I hope that you click on the link and see what he and she have to say. I’m not a big Martha Stewart fan but was very impressed at the level of enthusiasm that she had for organic, local, grass fed, pasture raised, foods. She knew what she was talking about and really seemed to be supporting our type of farming. Of course Joel was himself, being both educational and entertaining.

Today I’m thankful for my family most of all but I’m also very thankful that there are more and more people getting on board and realizing the health (for soil, animal, and human) benefits of grass fed meats.

I found this video the other day. It’s a video of Joel Salatin doing a talk on how the business part of their farm really got started. As usual Joel is very entertaining. I can never get enough of this stuff and I hope you all enjoy it too.

Personally I think that there are two things (one feeds off of the other) that really make our food system what it is. The first is federal subsidies of crops such as corn and soybeans. This encourages a mass amount of monoculture farming where now the same fields in our area are being used year after year for corn. It also encourages more and more processed foods that are made of elements of corn and soy. These aren’t good for you but the biggest worry for me is the fact that most of these corn and soy are now GMO (genetically modified organisms). The reason there is so much of this stuff is because farmers can produce the crops for more more than what they are worth on the market and still make a profit with their multiple subsidies. This is not the fault of the farmer, it’s a policy problem.

The second big problem, and this is huge, is that one multi-national chemical corporation M****nto (can’t be too careful is taking total control of our food. Not our country’s food but our world’s food. The are buying up seed companies and are bulying farmers into not saving their own seeds anymore. Soon we will all be eating GMO foods, not because farmers want to grow it but because they have no other choice. The stories in Food INC. about lawsuits against farmers and seed cleaners were really eye opening.

Of course there is something that we can all do. First, everyone can eat local, transparent food. Second, farmers that are thinking about raising natural and organic foods can take the plunge and start doing it.
Visit the Farmers Forum to see and get involved in a discussion on the movie.

Small – Our Dexters are small alright. The adults that we have come to my elbow or a little higher and have an impressive amount of mass but aren’t at all intimidating.

Efficient Foragers – We planted our pastures this year and after 5 or 6 weeks started rotating our 6 animals they have all done well on pasture alone and some even seem to prefer to browse the scrubby weeds before moving on to the grasses and alfalfa.

Docile & Easy to Handle – Through selective culling Dexters have became an easy to handle, easy to approach breed of cattle that can be trained to lead or milk pretty easily. Many people have trained Dexter Oxen and some even ride Dexter steers with a saddle. Ours have learned the routine of moving to a new paddock everyday very quickly and as soon as I pull back the polywire fence they are ready to move into the next paddock and graze. I’ve also trained a couple of our animals to lead and will soon be training a cow to be milked in a stanchion. Our one exception is a “bull-headed cow” that may need to become Heritage Dexter Beef in an effort to keep Dexters with a good reputation.

Ease of Calving – I hope that our last calving is a sign of things to come. Corretta had her calf on her own, we found it already running around and nursing, and we’ve not had to remove either of them from the herd for any reason.

Dual Purpose – So far we’ve only tried Dexter Milk a few times and it was really good, made great ice cream, and had plenty of cream. Getting a taste of Dexter Salad Bar Beef is something that is still in the future for us but we’ve heard many accounts of it’s superior flavor and tenderness.

In the picture below you can see Breaburn, our young herd bull, browsing on the leaves of some of the tall weeds that have invaded our new pasture. Because most of these large weeds are annuals we don’t expect many of them to be around next year but it’s great to see our herd making use of them now (and helping to kill them off).

Here is a picture of Corretta a 2 year old and Ivy a 7 year old, both from Grandma’s Dexter’s in Iowa. They’re busy eating a volunteer (came up on it’s own) grass that I believe is Meadow Bromegrass. This grass comes up very early in the spring and pretty much died off in the hottest part of the summer.

It sounds a little out of place but Bill Crites of The Storks aquaculture farm in Chaffee, MO has been raising both Rainbow Trout and Pacific White Shrimp since 2005 in his 4 large ponds. Bill experimented for a few years in a small existing pond and then had 4 ponds and a well installed to really make a go of it. Each pond can be drained for harvesting of the crop and refilled to start the next crop in his rotation.

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Over the cooler months Bill raises Rainbow Trout and as it warms up he starts his warm season crop of shrimp. As quoted from his website:

We receive our shrimp as larvae which we place into saltwater tanks. For a period of forty-five days we slowly wean the shrimp off of saltwater so that we may stock them in our freshwater ponds. Our harvested shrimp grow to an average of 8-inches long.

Often people comment to me that these must be prawn and not shrimp but they are in fact real shrimp. To go a step further, Bill only feeds the shrimp and trout an organic meal, making them appealing for the health conscious as well.

Bill has also acquired a local convenience store in Chaffee where he sells his shrimp and trout by the pound, and cooks some of the best barbecue around. We’ve bought shrimp for special events a few times and it’s always been easy to prepare, reasonably priced, and tasted great! I wouldn’t even think of buying shrimp from the store anymore when I know I could be supporting a local farming family. In this situation the farmer is selling the end product so he is able to make the best return and that should make a buyer feel good. I love seeing other farmers try something new and different and it doesn’t look like Bill Crites is stopping where he is, he’s already started a small herd of sheep!

If you’d like to get some local seafood, give Bill a call, he can also give you cooking instructions and tips. If you stop by the store, Larry’s in Chaffee, MO, I’m sure he’d love to tell you how he got into the business.

The Storks

Article in Sauce Magazine

Many of the reasons that we chose to start with Dexters are discussed in the video and the article that goes along with it.

They’re half as big as full-size cows, and have even littler appetites: They eat only a third as much. “It’s definitely economics,” says Ms. Coad, gesturing across her barnyard to Snickers …Article In WSJ

Dexters are small, hardy, easier to work with than alot of cattle, they eat less pasture/hay, and they produce great meat and milk. We’re relying alot on second hand knowledge and what we’ve read about Dexters but so far it’s panned out. We milked one of our cows a few times and she sure had alot of cream and alot of milk! Also, they’ve been very easy to handle so far, training easily to electric temporary fence. They also have been very good foragers, eating alot of “weeds” that many cattle would turn up their noses at. It’s great to move them into a new paddock in the evening and see them attack the tall weeds like they’re candy before moving on to the alfalfa and grasses.

I hope you enjoy the video, I love hearing kids talk with a southern accent!

Dexter Video in WSJ

Dexter Pictures  in WSJ

My 7-year-old daughter just encouraged me to watch a video that she found online.  She went to our google search bar and typed “the meatricks”.  The video is a cartoon that tries to expose the myths surrounding the meat that we typically consume here in America.  My daughter was particularly outraged at the “Happy Farms” label that is stamped on the products at the end of the video.  In any case, I’d suggest checking this one out… even if you are already aware of these issues, it’s a nice way to share with those who aren’t.

Link of the Day: http://www.themeatrix.com