Grass Vs. Grain Fed Beef Discussion Turns Ugly

[hobbyfrmr]

This has been an very informative post. I see this reaction all the time. The convetional producer gets all jealous and wants to challenge the direct marketer.
The direct marketer wins. Neighbors are jealous because he has built a relationship with customers, real people who pay more and are pleased by the business from a real farmer producer. Conventional guy calls the customers fools and idiots etc. Those fools and idiots have much disposable income and choose to buy from direct marketer. For 20 years, I have listened to my grain/cattle farming neighbors talk about how stupid the public and consumers are. Its quite fascinating, the exact opposite regard a business person should have for their customers. So, they grow it bulk, deliver to multinationals, take less,then, with all their spare time not studying consumer habits,they envy and criticize thy neighbor. Well done. Class act.

[parsley]

What I experienced, hobby, was a Noticeable
shift in the young people. For twelve years, our
market barn was visited by so many young
couples and university students. They want fresh.
Tasty. And sooooo interested in learning how to
cook new dishes.

Braised. Raw. Grilled. Spicy. Healthy. Today's
young women have shifted from bottle to breast
feeding. From sugar-laden nanaimo bars to fresh
fruit for their kids. They bought black garbonzo
beans and French lentils. Spices and herbs
galore

And of course the "I eat only potatoes and gravy"
shoppers made their views widely heard, many of
them farmers, as they scoffed at the rows of
packages of golden flax, capucijner peas,
flageolet bans or containers of fresh basil and
cilantro pestos. And then asked how to cook
them.

Change unfailingly comes.

And the smart marketer never questions what the
buyer spends their money on, or views them as
uninformed. They ask the buyer. They learn from
them. And hopefully it is a symbiotic relationship

It is their money and their choice.

Congratulations on your focus and success,
grassy. Grass-fed is #1. Pars

[grassfarmer]

Thanks Parsley. Our customer demographic is just
fantastic, nearly all young couples pregnant or with
young kids - making a change because they want the
next generation of kids to grow up with healthier
food and a better diet.
I get a kick when we make deliveries - I meet them in
the parking lot of a big box store in the city. Many
come in SUVs, many shop in the big box stores but
they bring their kids to collect their meat from the
farmer in the parking lot! These kids are being
brought up with this being the new normal - I love
that!

[parsley]

There are voices who say when the giant
wholesaler unloads, it's called marketing, but
when the farmer unloads, it's called pedaling.

Don't let it faze you. That's how we built the
organic industry: one customer at a time. Works
every time. ;< D Pars

[newguy]

Now. Selling beef out of a trunk is a whole differant story than vegtables. The only way you can legally sell beef without going through a federally inspected facility is have a person buy the animal live and have him pay to kill and cut and wrap it. But if you did it that way a resturant could not sell it. So if you are doing it right good for you but hope a bunch of farmers do not get the idea they can sell pieces of meat out of their trunk in a mall parking lot.

[parsley]

Farmers I know have federally inspected
abattoirs on their farms. Pars

[grassfarmer]

Don't worry I'm not selling it out of the trunk of my
car. We get it processed in a provincially inspected
plant and use their reefer truck to deliver it with. Can
drop off $10-12,000 of product in an hour or so and
it only costs me $80 of diesel.

[newguy]

Pars. Do not know of any farmers that have slaughter beef and have a fed inspect. Weyburn's the only place in south Sask that has their meat inspected for resale that I know of. Most places get their inspected meat in from Alberta and cut and wrap here for resale. For some reason inspected slaughter plants in Sask have not lasted and are out of business.

[parsley]

Several close by One public. One private. And
others Further away. Pars

[hobbyfrmr]

I know of two private north of Saskatoon. One is Melanie Boldt, Pineview farms. They sell natural raised meat and poultry and other items. They advertise... to them thar stupid customer people that listen to that thar radio thingy and overpay for her products!!!! A very big success story for Saskatchewan. They started making waaaaay more money that farming so they just rented out their land.
...stupid customers...buying stuff they want, and like....So stupid....

[grassfarmer]

Don't know of any small federally inspected plants -
cost of regulation makes them cost prohibitive -
provincially inspected is the norm. The Saskatoon
place Hobby mentioned is provincially inspected.
Winkler meats is the only federal plant i've heard of in
SK/MB.
As far as I know in AB there is nowhere that does
custom cut and wrap beef at a federally inspected
plant. The Cargill plant doesn't do custom period, the
XL plant (Nillsons) does some custom work for at
least one bigger scale branded beef outfit but it
involves kill and chill only with cryovaced sides or
primals going out to be processed at retail
destination. The Canadian Premium plant at Lacombe
is the only successful upstart federally inspected
plant since BSE in Alberta. They custom kill for a few
branded beef programs but again it is only kill and
chill, cut into primals and shipped out. None of these
plants have the ability to dry age beef so that is a deal
breaker for me anyway.

[newguy]

Weyburn's Western Prime Meats supplies Co-op grocery stores with meat. Most other places buy inspected meat from Alberta and cut and wrap it at their place in Sask to sell. Like grassfarmer said expensive to be a fed. inspected facility. Not sure on Sask provincal inspection facilities and their laws.

[TOM4CWB]

Grassfarmer,

There are 75 CFIA Federally inspected plants in Alberta.

http://active.inspection.gc.ca/scripts/meavia/reglist/reglist.asp

This spread sheet has all the 745 establishments in Canada.

[grassfarmer]

Dream on Tom - here is the short version:

http://active.inspection.gc.ca/scripts/meavia/reglist/
reglist.asp

This was an 2010 list so since then XL bought the
Brooks plant, Sunterra went back to a sheep only
plant leaving 3 as I said.
Cargill, High River
Nillson/XL Brooks
Canadian Premium, Lacombe

[grassfarmer]

Sorry wrong link

http://www.agr.gc.ca/redmeat/rpt/10tbl23_eng.htm