We pasture as long as the weather allows in Castle Rock or Strasburg. When the pasture gets thin in the winter, our beef come to the house where we hand feed grass and alfalfa hay twice a day or they graze our hay fields through the winter. The last 30 to 60 days, we include wheat hay to finish the steers. We've found the wheat hay gives a little sweeter finish to the beef. All of the feed is grow
n by us, so we know exactly what our cattle are eating. If you have not had grass-finished beef, we recommend you try a variety of cuts from Whole Foods. The meat is less fatty, and should only be cooked to rare or medium rare for steaks and roasts. There is a stronger taste than corn-finished beef. All of our customers have raved about the ground meat. The roasts and steaks can be harder to prepare and some find the "gamey" taste in the fat objectionable. We sell beef by quarters, halves or wholes. We try to finish to about 1200 lbs. Our pork is Berkshire which is a heritage breed. The meat is marbled and flavorful. It is not your other white meat. We raise all of our pork at our house, outside in the mud and sun and rain and snow. We leave the babies with their mom until they are 7 to 8 weeks old. Commercial standard is 3 weeks, and some even pull them off at 3 days. They are fed a custom ration from Colorado Soy. They are never fed corn, slop, or ethanol byproducts. They get alfalfa and weeds, and an occasional egg when the chickens are laying. They are happy pigs with room to race and minimal stress. We find the corn-free diet produces a fat that is a little harder and less greasy.We never feed antibiotics, hormones, or other chemicals. Their ration includes Diatomaceous Earth which worms them naturally. We sell pigs by halves or whole. We try to butcher at about 250 lbs, but the range is about 220 to 300. We find that pork is more versatile than beef so we tend to eat more pork than beef. Some years we will also be offering heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Bourbon Reds and Narragansetts free-range at our house and have access to a complete poultry ration. The turkeys will be processed to deliver fresh for Thanksgiving, or we can freeze and hold a turkey for Christmas. Our customers rave about the turkeys because of their rich flavor and juiciness.
