Our Story
At Greener Grazing, we're here to give you peace of mind. There's nothing quite like knowing that your family is eating food that came direct from a farm where we carefully tend each animal to the best of our ability and knowledge. Because we don't want to risk giving you an inferior product, we carefully pick out only the best animals that meet our qualifications and make the cut for the farm. These animals are on pasture as much of the year as possible, and contain a level of nutrient density that is unheard of in the supermarket. They are raised using humane, ethical management practices, and then processed at a local slaughter facility. Each cut is artisanally crafted and packaged to ensure you end up with a product that exceeds your expectations.
In order to give you the nutrition your family needs, we strive to always keep a completely natural growing environment for the livestock. We try to stay in sync with nature, using no artificial hormones and no antibiotics in the meat products we produce. Instead of using herbicides and pesticides, we use the livestock and natural methods to control weed and pest populations. We focus on building and regenerating the soil that our Creator has given us. By rotationally grazing the livestock and returning plant residue to the soil, we are actually increasing the carbon content of the soil, and turning the soil into a carbon sink, pulling carbon back out of the atmosphere and into the soil where the plants need it.
We are 100% transparent, and do our best to educate you about the way we do things. No greenwashing or deceptive labeling here. What you see is what you get.
We are confidant in, and stand behind the products we offer. If at any time you are not 100% satisfied with your order, please contact us and we'll make it right.
Our Beef
Integrity is tops at Greener Grazing, and we are 100% transparent about the way we feed our animals. No green-washing or deceptive terminology. Our Black Angus cattle are raised on a forage-based diet for their entire lives. Because we don't have any mother cows, we get our calves from another local farmer named Peter. The calves are born in the spring on pasture at the time of year when everything is coming to life. Because of the natural environment and Peter's amazing management, disease in the calves is virtually eliminated. He very rarely needs to use antibiotics, and then only to save the life of a calf. If a calf does receive antibiotics, that calf is sold through a different market and does not come to us. The calves spend the summer on pasture with their moms, and by fall they are 600 - 700 pounds. This is when Peter weans them using his proven, low-stress weaning method. He sorts the calves out from the cows, and then moves the cows to a new pasture, leaving the calves behind in the home pasture that they have grown up in. Moving the cows to the new pasture rather than moving the calves really decreases the stress for the calves because they don't need to learn a new home, where to find water, etc. on top of the stress of weaning. If we can spread out the stresses rather than piling them all on at one time, the cattle remain in much better health. For about two months around weaning time (7-8 mo. of age) while still on pasture, the calves have access to some grain screening pellets. Grain screenings are essentially the hulls and chaff that is left behind when the grain is cleaned. This results in a supplement that is high in fiber, and aids digestion in the diet switch at weaning. Once they are well adjusted to the hay diet, the screening pellets are removed.
Using this method to add some fiber over weaning time seems to help in increasing overall digestive health in our animals, and if there is any concern about effects of the screening pellets on the meat (we don’t have any evidence to suggest this) this concern is nullified by the fact that the cattle are on a diet consisting of only forages for about a year before getting processed. This removes any possible effects of the grain screenings.
Over winter, the cattle are fed hay in a winter pasture, and then in the spring we bring them onto the pastures where we finish them.
While being finished, the cattle are moved to a fresh section of grass every day to ensure they have fresh grass available all the time. Using this method, we can return a lot of organic plant residue to the soil, massively increasing organic matter and carbon levels in the soil. This is important for a few reasons. First, we are pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and depositing it back into the soil, reducing carbon in the atmosphere. Second, we are building soil structure, which increases water infiltration, reducing erosion and surface runoff. This keeps the water where we need it, rather running away carrying topsoil along with it. Third, we are building biology in the soil. This is a big part of soil and grass management. We want to promote as many forms of life as we can in and around the soil and plants, because the different forms of life create symbiotic relationships that benefit the whole system, ultimately coming to you as a consumer in the form of healthy meat products.
In the fall when the cattle are 16 - 20 months of age, they go to a local slaughter facility where they get ethically processed and artisanally hand cut and packaged. From here we take the beef to our freezer and ship it out to you.
Our beef is as natural as you can get, and has a level of nutrient density you can’t find anywhere else. It’s high in omega-3 fatty acids, as well as conjugated linoleic acid, which is known to provide resilience against cancer and obesity.
On top of all this, you will find that our beef is as tasty as it is healthy. This is why, year after year, our customers continue to trust us to supply supply them with high quality meat products they can feel comfortable feeding to their families.
Organic, free of artificial hormones, and raised in a natural environment to ensure you can enjoy great taste and quality without feeling uneasy about how your food was raised.