Thoughts on Labels

Grass-fed. Grass-finished. Pasture-raised. Organic. Antibiotic-free.

Somewhere along the way, these words became the stars of the show, but they don’t tell the whole story.

One of the things I love about social media is that we’ve been able to bring you along with us - from building fences to welcoming calves into the world.
You’ve seen our pastures. You’ve met Rose Gold, Santa Fe, Lollipop, Enola, and the boys. You’ve watched cows getting scratches, worked through the chute, and the whole herd come running the minute someone grabs the feed bucket.

That bucket isn’t replacing forage. It’s about building a relationship with the cows.
If a storm drops a tree across a fence and the cows get out, I don’t want to chase them down. I want the herd of little Dexters to come running because they think somebody brought snacks.

It gives us a chance to look every cow over. Every. Single. Day.
It keeps them familiar with us.
It makes moving them easier.
And it’s really cool to whistle and watch them come running!

So does this mean we can’t use the USDA “Grass-fed” label? Yep.
Does that mean our beef is inferior? Not a chance!

There are other reasons we feed a little, too. Research has shown that giving young calves supplemental feed increases the marbling scores (aka Flavor - more on that later). Additionally, it helps calves learn to eat independently before weaning, which can reduce stress. We’ve also seen that it helps take some pressure off the dams, enabling them to maintain healthier body condition.

We could spend all day arguing over labels.
We’d rather spend that time raising good cattle.

We hope you’ll stick around and watch our herd grow. You’ve probably figured out that we aren’t interested in checking marketing boxes. Rather, we’re interested in raising cattle we know by name, caring for them well, and putting One Owner Beef on your table that we’re proud to serve on ours.

Labels have their place, but they can never replace transparency.

That’s why we’ll always show you what’s in the bucket.

Stay knee-deep in what matters,

Jen