Certified Angus Beef ®’s Post

🌟 **Connecting People: From Data to Dirt** 🌱 By day, I’m all about connecting people with data, creating solutions that drive efficiency and innovation. But when the sun sets, my true passion takes root in connecting people with something even more fundamental: high-quality, sustainably-grown food. At **Benny Boy Farm**, we believe in the power of regenerative farming practices to not only nourish our communities but also heal the land we depend on. Every chicken we raise, every harvest we gather, is done with the intention of creating a healthier, more resilient food system. If you’re passionate about where your food comes from and how it’s grown, I invite you to join our journey. Learn more at [bennyboyfarm.com](https://bennyboyfarm.com) or follow our daily farm adventures on Instagram. Together, let’s cultivate a future where the connections we make enrich our lives and our planet. 🌍🌾 #RegenerativeFarming #SustainableAgriculture #Community #BennyBoyFarm

🐰 Why does the Easter Bunny exist? With Easter this weekend, I'd like to promote a theory backed by anecdotal evidence and surface-level internet research. Hint: #sustainableagriculture Was the Easter Bunny was invented by the carrot mafia to drive demand for surplus carrots? Follow the money. 🥕 Let's look at the evidence: March and April are peak carrot harvesting season... Think about it. 🥕 🥕 🥕 I became suspicious when, for the third year in a row, our farm share delivered an excessive amount of carrots in early spring. Mountains of carrots (pictured). This week when I picked up carrots, we had 5 (!) pounds. Surplus carrots towered in crates outside the pick-up site at the local church - extras that the farm donates to food pantries in the Boston area. These carrots are grown in the Connecticut River Valley and delivered to pick-up points for consumers in Boston. Carrots are one of the few super harvestable crops this time of year in New England. If you eat the seasonal foods of the northeast, you eat carrots in the spring. To use our carrot surplus, we get creative in the kitchen. Carrot dip, carrot soup, carrot kombucha, carrot pizza... It goes on. DM me for recipes. "Big Ag" and the carrot mafia invented the Easter Bunny to juice carrot demand at peak supply. It's a convenient excuse to move the surplus. When life gives you carrots, bake carrot cake! #greeneconomy #sustainability

Folks, as I mentioned earlier, everyone should think quality over quantity when it comes to breasts (as you will regret the feeling the next day for many reasons). Thus, I am reiterating my recommendation to SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS when it comes to purchasing quality "Chicken Breasts" (and hopefully that is how you interpreted my first sentence before reporting me to LinkedIn). And although most farms do not have my preferred types of breasts, I always recommend to search for "corn-free" and "soy-free" poultry which are available at selected farms. I like purchasing from a variety farms, so I am trying these soy-free chicken breasts from Buy Ranch Direct (https://lnkd.in/gxCPxHbD) as they are a cooperative of family-owned & operated ranches in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. And per their representatives, they do not feed their poultry or pork any corn or soy. Again, I recommend for everyone to support their local farmers as they work hard to put REAL FOOD on our plates. And ESPECIALLY during these times in which the democratic vegans are attempting to improperly shut down all farms in the US (while promoting fake "plant-burgers" and even lab-grown meat), we all MUST support our local farmers as they put REAL FOOD on our plates! Eat meat, train every week, FJB, and again, please stay away from the jabs/boosters for the sake of your own health. MAGA 2024! #MeatHeals #FJB #FKH #VoteTrump2024 #MAGA2024 #VoteBrandlin2026

Is there a farmer inside you?  Whether you live in the heart of the urban city, the tropical beaches of a remote island, or the wide-open plains of the Midwest, the natural farmer's spirit resides in all of us. Instinctively, we know that learning to live off the land is how our ancestors survived and how our modern-day society continues to thrive. But our primal connection to food has been increasingly distanced over the last few generations as we lose touch with where our food comes from. Yet, if you want to raise healthy kids, or for that matter, a healthy society, we need to shorten the distance between how our food is produced and how we decide what to eat. Unraveling the mystery and complexity of the industrialized food process can be overwhelming, particularly regarding meat, poultry, and seafood. I'm a big believer that the health of our food system depends on having a strong, stable layer of small family farms. These hardworking, independent family farms have served as the backbone of our country for hundreds of years. However, they're facing an increasingly tough environment with climate issues, volatile economic cycles, and the threat of extinction by industrial giants.  When it comes to considering the future of food, there are two organizations I trust greatly: Niman Ranch and Food Tank. Started in the early 1970s as a family-owned cattle ranch in Bolinas, CA, Niman Ranch developed the largest networks of small, independent U.S. family farmers and ranchers—600 and growing—who raise livestock humanely and sustainably to deliver some of the finest-tasting meat in the world. Their values around sustainable and humane agricultural practices, strict animal welfare protocols, and no antibiotics or added hormones have made them one of the most respected providers in the industry. As a global non-profit community working towards positive transformation in how food is produced and consumed, Food Tank is a research and advocacy organization that educates, advocates, and collaborates with local partners to amplify on-the-ground solutions. So, you can imagine my excitement when I was asked to be the keynote speaker at their annual Hog Farmer Appreciation Celebration, co-hosted by Niman Ranch and Food Tank. This event will take place in Des Moines, Iowa, from August 24 to 26, 2024. #food #grocerystores #supermarkets #foodretail #farming #ranching #cattle #beef #stores #families #farmers #farm #familyfarm

On this Giving Tuesday I hope you will consider a donation to the ECSGA. We work hard to ensure you can continue to grow. In spite of all of the successes we have had, we saw a disturbing decline in dues revenue this year. Please consider renewing your dues early and making a contribution to our political action fund to ensure we end the year in the black and can continue to support your farm. And if you know someone who should be a member, pass this along. We would love to see more than 17% of shellfish farmers support our work. You can join online with a credit card or PayPal or download a form and mail in a check. Paying now ensures new members are paid through 2024. ·     We published a revised Best Practices Manual to give growers the tools to educate employees, regulators and customers about the steps they are taking to protect the environment and work in harmony with other users of the marine resources. ·     In 2022 we passed a bill through Congress making aquaculture workers who qualify for state workers compensation exempt from the Jones Act, protecting employers from unlimited liability lawsuits brought by injured employees. ·     We worked with a broad coalition to ensure shellfish growers were eligible for free, weather-related disaster relief through the Farm Service Agency’s ELAP program. ·     We serve as your advocate to ensure that the FDA and the ISSC don’t cripple our firms with unworkable regulations. ·     We continue a decade-long effort to rationalize the regulations associated with the interstate transport of seed and established hatchery certification protocols. (Visit RSSBP.org for details) ·     We formed the East Coast Breeding Consortium and secured continuing funding for a team of USDA-ARS geneticists and NOAA scientists working to improve oyster disease resistance. ·     We serve as a point of contact for dozens of media inquiries annually, ensuring that reporters get accurate information about food safety and our efforts to reduce illnesses. ·     We analyze hundreds of pages of Federal Register announcements and responded to requests for comment to ensure that regulatory agencies understand our concerns. ·     We provide timely information through our website, newsletter and LISTSERVE.   You need us and we need you. We hope you will support our work and encourage  your friends to join by spreading the word about what we do. Bob Rheault ECSGA Executive Director (401) 783-3360 [email protected]

It's Farmer Friday again - thought I'd share why we decided to raise pigs the way we do 👉 in the forest. Pigs are smart. Scary smart. Heritage pigs like these? On a whole notha level. That's why my hubby and I can't fathom the way that most farmers raise pigs these days. In small little muddy pens - no stimulation, fed as much as possible to grow them as quickly as possible, pumped full of antibiotics. I get it, there's a lot of people in the world to feed. Bacon is delicious. But since we are lucky enough to have the land to grow for ourselves, we felt their living conditions could be better, much better. So off my hubby went to create an acre paddock for them in the woods. What we witnessed was incredible. These pigs had an intricate highway through the bush all leading to different spots they favoured. The sunny grassy area where they would chill, the muddy bog where they would roll around and a hidden path to the den they made under a bunch of fallen logs with grass they scavenged for bedding. These pigs were wild - they'd probably eat ya if you weren't careful. I mean they grew to 350lbs each eventually. I think it's so important to understand where our food comes from and to grow everything, whether it's veggies, eggs or meat, the most natural way possible. These pigs we raised did go 'off to market' but they were happy, healthy and free for their entire lives. __________________________ I love to share stories about my farm - have questions? DM me and let's chat! #thebarefootfarmstead #farmerfriday

While many people can conjure up romantic visions of a Montana ranch — vast valleys, cold streams, snow-capped mountains — few understand what happens when the cattle leave those pastures. Most of them, it turns out, don’t stay in Montana. Even here, in a state with nearly twice as many cows as people, only around 1 percent of the beef purchased by Montana households is raised and processed locally, according to estimates from Highland Economics, a consulting firm. As is true in the rest of the country, many Montanans instead eat beef from as far away as Brazil. Here’s a common fate of a cow that starts out on Montana grass: It will be bought by one of the four dominant meatpackers — JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill and Marfrig — which process 85 percent of the country’s beef; transported by a company like Sysco or US Foods, distributors with a combined value of over $50 billion; and sold at a Walmart or Costco. Any ranchers who want to break out from this system — and, say, sell their beef locally, instead of as anonymous commodities crisscrossing the country — are Davids in a swarm of Goliaths. “The beef packers have a lot of control,” said Neva Hassanein, a University of Montana professor who studies sustainable food systems. “They tend to influence a tremendous amount throughout the supply chain.” For the nation’s ranchers, whose profits have shrunk over time, she said, “It’s kind of a trap.” Cole Mannix is trying to escape that trap. Like members of his family have since 1882, he grew up ranching: baling hay, helping to birth calves, guiding cattle into the high country on horseback. He wants to make sure the next generation, the sixth, has the same opportunity. So, in 2021, Mannix co-founded Old Salt Co-op, a company that aims to upend the way people buy meat. While many Montana ranchers sell their calves into the multibillion-dollar industrial machine when they’re less than a year old, never to see or profit from them again, Old Salt’s livestock never leave the company’s hands. The cattle are raised by Old Salt’s four member ranches, slaughtered and processed at its meatpacking facility, and sold through its ranch-to-table restaurants, community events and website. The ranchers, who have ownership in the company, profit at every stage. It would have been much simpler for Old Salt to open just a meat processing facility, as some ranchers have, and not bother with restaurants and events. But Mannix said that would not have addressed the other issue that ranchers face: difficulty accessing distributors and customers. “It doesn’t matter if you have a nice processing facility if you can’t sell the product,” he said. “You can’t rebuild the food system by just throwing a bunch of money at one component of that food system.

A new piece in The New York Times about ranching in Montana raises several issues. Montana cannot support a grazing herd year-round. However, it does have areas with lush summer pastures. So, it can support fattening operations for four months of the summer when the grass supports grazing. Sometimes ranchers buy and fatten the cattle, but more often they rent their pastures to others and are paid a rental fee or a payment based on the weight gain of the herd at the end of the summer — this is a more accurate reflection of pasture quality and value. Very few beef calves spend their entire life in Montana. The last USDA approved slaughterhouse for interstate commerce in Montana closed at least 30 years ago. Since then, ranchers tried unsuccessfully to finance one themselves. Smaller mobile slaughter units can be used, but the meat cannot leave the state. Even a small mobile slaughterhouse can depress local beef markets. So, yes, most of the meat consumed in Montana is not slaughtered there though some portion of it may have spent part of its life there. But meat consumed in Montana is still from the US. I doubt that locals eat beef from Brazil; Canada, maybe.

During May, VERMONT FRESH NETWORK's Gold Barn Month in Vermont, we want to recognize some of our partners who make our ability to serve local possible. Featured commitments are one tool that we use to strategically drive local and regional food spend. We work with our distributors 6-12 months in advance to commit to purchasing a set amount of each product on a weekly basis, most of which are automatically shipped to our kitchens. We'd like to introduce or reintroduce you to our Local Beef Program with Black River Meats. Read more about our featured commitments at https://lnkd.in/gERPgh9w In an addition to the decades old Black River Produce company, the group created a state-of-the-art meat processing facility in 2014. This facility helps keep Vermont raised beef in the local economy by processing it right here in the state, and assures farmers have a reliable market for their beef. Black River requires all participating farms to follow humane animal and sustainable crop management practices. Our Commitment: Through our partnership with Black River Meats, our campuses commit to using local ground beef each month. Before the start of the program, campuses across the state were purchasing 8% of their ground beef products from local sources, in review of our FY23 spend, statewide, that number is up to 17.2%!

How Long Does It Take To Raise Broiler Chickens To Market Weight? The time it takes to raise broiler chickens can vary depending on several factors, such as the breed, feed, and desired market weight. However, here is a general outline of the typical growth stages and timeframe for raising broiler chickens: 🐔. Hatching to Brooding (2 weeks): 2 weeks -Chicks hatch and are placed in a brooder with heat, light, and feed. 🐔. Brooding to Grow-out (2-3 weeks): 2-3 weeks - Chicks are moved to a larger area with more space and feed. 🐔. Grow-out to Market Weight (4-6 weeks): 4-6 weeks - Chickens are grown to market weight, typically between 3-5 lbs (1.4-2.2kg). In total, it takes around 6 weeks (1.4months) to raise broiler chickens from hatching to market weight. However, some breeds or production systems may take longer or shorter periods. #broilergrowth #backyardfarming #chickenkeeping #repost #chickenbreed #agribusiness #support #farmlife #youth