We raise Scottish Highland and Angus cattle
As the saying goes, “when it comes to your health, we are what we eat”. Our animals eat the way their ancestors did. They eat high quality forages on the wide open range, year round. By moving and rotating frequently, they are always getting the most benefit from the grasses that they can, selecting for energy, protein, etc. They are also treated like their ancestors before them. We do not use growth hormones, antibiotics or steroids. The animals live a happy life on the range and are treated humanely.
Our Grass Fed/Finished Beef is known for its excellent marbling!
Our beef is all USDA Graded Choice, High Choice and Prime. It has a sweet, tender flavor. Grass fed beef is also very nutritious, packed with Vitamin B12, B3, B6, Iron Selenium, and Zinc. It is higher than conventional grain fed beef in CLAs, Omega-3s, beta-carotene (precursor of Vitamin A), Vitamin E, Vitamin D, Potassium, Iron, Zinc, and Phosphorous.
Source: “Grass-Fed vs Grain-Fed Beef, What’s the Difference?” By Kris Gunnars
Source: “A Review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef” by Cynthia A Daley, Amber Abbott, Patrick S. Doyle, Glenn A Nader and Stephanie Larson
Scottish Highland and Angus cattle are well suited for Grass Finishing.
These two breeds are well suited for Grass Finishing. The Angus breed is known for it’s marbling and growth. The Scottish highland is amazing at converting grass into delicious beef. Some additional benefits of these two breeds are their muscle structure, docile temperament, maternal instincts, and high quality milk for their babies. An added benefit of the Scottish Highland breed, is their very fine muscle fibers. For example, they are more like “angel hair” vs. other commercial breeds that are like wide pasta. This translates into very tender beef that scores off the charts at pull-apart tests, done by Dr. Bryon Wiegand of the University of Missouri.
Source: “The Rest of the Story” by Janet Steward
They start life at their mother’s side, drinking milk and learning to graze. When the calves are about 7 months old they are weaned from their mother’s so they can prepare for their next calf. The weanlings are kept on high quality forages through the fall and then graze on sorghum stalks in the winter. We also supplement their winter grazing with alfalfa and teff hay that is packed with protein and nutrients.
As spring comes along they go back to grazing pasture and cover crops in the fields. These spring mixes can be highly diverse and consist of barley grass, forage peas, collards, African cabbage, chickpeas, turnips, etc. Summer comes and they are then sent to graze diverse warm season forages including millet grass, sunflowers, collards, okra, chickpeas, mung bean plants, etc. The calves repeat this process another year, until they are approximately 26-30 months of age. This whole process allows the cattle to grow slow and then convert all the high quality forages into tender, juicy, high marbled beef.