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Raising Organic Beef in Central Texas? Advice? https://www.dirtdoctor.com/efl/dirtDoctor/raising-organic-beef-in-central-texas-advice-t3882.html |
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Author: | CCC/cldaustin [ Sat May 29, 2004 9:40 am ] |
Post subject: | Raising Organic Beef in Central Texas? Advice? |
We have two famility 'ranches' outside of Lulling--one is about 500 acres on the San Marcos River, the other is about 500 acres with well water. We are quite serious about raising organic beef on these properties (and leaving corporate America behind!). We've done a fair amount of internet research, but are looking for other Central Texas ranchers who have gone organic or who are considering it. We are looking for info on everything from how many head we could run on that acreage to vets and slaughterhouses. Thanks in advance! Chris |
Author: | Robert D Bard [ Sun May 30, 2004 10:13 pm ] |
Post subject: | organic beef in central TX |
Lots of questions. Do you know the difference between organic beef and grass fed? Grass fed with out chemicals and drugs is heart healthy - contains omega III and CLA - heart healthy and believed to prevent cancer and obesity. Organic is better than store bought but not a lot better. What breed do you intend to use? Large mutants that are tough, no marbling to speak of and don't do well on grass because they were bred to only do well on grain and hard to keep in and hard to handle. Do you know the difference between pure bred and out crossed? PB of any breed will always taste better and if you have to many out crosses you will have fertility problems. Did you know you can raise more beef per acre with small and/or miniature cows. There has been a law suit in the WTO against the US for subsidizing and making cheap grain and creating cheap meat. The US has lost so far - which is good. If they continue to loose, the gov will have to stop making cheap grain. Hopefully this will do away with feed lots and the torture they do to animals and the toxic feed and chemicals they give them. If this happens, the beef industry will have to go back to smaller animals that do well and finish on grass. Who many small animals do you think there are - very few! You can graze at least 2 minis in the space of one big momma cow - sometimes 3 under the right conditions. Do you know any thing about cattle? I understand you desire to get out of the city - we live on 44 acres with access to a total of 51 and I will never go into small town much less than the city, buttttttttttttttttt maybe you should not give up your day job. Can you commute for a while - wife and kids on farm and you commute. This is not a good time to be buing cows because they are not cheap. I will be glad to help you in any way I can. Robert D Bard |
Author: | horseranch [ Mon May 31, 2004 2:39 pm ] |
Post subject: | |
Chris, I'll second Bob's comments about grass-fed versus organic. If you haven't already found them, there are a couple of good websites to check out -- http://www.eatwild.com (on grass-fed meats) and http://www.hrm-texas.org/ (Texas Holistic Management group). While there are a lot of advantages to minis, I have to disagree with Bob that the larger cows are tough and not tasty -- we raised a couple of Charolais cows on our place (organic and grass-fed), and came away with some incredibly good meat. Toughness generally has more to do with age and the animals' stress levels and condition than anything else. The minis do have a lot of advantages -- more efficient feed to meat conversion being a big one -- but they are hard to find. As well as thinking about minis, you might want to look into regualr (non-mini) Herefords and Angus, both of which do well in Texas. On your more specific questions ... before we can make any suggestions about how many head you can run, we need to know the condition of the land. Is it overrun with mesquite? Go walk around and see how much is grass versus weeds -- if it's a lot of weeds, you might add some goats to the mix. What type of soil do you have? How much work are you prepared to put into this? You can run a lot more cows, and have healthier land, if you're doing frequent rotations (moving pastures once a week). I've used a couple of different slaughterhouses in this area, and I've liked Ron Ivy at Taylor Meat the most. I have yet to need a vet for any of our livestock -- we focus on good nutrition, and I know some herbal and homeopathic medicine. Judith |
Author: | user_48634 [ Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:38 pm ] |
Post subject: | |
In your Internet research, did you find the following websites? http://www.rossfarm.com/index.html http://homesteadhealthyfoods.com/index.asp http://www.whiteegretfarm.com/ |
Author: | Brad Watson [ Tue Jun 15, 2004 4:22 pm ] |
Post subject: | |
We have programs for hay and grazing pastures. Our programs work specialy well with rotational grazing practices. Give us a call, we can get you started |
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