80 years behind the times, but way ahead of the curve.
Our Practices
Raised in Kindness
As our animals are raised in their natural environments, they are treated humanely, or as we like to say, "Humanely Raised by Mainly Humans". We know that humanely treated animals have the best chance of reaching their full potential, both physically, emotionally and mentally. These full potential cattle, hogs and lambs provide great tasting meat much more easily and consistently. They are much less stressed and you know how stress affects you physically.
Purposeful Nourishment
Our animals eat what nature has to offer. We have consciously cultivated our land to provide the best nourishment for our animals. We have planted a variety of ten non-GMO grasses, alfalfa, and legumes across our pastures to provide a range of available grasses for our animals during the warmer months.
Winter Nourishment
Because we are satisfied with our combination of grasses, we either rotationally mow and bale our own hay or employ a process called stockpiling (leaving certain paddocks ungrazed) so our animals can consume the same quality pasture in the winter or when snow, ice, drought or whatever else may prevent access to the grasses.
Pasture Fertilization
Our fertilization is accomplished by natural means: cow manure, which returns 80% of the nutrients they eat to the soil, tramping vegetable matter into the soil (decaying plant matter is a super source of nutrients for the soil), and applying crushed rock for minerals.
Insect & Parasite Control
Insect control is accomplished naturally by encouraging our natural bird life to flourish, chickens, rotational grazing which keeps our pastures at reasonable heights, and cutting and bailing.
We graze our sheep and cattle together or one after the other. This process helps keep to a minimum the ingestion of parasites which can infest the lower level of the pasture grasses.
Anyone can be an example…
Sometimes they’re just a bad one. When feeding cattle, hogs and sheep, it is tempting to substitute grain, grain byproducts, meat and meat byproducts, drugs, chemicals, feedlot or confinement for grass, pasture and timber. The reason? Growing grass-fed beef, pastured pork and grass-fed lamb is inefficient by today's standards. But efficient food is not necessarily a good meal, nor is it necessarily healthy for the family.
Looking at a grass-fed beef, pastured pork and grass-fed lamb website, you may be concerned, as are many others, that this nation's meat supply might not be all that it could or should be and too much of what it shouldn't be. I believe you may be justified in your concern. Many of America's health problems are a result of a poor diet. Attadale Farm and our products all started for my benefit, but is available to you as well. Not everyone will develop food related physical problems, but everyone can enjoy the great tasting, documented nutritional and flavor advantages available in our products.
How do we work? It’s simple. We take care of those that take care of us.
Beef FAQs
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The difference between grass-fed and grain-fed is extraordinary. Cows are designed to eat grass. Their 4-chamber ruminant stomach is made just for that. They can eat other things but they cannot process it properly or receive the nutrients they need.
When eating grass only, the fat of a cow becomes a balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6. That is ideal. When grass is taken away and only grains like corn are given, the balance is gone and they become excessively high in Omega-6. That is not good for them or those who consume that meat. Cows also lose or have a significant drop in many vitamins available in their meat when fed grain. Their stomachs are not designed to eat that way and therefore it does not make it throughout their body.
Fat on a grass-fed cow will be yellowish or golden in color. That is a result of them eating carotene in the grasses. Grain-fed cows have snow white fat. They are lacking many worthwhile nutrients.
Grain-fed cows are generally given antibiotics. This stimulates growth and makes the cows grow bigger, faster. There is no benefit to the cow or the consumer for doing this. The benefit comes from being able to sell a bigger cow, faster. Eating animals raised on antibiotics should be avoided. Our grass-fed cows are not given antibiotics. The beef from our cows is flavorful, juicy and tender. It has not become like Tofu through muscle manipulation by drugs.
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There are a number of different terms people like to use to try to describe the way they raise their beef. People are so clever that any of the terms can be used to hide the truth. Terms like grass-fed, grass-finished, natural, pastured, vegetarian, grass-fed grain-finished and many others are used.
Cows are ruminant animals. The best way to feed a cow is for it to eat only grasses, legumes like clover and alfalfa. It is never good to feed a cow grains such as corn, oats, barley, etc. So, a farmer should finish a cow the same way they start the cow, in the pasture. Is that grass-fed? Sure. Is it grass-finished? Sure. But, feeding a cow grass and then feeding it grain is not good, but technically it has been grass-fed. Finishing a cow on grass is good, but feeding it grain before you finish it on grass is not good either. Did they finish it on a hay bale on the way to the processor in the trailer?
Forget the terms and look for what is done. You must visit the farm to know for sure. We feed the cows only our pasture or bales of alfalfa if our pasture is depleted or covered in ice or snow.
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We have about 14 varieties of grasses and legumes in our pastures. Our cows will only graze on this, eat it after it has been cut and baled or on alfalfa. There is plenty of protein and nutrients in all of those. They never receive grain or grain byproducts. By rotating the cows through the paddocks, their manure is evenly spread and many of the nutrients are returned to the soil.
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Our cows are the Galloway breed. They are one of the oldest original breeds of cattle that exist. They originated in Scotland and have not been crossbred to try to breed in other characteristics. They are moderate in size and therefore do not consume a lot of energy just staying alive and walking around. The stomachs are fat and can hold large quantities of grass which helps them grow. They have two hair layers, the outside is long and repels snow and ice. The inside is soft and fluffy and keeps them warm when other breeds freeze. They will lose the extra hair coat in summer to help keep them cooler.
Being moderate size, their cuts of steaks and roasts are moderate in size as well. It is easier to produce recommended portion sizes for the meals. They calve easily and are good mothers. They are not aggressive and would rather avoid interaction than promote it. We are so pleased with our Galloways that we would never cross breed them with another breed.
Most importantly, their meat is tender, nutritious, juicy and very flavorful.
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Let’s put it this way first, if you cook your grass-fed beef the same way you cook store bought beef and they turn out the same, you do not have grass-fed beef.
We’re not trying to be rude, but chemically it is impossible for grain-fed and grass-fed beef to be cooked the same and get the same results. Grain-fed cows are fed grains like corn, oats, wheat, soy, and so on. When cows eat grain, their saturated fatty acid ratio runs quite high in Omega 6 to Omega 3. It can be as high as 30:1. The ideal, healthy ratio is 1:1. A 100% grass-fed cow has a saturated fatty acid level balanced between Omega 3 and Omega 6. It is 1:1.
Chemically, Omega 6 has a high smoke, burn or flash temperature. It takes more heat and time to burn or break down that fat. Therefore, a grain-fed steak can be cooked longer and hotter before drying it up and making it tough.
Grass-fed Omega 3 fat has a low smoke or burn temperature. It is much more sensitive to heat damage and will become dry and tough sooner.
So, yes, our grass-fed beef must be cooked differently than grain-fed beef. Aim for 30% less time and 50 degrees lower temperature. If you don’t take this seriously you will be very disappointed in your grass-fed steak and blame the cow when it is not to blame.
We have a grass-fed beef cooking instruction guide we would gladly pass on to you. Please request one and we will send it to you.
Pork FAQs
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Hogs are mono gastric like humans and therefore have only 1 stomach. They cannot survive on grass alone. Living outdoors and in our timber gives them access to a variety of food sources. They will eat rodents, bugs, worms, berries, leaves, tree bark, eggs and more. Our hogs are also provided a non-GMO feed to help fill in where the timber may lack. We do not ring them so that they can root naturally for food. We rotate our hogs through 4 large timber sections to keep the undergrowth plentiful and our trees protected.
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The term natural pork really only refers to the process used at the time of packaging a product such as pork. It does not mean the pork was raised outdoors or in a pasture. It only means that certain additives were not added at the time of packaging. Instead of looking for “natural” meats or products, it is best to look for products that are raised as they should be. In the case of pork, that the pig was raised outdoors in an area in which they were created to live and had access to foods that pigs should be eating. This is why the product called pastured pork tastes and looks so much better than pork from hogs raised inside, in confined areas that only provide artificial floors and lighting. Happy pigs are tasty and nutritious pigs
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Antibiotics and growth stimulants are absolutely unnecessary and are only a University contrived mechanism to speed up growth cycles and run animals through faster for more income. Every day you speed up the growth cycle artificially is one day further away from quality. There is always a trade off with drugs. The trick of the commercial industries is to try to figure out at what level their products are good enough. We have never used that standard and never will, regardless of price.
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We have raised the Hereford Hog breed exclusively. Interestingly, it originated in the La Plata, Mo area and is considered a heritage breed. .The primary reason we stick with the Hereford Hog is that we receive many compliments on the product. That has to surpass all other reasons.
But, we have also noticed that they are a more gentle breed, are not overly destructive, are good mothers, decent sized, not prone to sickness, are pleasant to look at and do well in our environment.
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We have found that cooking pastured pork is very similar to cooking other pork raised differently. Cutting back on the heat and time a little may provide an added measure of juiciness and tenderness. It is not as sensitive to cooking styles as is grass-fed beef. Grass-fed beef requires a marked reduction in time and temperature. Pork, not so much. You can always make minor adjustments to satisfy your tastes.
Lamb FAQs
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Feeding grass-fed sheep is much like feeding grass-fed cattle. They spend their life in the pasture eating the very best pasture we can provide. There are no suitable drug induced shortcuts or trick plans. It requires time and quality grasses.
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Age will add a lamb-y flavor to sheep. Technically, mutton is any lamb over 1 year old. The possibility of that flavor increases as their age does. Older sheep have a mutton flavor. Many like it. Probably even more don’t. We will process our lambs at one year or less. We strive for a mild flavor that many people prefer and enjoy.
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We have a couple of different breeds. Our favorite is the Horned Dorset. Succumbing to progress, the Dorset has been cross-bred to achieve more size. The breeding did away with the horns and its ability to breed year ‘round. It also imparted some of the nature of the other breed into it. Of course, not all Dorset were cross bred so there still are Horned Dorset. I like the natural, original horn. I also like the ability for them to lamb year ’round. The Horned Dorset has a natural, elegant, style to its look and character that I appreciate.
We also have some Cheviot sheep and some cross breeds that do well for us too. Ultimately, our goal is customer satisfaction.
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Generally, you do not need to make any great changes to your cooking techniques when cooking our grass-fed lamb products. Though it is balanced 1:1 between Omega 3 and Omega 6, lamb has a little more fat and will not be depleted as quickly if over cooked. But, as in grass-fed beef, remember that Omega 3 has a lower flash, smoke or burn temperature than Omega 6 so it is more sensitive to overcooking than grain fed lamb. You can’t un-cook lamb. It is always easiest to potentially under cook our lamb and then cook it a little longer if you want. It won’t take long for you to get it right where you want it.
We have a grass-fed cooking instruction guide we would gladly pass on to you. Please request one and we will send it to you.
