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by Ridge Shinn
In the last year I've determined the answers to two questions that are critical to livestock producers all over the country:
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Can producers raise grass-fed and grass-finished beef that is CONSISTENTLY tasty and tender?
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Can producers make a good profit raising grass-finished beef?
The answer to both questions is emphatically YES.
Three years ago I founded a non-profit organization with the mission of linking livestock farmers to high-margin markets. I established relationships with meat distributors, restaurant owners, chefs, co-ops, and other buyers interested in healthy, tasty beef to find out what they were looking for and how much they were willing to pay. It turned out that cost was not the main issue; what they wanted was a product that was consistently high-quality. At the same time, I began sampling grass-finished meat from various producers. The quality was variable, even among samples from the same farm.
A turning point came when I met Gearld Fry, a specialist in reproductive biology of cattle who has forty years of experience in artificial insemination, embryo transfer, carcass ultrasound techniques, linear measuring of livestock, breeding soundness examinations of bulls, and collection of semen. Gearld had developed a system of evaluating live animals to identify those that would thrive on grass only, keep good condition, be reproductively efficient, AND be tasty and tender.
With Gearld's expertise, we were able to select live animals that would produce the qualities we wanted in carcasses. Another important contribution came from Temple Grandin, the animal behavior scientist renowned for designing animal handling systems; from Temple we learned techniques for handling the animal prior to slaughter that are critical to the taste of the meat. Working with animal scientists, a number of New England farmers, and a slaughter house committed to the project, we produced a product we called "Pasture Perfect." Then we brought it to the marketplace.
The buyers clamored for it. Wine Spectator magazine rated our filet mignon the best among samples from five other purveyors selling meat on the internet: Allen Brothers in Chicago, Lobel's Prime Meats in New York, Niman Ranch from California, Omaha Steaks International from Nebraska:
"Here again, the more robust nature of Pasture Perfect's beef made its filets stand out above the others. ..." -- Wine Spectator, November 2002
Articles about our work and the health and environmental benefits of grass-farming followed in House and Garden magazine, American Agriculturalist, and Atlantic Monthly. We were able to return a good price to the farmers but we sold out of our product. The challenge today is to produce enough meat for the vast market demand.
We learned that to sell to the high-margin market, every aspect of production must be done well: the genetic choices (both breed and individual animal), the pregnancy, birth and nursing, the grass management, the animal handling and killing, the aging process, the cutting, the wrapping and labeling. We now know how to produce a consistently great grass-fed and grass-finished product and get a premium price for it.
Of all our findings, the most surprising and significant to the industry is the importance of using animals that are genetically suited for grass-feeding and finishing. The quality of meat, in terms of intramuscular fat and tenderness, is predominantly influenced by the genetic make-up of the animal. The traits that producers need in their animals are variable among breeds and among animals within a breed. In order for livestock farming to flourish in America, we need strains of animals from a number of breeds that will grow quickly on grass (mature in 18 months), will be tender, and will grade choice or better. The animals that will produce this quality meat will also be "easy keepers" and will breed back consistently and have a long productive life.
Last year we took an important step toward reviving livestock farming in the northeast and across the country. Gearld and I, along with Chuck Lacy, who brings extensive experience in the food marketing industry, formed the Bakewell Reproductive Center in order to give livestock producers access to the genetics they need to upgrade for the grass-finished market. We have located and purchased semen and breeding stock that we consider the best available, and are offering it to livestock producers in the U.S. The semen is from six cattle breeds. We imported heifers as well as semen from the Rotokawa herd of Devons from Wanganui, New Zealand.
As Bakewell co-founder Gearld Fry states, "Our purpose and goals are to assist you in creating bulls and a cow herd that is functional on grass, and meat that is tender and tasty. The meat you produce could go into the finest eating establishments in the world. These cattle will reproduce this quality with each breeding and calf born. I have traveled the world and have found a few herds of cattle that never had grain in their life. Their ancestors have not been fed grain in their known past history. The bulls I have chosen are above the minimum standards for performance, volume of meat (muscle), reproduction, and utilization of grass-- and are tender and tasty. Let us not continue breeding and producing the low quality commodity beef we produce today."
The bulls whose semen is available presently from Bakewell can be viewed at our Online Store at www.bakewellreprocenter.com.
Livestock producers across rural America are ready to tap into the high-margin markets, and are willing to invest the time, energy and resources to raise livestock according to the high standards that the market demands. Bakewell has identified a nucleus of key producers who are accomplished stockmen, graziers and husbandmen with whom we will collaborate to recreate herds of cattle that will thrive on our grasslands. Bakewell will use artificial insemination and embryo transfer to create viable breeding units of these high quality animals as quickly as possible.
To provide the vital link between producers of grass-finished beef and the high-quality markets willing to pay a premium price, Gearld Fry, Chuck Lacy and I have also founded Hardwick Beef, which is currently marketing and distributing grass-finished beef.
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