Beef’s Biggest PR Problem Prior to last week’s beef tour, I believed (and am not alone in this belief) that Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) were EVIL.  I had seen pictures of tens of thousands (maybe even millions…mainly joking) of cows stuffed into a tiny yard far too small to let them move.  Then I went on the […]

Creekstone Farms Okay, so I realize I should probably expand on my last blog post.  In all fairness to Creekstone Farms, the part about hurling was about me, not about them. Tuesday was my first trip to a slaughterhouse ever and from what I hear, Creekstone Farms was as good a way to get introduced […]

I didn’t hurl. That’s all I really want to say.

At the plant, we’re going to hear a report from CattleFax… This tickles me. Enjoy.

We just left Winfield Livestock Auction. Great info, nice people, and I got a hat. Good times. Let’s see– important takeaways from the auction house or “sale barn”: 1. Seriously, Justin Brazle was a heckuva nice guy. (Yep, I said heckuva. Deal with it.) He was definitely motivated to make money, but didn’t have the […]

We had to be up at 6:15 this morning to have our bags stowed so we could be on the bus at 7:00 so we could then sit for 15 minutes. Grrr. Not the it comes up much, but I am not a morning person. At least the restaurant serves Tazo Awake tea. Through it, […]

So, I went to my first Concentrated Animal Feed Operation and I have to say I am a bit underwhelmed. In a good way. Muich like California, Pratt Feeders lot seems filled with happy cows. They all had space, food was plentiful, and they had access to water. There wasn’t much shade, but the breeze […]

Something that stuck with me during the tour… We had a backgrounder on the tour bus talking about what he does. (I had no idea but a backgrounder is, conceptually, an intermediate feedlot. Cows are taken to a backgrounder and fed a cheaper feed to add size.) I found his comment interesting. After coming from […]

Now leaving Stucky Ranch. Had a great lunch (courtesy of Fence Post Catering)! Guess what? It was beef! It was really good BBQ beef, beans, spicy chips, and ranch pasta salad with veggies. During lunch, Gordon Stucky spoke about calf weaning (getting a calf off milk) and how to do it as stress-free as possible. […]

Okay, so I am going to try live blogging my Pasture to Plate trip. So far, things have gotten off to a great start. If by great, I mean further revealing that I have a lot of maturing to do. First off, everyone is really nice. The Kansas Beef folks have rolled out the red […]