Beef Bulletin

Here is our cow. He is the black one in the middle, walking along in his grassy field, celebrating Independence Day in my parent's pasture. Today he is in the cooler at Weaver's Meat Processing in Hartselle, AL. In two weeks he will be in my freezer.

We are experimenting with him. Locally grown, grass finished beef is near impossible to find unless you are near a big city, and even when you do find it, it is outrageously expensive. So one day, my wife, Amanda said, "Wait a minute, aren't there a bunch of cows in your Dad's pasture?" And that got us to thinking.

There are all kinds of benefits to consuming beef this way. First, your money is going to someone you know, leaving out all the middle men who would most likely be getting that meat from all the way down in Mexico. Second, grass finishing beef eliminates a great deal of cortisol, or the bad cholesterol that is caused from the stress that the final part of a feedlot cow's life brings on. In addition, grass is a more natural and healthy diet for the cow than the feed that is designed to fatten the cow in the months it is confined before slaughter. (In the best cases that feed is a mostly corn diet, but it can often consist of dead chickens mixed with poo, and even parts of other cows. A healthier cow, to me, logically translates into healthier meat, and a healthier me.

When he makes his way onto our table, I will post more info to let you know prices and how the meat tastes. If all goes well, we will be offering more cows available for you to purchase at a much lower rate than you would be getting at Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods.

Dad's farm is at 734 Copeland Road in Arab, Alabama, and his cows, though not "certified organic" are all natural, organic. The pasture is pesticide free, the cows are free range, and they are not fed hormones or anything else that could potentially contribute to early puberty in girls, cancer, or extra limbs caused by mutant Mexican A-Rod steroid steaks.