Beef is Beef….or is it?

Where did my meat come from? How was the animal treated? What was the animal fed and treated with? How was it harvested? Was the meat packaged and stored safely?

These are questions we are asked, they are questions we hear out in the community, and they are questions we see posed in the media. Times are changing, and people want to have a choice of what they eat. They want to know about their meat before they buy it. There is less trust in large corporations, and more consumers are turning to local farms in hopes that they can see up close where their meat is coming from. They want to know how the animals are being raised.

While it is true that “beef is beef” and you will get the same amount of protein from a T-bone steak that comes from Walmart as one from your local farm, there are perks for the consumer when buying from the local farm. Knowing that you are buying meat from farms who raise their cattle in humane, clean, and low-stress environments, knowing that you are supporting your local economy, and knowing exactly how your meat was fed and vetted are all valuable to today’s consumer. And while all beef in the United States is harvested only after the antibiotic withdrawal period has passed, it is reassuring to most consumers that beef from many of your small farms, like ours, was never treated with antibiotics, or growth hormones. We need to be careful with the fear-mongering that happens with meat labeling though - meat being touted as antibiotic free (all meat in the U.S. is antibiotic free when packaged) or hormone free (well, all meat has hormones like estrogen that keeps living things functioning. Plants that we eat (like soy, cereal grains, nuts, etc) have hormones too!) is deceptive. But there are concrete differences in the way animals are raised on small farms vs large feedlot operations. And there is value in the consumers getting a close, personal look at exactly how their meat was raised. That is why we want you to know everything about the meat you buy from us. Buying from us should be a very different experience from buying at a larger grocery where you know very little about the origins of your meat. We want you to ask questions and to know everything there is to know about how your meat was raised.

Here on our farm, if an animal would get sick, we will quickly treat it with antibiotics if that is the appropriate treatment. We never want our animals to suffer. But…that animal is then sold after the withdrawal period and is not used for our meat. We believe in keeping our animals healthy and giving them the medications they need, when needed, but we also do not believe in using those animals for our meat. One of the biggest differences between our farm and other larger feedlot operations is that we work really hard to prevent illnesses so that we rarely need to use medications. As long as our animals are not crowded, they are clean, and we run closed flocks and herds, it is quite easy to prevent illness and disease. We rarely need to medicate an animal because of these protocols we follow.

All of the animals on our farm are grass fed (except for the pigs) and most are grain finished. We are able to tell our customers exactly what their meat was fed, how much, and how often. Those are the details that matter to our customers and make buying from the small farmer different.

All of the animals on our farm are treated well. I am a big animal lover, and my passion is raising healthy, happy animals. Brandon jokes that I take as many pictures of our farm animals as I do of our kids, but I truly love the animals and it shows. The animals are given a life where they are free to live the way they want - outside on pastures, raising their babies, and picking the forages they want to eat. We work with them in a low-stress way, and we have had many many vets marvel at how calm our animals are. You will not find stressed out, unhappy animals on our farm. You will instead find animals with their eyes closed, chewing their cud, and relaxing.

All of our meat is processed and packaged in State Inspected Facilities here in Ohio. That means that your meat has been harvested, packaged, and stored under safe conditions. It has been inspected by state licensed inspectors and has a stamp verifying that. Our farm is also state licensed to sell meat, and we are regularly inspected. Our freezers and coolers are inspected to ensure that they stay cold and your meat is safe. You can feel confident that the meat you are buying from us is safe.

And so yes, “beef is beef,” but there are drastically different ways that the beef you are eating can be raised, fed, managed, and processed. If it is important to the consumer that their beef or lamb lived out happy, contented lives on green pastures, then they likely want to head to their small farms to buy their meat. If they want to know that their beef or lamb never had antibiotics, or extra growth hormones, they may want to talk to their local farmer to see how they feed and vet their animals. Here at DB Farms we believe in transparency and we want our customers to know everything about their meat. Our motto is Better Farming for Your Family and Ours…and we mean it.