Grass-fed Beef

Recenting I was enjoying a chili, cheese dog at Gibney’s Pub during my lunch break while reading Michael Pollan’s book “Omnivore’s Dilemma.” Not a good idea... I couldn’t stop thinking about all the corn, antibotics, steroids, hormones—and we wonder why our daughters are getting their periods and developing breasts at 10 years of age—and often meat byproducts fed to cattle in the beef industry (did I mention that it was a beef hotdog, smothered in beef chili?) Sickening. To make beef seem even more unappetitizing is the thought of all the run-off fertilizer and manure polluting the Mississippi River and traveling all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. Industrial corn farmers use more fertilizer than the corn can take up and what’s left gets washed away when it rains, right into the water supply.

So begins my journey to not, not eat beef, but to not eat corn-fed beef. I start with an internet search for grass-fed, organic, humane cattle farmers in Georgia. Where do they sell their beef? Should we invest in a chest freezer and buy 1/2 a cow? How much more/less will it cost us to buy only grass-fed beef?

There are several grass-fed cattle farms within a two hours or less drive from Atlanta, many of whom also sell pasture-raised pork, free range chickens and eggs, and organic vegetables. I think for Mr. Man and I the best way to go is to purchase a small chest freezer and then buy 1/2 a cow, perhaps splitting this with another family. Growing up, my mom and grandmother split 1/2 a cow a few times, and I remember going out to the utility room to open the freezer and gaze upon all that packaged meat.

Focusing on farms that have websites, our choices include:
Ford Farm in Cohutta Georgia, which offers 1/2 and whole beef that meets all my criteria (grass-fed, organic—no antibotics, no hormomes, no steroids—humanely raised), for $2.75/lb for 1/2 a cow. With take home weights averaging between 125-190 lbs we can estimate spending around $262.00 per family. That seems like a fair price for a year’s worth of beef. Their beef will be ready for sale in mid to late summer, so I’ve put us on the waitlist.

Nature’s Harmony Farm in Elberton, GA offers grass-fed beef, but doesn’t seem to sell 1/2 or whole, only cuts of beet and they are currently sold out. Too bad because I really like that they are a young couple who left the rat race for a simplier lifestyle.

White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA is a 5 generation, family-owned farm that sells their grass-fed beef at Publix and Whole Foods in Atlanta. So, until we can buy 1/2 a cow, we’ll be able to eat beef without contributing to industrial farming. But this is more expensive so not a long-term solution.