The video

As a farmer and rancher practicing sustainable agriculture techniques, it amazes me what other farmers and ranchers will do to raise crops or animals that can be done naturally to a large extent versus a lot of artificial inputs.

Most everyone eats beef, pork and chicken. All are now factory raised. Even dairy cattle are now confined in huge buildings by the thousands and never touch natural grass. Large commercial cattle feed lots using grain were uncommon until the early 1950's. The beef people bought in the store was generally all grass-fed, and very healthy. The exception might be the rancher that raised his own grain and fed the cattle to finish them for 6-8 weeks before selling them to the slaughter plant. At least this grain was natural and probably was what today we might call organic. There was no such thing as medicated feed laced with soda to control stomach acid, and growth hormones. The problems with feed lot finished animals is clear and well documented.

You would not expect the Wall Street Journal to have much to say about the beef you eat except to occasionally report on cattle prices. At this link is an amazing video prepared by the Wall Street Journal on what cattle are fed. They have just exposed the tip of the iceberg. With corn and other grain prices going through the roof, ranchers and feed lots have resorted to feeding all kinds of waste food products to cattle and other animals in our food chain.

Here at the Greer Farm our beef cattle are all grass-fed. The only exception is for those customers that want more traditional grain finished beef. We meet this need by leaving the cattle on pasture and feed an all natural grain that is "all grain"; no medication or hormones. These cattle are on grass in the pasture and grain for six weeks. The beef from this cattle will be more tender and have more fat than the cattle we sell that are all grass-fed. Being in a business, we feel we have to meet our customer's needs and at the same time try to do it in as healthy way as we can so we can stay profitable.

We are contemplating working with Stephen F. Austin University on a pastured port project where heritage breed pigs are raised on pasture. Everyone has seen the ads for pork that call it "the other white meat. Guess what? Pork meat is only white if raised in pork factories where the pigs never leave a concrete pad their entire life and are fed a rich diet of medications, grain and hormones. Pork from pigs raised on pasture, like they were until the late 1950's, is red and healthy with a completely different taste.
We have a lot of hoops to go through before we can start this project, but one of them is ensuring we will have customers for the pork meat at the end of the growing cycle.

Over time, we also hope to raise grass-fed sheep providing to those that desire a more healthy lifestyle lamb meat that is compatible with their health goals. Until them, we only have beef available.

We have sold all of the cattle for beef that we have at this time. In 2009, we will have significantly more available. If you are interested in getting on the list for beef you can trust contact us. If you think you may want to buy lamb or pork, let us know so we can gauge the interest.