumer, but also for the farmer and environment. It takes less fossil fuel to move the animals because we are not sending them to a feedlot. They fatten right where they were born. There is no need to bring in grain to feed the animals as they are not factory fed. The animals are moved to their new meal by their own devices while fertilizing the pastures naturally as they go.
There is a lot of skill that comes with raising grassfed beef. It is more than just putting your cattle on the pasture and letting them graze. We’re currently in the development of our genetics through adding the Devon breed into our cattle, trying to produce a better end product for the consumer. We are always interested in your opinion of the meat and trace it back genetically to the mother and father to determine improvements that need to be made.
Our beef is hormone and anitbiotic free! If a steer happens to get sick, which is rare, we will give them a shot of a penicillin derivative medication. If they need more than two shots, we pull them out of the program.
We are very interested in the nutritional value of the meat. This is first and foremost in the production of Tami’s Grassfed Beef, but we are also concerned with the eating experience of the consumer. We want to know how you liked the beef. We are constantly improving pastures and trying to work on genetics to make this so.