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I am so pleased with my beef.  We have already had some ground beef, cube steaks and steaks and it has all been very tasty!!  I will never buy store bought beef again.  Do you sell eggs?  Also do you know where I can get pasture raised chicken?  Thanks again for the wonderful beef!

Kate 

Mother Earth News.  Here is an excellent web site with many interesting articles.  www.motherearthnews.com

Misleading, or at times downright fraudulent, advertising for processed food products is so widespread, if you believed it all you’d think you could live a long healthy life sustained by little more than Twinkies and McDonalds.

If you’re not already convinced of that fallacy, watch SuperSize Me – a great documentary that shows how eating nothing but fast food for just thirty days will leave you scratching a feeble finger at death’s door.

But let’s get back to the issue of milk, of which there’s also what you could call the “junk variety,” and the Real McCoy.

I’m not at all surprised to find that science does not support claims that low-fat dairy can’t help you lose weight, for the simple fact that healthy weight comes from healthy eating habits. Unfortunately, so many people believe processed low-fat pasteurized dairy is a part of a healthy diet!

Nothing could be further from the truth. While low fat may be appropriate and help weight loss if you are a carb nutritional type, it is my strong belief that you should avoid all pasteurized dairy, and ideally only consume raw grass-fed organic dairy.

“Low-Fat” Milk Makes You Fat – Full Fat Raw Milk Doesn’t

It’s common knowledge among farmers that pigs fed skimmed milk gain weight easily, whereas pigs fed whole milk stay lean. A 2005 study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that this seeming paradox holds true for humans as well. After following almost 13,000 children (ages 9-14 years) for three years, they found that weight gain was associated with drinking reduced-fat and skim milk. However, they also concluded that it wasn’t dairy fat itself that caused the weight gain, but rather the excess calories.

Okay. So wouldn’t drinking whole raw milk have the same effect?

Not necessarily. Because the butterfat in whole raw milk, particularly butterfat in milk from cows that graze freely on green pasture, contains unique nutrients that support thyroid function and help your body develop muscle rather than fat.

Why Won’t Pasteurized Milk Build a Healthy Body Like Raw Milk Does?

Whereas raw milk from grass-fed cows is full of things that your body will thrive on: good bacteria, enzymes, raw fat, and cancer-fighting conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), among other things, pasteurized milk is known to cause all kinds of health troubles, from digestive upset to perhaps even autism and diabetes. 

These ailments, and the even more common problem of lactose intolerance, is not due to milk being an inappropriate food for humans – after all, primitive societies have thrived on milk diets for quite some time -- but rather, the processing of it has turned the milk into something your body can’t optimally use.  www.mercola.com

While these molds can make beef cattle extremely sick and permanently damage them, it really gets scary for consumers with dairy animals.  Alfa toxins can pass through the cow’s milk and is not killed by pasteurization.  Currently dairy is the primary consumer of distiller by products. 

Rosebud had her heifer calf this morning.  We had thunder, lightning, and three inches of rain.  We had been waiting since last Monday for her to calve.   Sometimes it takes a low pressure weather system.  We’ve experienced this several times with other cows and animals.   

Go to www.breezy-hill-farm.com and then What’s New and click on Milk Info.  Then get on our schedule for milk.  

I was recently listening to KCUR and caught Kraske’s Up to Date program.  He had an interesting guest, Dr Mark Liponis.  I am including the URL link so you to can listen to this show.  I ordered one of his books, Ultra-Prevention, from Amazon.  It is a great book on preventive health.  I highly recommend your buying a copy and sharing it with a friend.  I am including few paragraphs from page 130. 

Back when humans were hunter-gathers, our diets contained a 4:1 ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats.  That ration remained constant for eon, and it suitably reflects the makeup of our membranes.  Diets rich in omega-3 fats are associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease.  Once we began to refine oils from plants, we switched to a high omega-6 diet, which accounts for the more than 20:1 ratio previously mentioned.   As a result of our use of refined vegetable oils, we’ve changed the way our bodies work.  This shift is making our bodies malfunction, causing inflammation, dry skin, and increased oxidation---some of the side effects of fat deficiency.

Today some well-informed doctors have started giving omega-3 fats to heart attack patients to reduce the risk of a second attack.  Why?  These fates thin the blood and reduce the stickiness of platelets inflammation, triglyceride levels, and blood pressure, and increase HDL.

After all, when our diet was brimming with these health fats, heart disease was almost nonexistent.  Now it’s the number-one cause of death in the developed world.

http://www.kcur.org/UTDarchive.html

The following is an excellent article by Michael Pollan.  Our raised garden is working just great.  We should have done this two years ago when we first saw the idea at the Small Farmers Gathering held in Columbia, Mo.   Joel Salatin will be at the gathering this year.  He is a must see.  The ACRES convention will be in St Louis this year.  This is another of those great events to learn topics in AG and Health. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

You may want to add Local Harvest to your favorites list.

We have some new photos to add to the web site.  Maybe I’ll get that done this week end.   Yes, we are staying home for the holiday.  We have a wood pile of dead limbs and branches that have accumulated and we traditionally have a wiener roast on Memorial Day.   Going somewhere, just to go, on $4 gas is becoming unattractive.   I guess we are entertaining ourselves as Pollan suggests in his article.

Also, at the Acres USA convention that Debra and I attended in Dec there was a speaker, Jerry Brunetti, who conducted a day long seminar, which I attended.  This guy is incredibly smart regarding both human health and animal health.  We have both of his presentations on a CD.  I have listened to them 4, 5 maybe six times and each time I learn something new.  If you are concerned about cancer and other health issues you should definitely either borrow them from us, or go to www.acresusa.com web site and order the CD’s.   This information needs to be heard.  At the site click on AUDIO TAPES, 2007 CONFERENCE, JERRY BRUNETTI, “10 THINGS YOU SHOULD DO TO PREVENT CANCER” AND “RAISON d”ETRE”.

I just finished Michael Pollan’s latest book, In Defense of Food.  It is an excellent book.  Allan Nation, the editor of Grass Farmer magazine had a good summary in the Feb issue.  I am going to include some of his summary.  I hope this will compel you to get the book and read it.  For those who have access to the Trails Regional library, you can check it out there.  I gave them a copy. 

"Pollan also advises when shopping for food to distinguish between food and food products.  If the label has more than five ingredients or if it has an ingredient that you can’t pronounce, leave it on the shelf.     The best way to eat healthy is to “Shake the hand that feeds you”.  He says consumers should invest in a freezer so they can buy grass-fed meats, and do a little gardening of their own as well.  Particularly, of green leaf plants. "

 Comments from Dr. Mercola.

When I first became aware of grass-fed beef, I was only superficially aware of the importance of omega-3 oils. I have now grown to appreciate that balancing the optimum amount of omega-3 oils is one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy.

If you are not yet familiar with the benefits of omega-3 oils, please review my recent article on the cardiovascular actions of omega-3 oils.

Most nutritionist don't yet realize that it not only the amount, but the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 oils that controls much of our disease and health outcomes.

That is why it is so important to consume animals that are primarily eating grass. These animals will have far lower levels of the potentially dangerous omega-6 oils that nearly all of us have a surplus of.

The practical way to do this is to consume free-range chickens and turkeys and pasture or grass-fed beef. Unfortunately, you cannot buy this grass-fed beef at your local grocery store.

Obtaining free range poultry is relatively straight forward but you must be careful regarding the beef. Many stores will advertise grass-fed beef but it really isn't. They do this as ALL cattle are grass fed, but the key is what they are fed the months prior to being processed.

As this wonderful article explains most all cattle are shipped to giant feed lots and fed corn to fatten them up. I knew this before reading this incredible story, but I now have a far better understanding of the process.

You will need to call the person who actually grew the beef, NOT the store manager, to find out the truth.

The least expensive way to obtain authentic grass fed beef would be to find a farmer who is growing the beef who you can trust and buy a half a side of beef from him. This way you save the shipping and also receive a reduced rate on the meat.

An inexpensive, yet effective way to determine if the meat is really from a grass fed animal is to purchase the ground beef. Slowly cook the beef till done and drain and collect all the fat. Grass fed beef is very high in omega-3 fats and will be relatively thin compared to traditionally prepared ground beef.

It will also be a liquid at room temperature as it has very few saturated fats which are mostly solid at room temperature.

Here is an interesting site that explains how your milk is processed.  I'm sure glad we have our own REAL MILK.  

: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/1/1/does-tainted-milk-cause-crohn-s-disease.aspx

Here is a further detailed breakdown of the 569 lbs. of take home meat.

Chuck - 209.5 lbs total, which is 29% of the dressed/hanging/carcass weight:

Round - 155.8 lbs. total, which is 22% of the dressed/hanging/carcass weight:

Thin Cuts - 134.6 lbs. total, which is 19% of the dressed/hanging/carcass weight:

Short Loin - 115.7 lbs. total, which is 16% of the dressed/hanging/carcass weight:

 Rib - 66.6 lbs. total, which is 9% of the dressed/hanging/carcass weight:

Miscellaneous - 32.7 lbs. total, which is 5% of the dressed/hanging/carcass weight:

Definition of Dry Aged Beef:

·         Forty years ago, most of our beef was dry aged. In the early 1960's the process of vacuum packing beef became the norm for most processors.

·         The advantage of this process was that they could "wet age" the beef in the bag and not lose any of the weight of the beef. Wet aging was much more cost effective for the processors so a weaning of the consumers' taste buds began to occur. Slowly, the consumer forgot what the real taste of steak was.

·         Beef is aged for 7 to 21 days. During this process a crust forms on the outside of the loin, very similar to the texture of beef jerky. This layer is trimmed away, leaving steaks that are superior in tenderness and flavor. During the dry aging process, the juices are absorbed into the meat, enhancing the flavor and tenderizing the steaks.

·         Research from major universities, including Kansas State University, indicates the enhancement of flavor and tenderness occurs in this Dry Aging process. Dry Aged Steaks are very popular in the fine, white linen steakhouses on the coasts.

·         The dry aging process takes special care and requires a relatively large inventory. It is very time consuming and expensive, requiring extra effort, storage and high-quality beef.

·          Up to 20% of the original weight of the loin is lost during the dry aging process. This is why dry aged steak is offered only in fine restaurants, upscale grocery stores and gourmet steak companies.

·         Dry aging occurs while the beef is hanging in a refrigerated cooler, at a specific temperature and humidity, for 10 to 28 days after harvest and prior to cutting.