I hope this lady is right about recovery, but have my doubts.
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Hey did you know the nickname for Oregon State University has been “Moo U,” because of their focus on agriculture? Also their mascot is the beaver like your profile picture.
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I did not know that! I learn something new every day…
Sort of random, that was the first university I went to. University of Oregon are the ducks.
We will not have beef this year. We had to make the best decision we could (at the time), and decided to not put a bull in pasture last year, due to processing/butcher backlogs. A bull went to pasture this year and calves are on the ground, but that means beef next year, not this year. We were NOT alone in this decision, at least here in Nebraska.
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We WERE grass farmers, including creating our own hay (grass) and primarily feeding our cattle and sheep but we are at a no grass-no hay situation and will work at a loss for the next two years. Fact is our numbers are still low so we can process our own lamb and beef for ourselves while building our registered herd (low birthweight- high gain black angus). Our sheep are Tunis, a fat-tail breed capable of breeding twice a year (either fall crops or spring crops- IOW, unlike our Axis deer that can produce more than one offspring, it is one only but tend to breed in fall or spring allowing two crops a year). We bred market only lambs this year in hopes to feed people.
Good information. Thanks for posting.
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I don’t know if this is relevant, but I buy a lot of wholesale beef for my business and there’s a definite trend happening. There is a lot more variety in the small producer, very high end, quality meats (beef, pork especially) which is great for my business but it makes me wonder. If my purveyors are carrying less of the regular choice/select and increasing their Prime tiers (!), Snake River,…Wagyu is seeming to be passe. And each week another “celebrity” is promoting bugs, news articles are hinting at cannabalism - are the middle range quality meats already being phased out? Supermarkets and fast food restaurants are now featuring Waygu, “grass fed” or junk. But is it actually Wagyu? There’s always been multiple tiers of quality/affordability, but it looks to me as if it’s becoming very two-tiered for the haves and have-nots. I suggest being VERY cautious about low-end and fast food restaurants and supermarket chain meats.
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We are grass fed cattle and poultry operation. We’re small farmers in comparison (200 acres). We intentionally are a very small operation of only 30 calves/year + the breeding stock. We do brown angus and pick our breeding stock very specifically based off a fellow from South Africa’s teachings. Haven’t had to pull a calf in years since we found and read his work. My partner and mentor (an old timer) has stressed the importance of scale and always being able to handle a drought, for years I thought he was just paranoid, lol. We bail our own pastures to put up hay for the winter. This drought is really bad here, but we’ve got all our hay put up to get us through the winter already. I live in corn and bean country (Eastern Nebraska) and if we don’t get some real rain soon, its going to be a major crop loss situation. Most people who don’t know row cropping don’t realize that you don’t know what your crop situation is until you get out there in it (harvest). Its not looking good for the row croppers and grain fed beef/hog farmers, drought isn’t covered under insurance either. We’re fortunate …so far that is.
Hang in there Justa, you’re a tough bird.
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In many cases it is not traditional Wagyu. Like everything in the food industry, there are many loop holes. For instance, “No Antibiotics” is a simple blood draw and based off of ppm, you get a pass or fail. In chicken, 24-48hrs before processing, its low enough to pass.
My birds are on pasture from roughly 3wks old to harvest (outside temp dictates how soon I can move them out of the brooder onto pasture), because they are in an open air environment and outside soaking up Vitamin-D, I’ve never had to vaccinate a single bird. Factory farms cant do this.
Feed is another nightmare of silver tongue language. We have to source from a mill in our state who runs an organic, no-soy, non-gmo operation. They grow it all. I have to drive 7hrs to the other side of the state to pick up 1-ton bags from them, lol.
Nothing is easy and you always have to peak behind the curtain and vet even your local producers. If a farm doesn’t offer tours to customers that inquire, IMO, they are hiding something.
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Been there done that, Ronin. I built the first organic garden center in upstate NY (Adirondacks)- took 3 years of testing etc. Then, Mr. Flamboyant who had a small farm operation in town claimed he was organic (no certification) and he used Pro-Mix to start all his “organic plants” (it has inorganic fertilizer in the mix- about as far from organic as you can get). I complained. CRICKETS.
We do what we can here but I gave up trying to be a producer for “the market”. I mainly produce show horses (reined cow horses like you see on Yellowstone- a few of my horses came from the 6666 Ranch. One of my stallions won a level of the Snaffle Bit as a 3 year old. It is a tough compettion- find the documentary “Down the Fence”. They are cutters, reiners and run cows down the fence all in one show.) The ranch is then a project to feed the people who help us, occasionally to cover the costs of feed- but this year our goal is to ensure that the WEF is unsuccessful here in SC Texas. Poultry, sheep, cattle- all food. Got rid of our chasing steers and kept only one long-horn.
If my alternative income was as bad as it has been in the past, we would be freaking out. As it is, HIGHLY concerned about where we will find hay. Yes, Ronin- I am a tough bird at this point. We will make it one way or another and carry as much as our community along with us as we can.
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Hope you can find a good source of local hay, don’t know how much volume you need but can always truck that over the mountains.
That is what I am counting on. Thanks, Bahri.