Want to really live in a rural-suburban homestead? Now you can...

How to get your own library of rural-suburban lifestyle books...

another gorgeous fall sunrise - with fog

Just taking a break from all my other work. Because you deserve to hear this announcement...

I've been finding and editing classic books (and some more modern ones, too) which tell you how you can be prepared, homestead, or simply learn the skills your grandparents and theirs knew about how to survive and thrive with what you have.

These cover a fairly broad area, but some of the niches include:

• gardening
• organic and natural farming
• dogs and horses, training and care.
• farm outbuildings - how to build shacks, shanties, and barns
• farm mechanics - how to fix or build about anything.
• preparedness - first aid, survival techniques
• etc.

And I'm going to start publishing them here so you can share in these discoveries.

Meaning, you can start eating better quality food, preparing it in healthier ways, finding natural ways to improve your health, and live better than ever before. (Well, at least you'll have the option. Your mileage may vary...)

This means I'm expanding Worstell Farms beyond quality Missouri grass fed beef.

I also operate Midwest Journal Press as it's director. My "day job", so to speak.

And while I can service maybe a dozen or so clients who can drive inside Missouri to pick up my beef, I can also help people internationally with references and material that enable them to improve their lives by living more in harmony with Nature - specifically, getting to understand natural laws and principles.

This means all the areas above.

You see, I've found out that there are a heckuva lot of books which have never been re-published or promoted properly. And some great books are available only as overpriced textbooks when the material itself is in the public domain.

Since I've studied up on how to find these books and publish them, you benefit by being able to get both the ebook version for your smartphone/phablet/ereader - or get the print edition (without having to pay an arm, leg, first-born, etc.)

It's some work, but seems to be worth it - as people want to buy these books. (There's one book on grazing which everyone refers to, but no one has ever set up an online course to train people straight from the facts he set out in 1959.)

So I'll be able to get these books and enable you to read, study, and apply them to improve your life - wherever you live, even if it's not on a farm.

You've already seen me post one book on this ("Domestic Animals" by Richard Allen.) Look for more shortly (there will be about 50 of them here, with many more in the pipeline.)

And that's the news today.

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Why our prices haven't gone up like everyone else.

Because we don't feed corn - and our costs haven't (really) gone up.

 (photocredit: LandingMemo)

The point is to provide real value.

And that's not just limited to some of the best-tasting beef you can find for wholesale prices. It's treating people like family, or better. (We're working constantly to improve on that point.)

We're looking to get regular clients. That's more valuable than getting everything sold from year to year. Our prices are decent enough we don't have to rely on the auctions.

At this point, we have another value to add - prices lower than average, and higher quality than any supermarket. Plus you know where it comes from and you can visit to find out exactly how we raise them.

Sure, I don't get all the pictures, and stories, and videos up for you. Running a cattle farm keeps you more than busy. We're transitioning to only raising beef (don't need grain for anything much) and otherwise, working to put in permaculture everywhere else. At least I could get this blog post out.

Again, doing this just drops the cost of everything. The cattle do their own cultivation, fertilizing, and harvesting. Turning everything to meat. For you and yours.

Corn-feeding farmers have the problem of high corn prices (and beef that's as tasteless as chicken.) The drought messed up a lot of good pastures for the last few years, which has put a dent in the number cows available.

Meanwhile, China and other countries have improved their quality of life (so much so that some manufacturing is returning to Mexico and the U.S.) Their higher pay has them reaching for more beef. And their fears of Avian and Swine flu has them dropping the demand for chicken and pork.

Unfortunately, the drought has also raised prices on all sorts of other foods.

So we are all suffering under increased food budgets.

Meanwhile, the cost of our farming business hasn't gone up that much. We still buy hay and fencing supplies, but those haven't increased too badly.

Instead of just becoming another profiteer, we've simply kept things the same. 

The reason? To be able to keep regulars on board, to treat them fair, as well as we do our family.

We always have the auction as a back up. Especially these days - even through they'd rather have all-black, instead of our striped ones.

Our concentration is to keep this herd paying its way. They are to cover the entire costs of the farm, make it sustainable from here on out.

You'll note that I've taken the contact form down. Because I'm getting way too many new people coming my way. If I were just selling digital books, this would be fine. But we only raise about 10 steers a year, and that just goes so far.

We're extending the privilege of  being able to process your own beef and share it with your friends and family. That's the law.

So you buy a share (or whole) from us and then pay your processor when you pick up your meat. Simple. We take care of raising it for about 2 years.

Your welcome.

So - if you haven't already signed on with us, then send me an email. Or call me - and then send me an email. All that info is on the contact page.

But our prices don't have to change now. Your choice.

Face Rising Meat Prices Except Wholesale

Watch Your Wallet: Meat Prices will just continue to rise.

The trick is in getting wholesale meat online, particularly in local markets such as Fulton, Columbia, or Jefferson City. But the reasons have everything to do with how our markets operate.

Enduring 2 years of drought have proved to be hard on both cattle ranchers and corn farmers. Of course, this has driven up the prices of supplements. Grass fed beef graziers have only had half of this problem. But even they have the problem of requiring closely managed pastures, because the grass they live on - unless properly managed - is under extreme stress and won't regrow at any speed with lack of moisture and increased heat. 

"This appears to be a long-term spike because we've seen a reduction in the mother cow herd in the United States, and with that there's no calves for next year so we look to see this to go on for a long time," said Jack Lavers, President, Kern County Cattleman's Association.

More interesting perhaps, U.S. ranchers are finding it as or even more profitable to export beef to other countries. That gives us another problem with demand for beef locally.

"We're actually exporting our own meat to countries like South Korea, Mexico and to Russia. So with all that going on we're playing a little game here trying to make sure the American consumer is getting all the meat they want and it's driving up the costs," added Lavers.

Beef Industry Officials compare this with a two to three years cycle, which means any relief for customers is seen at the market would be a couple of years out.

All this means that it's the weather which holds the upper hand for now. Parts of Texas and Oklahoma are now on their third year of this drought; Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska are also seeing extreme conditions ongoing which started last summer.

While some are weaning their calves early in order to save their pastures and cut supplement requirements, this just worsens the problem of beef supply. All of this brings costs to a new higher level.

Richard Vasquez, Meat Department Manager at Wood-dale Meat Market, layed it out recently:

"Ground beef is at about $2.99 and that's pretty much stayed. It's your higher end steaks that we've seen the high jump in, about $2.00 a pound. One is supply and demand, and the second is the drought in the midwest has a lot to do with it. The supply of cattle, the grain, the corn has a lot to do with it. Everything I'm seeing, at least a 10 percent increase in all proteins."

For the uninformed, this means there is no end in sight for rising meat prices.

My own suggestion, as usual, is to Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.

As you can access wholesale beef online by networking with your local farmer, you can still take advantage of wholesale meat prices by buying in bulk. And that is a solution which will bring you even cheaper meat, regardless of the economics farmer and markets face.

- - - -

And here's some related blog posts which cover this discussion of getting wholesale meat over the internet:

Buying Wholesale Meat Online Posted By : charlie helen | Gourmet

Are you looking for wholesale meat that is only a few clicks away and can be delivered right to your front door? Well it is only a few clicks away. Buying meat online is an option most people do not consider. However, there are ...

Can You Purchase Extensive Meat Online? | Castricum ...

For with much of online wholesale meat portals coming on the site, it is normal that users will prefer to purchase meat online instead than visit the meat store a mile away. How comprehensive meats do costs work? Carrying ...

5 Reasons To Buy Meat Online | Nike Free 1

The age old tradition of going to meat market with your dad to buy that favorite pork chop for dinner or the full blown turkey for Thanksgiving can well be over by the end of this decade. For with a lot of online wholesale meat ...

Should I Buy Meat Frozen Or Chilled? | Meat Gallery Blog

To buy meat online can be a tricky affair, as you can either buy frozen meat or buy fresh meat online. However, chilled wholesale meat has slowly become more popular than frozen meat in cases of buying meat online.

Wholesale Meat : www.ifindwholesalers.com

Hamilton Wholesale Meats allows you to buy meat online. We specialise in supply wholesale beef, lamb, pork, chicken, & a wide range of small goods. Grassfed Grass Fed Beef Meat All Natural Finished Healthy Kentucky ...

Reviews and Extra Links about Missouri Grass Fed Beef

When you are trying to get the best quality, all-natural protein - wholesale grassfed beef is one of the least expensive ways to do this.
Of course, when I'm near the computer (like when it's too  hot or too cold or too dark) I just keep looking for this stuff.
Along this line, you'll also find sources of high Omega 3 & 6 oils, which can result in better heart health (among other things.)
Of course there are then ever more popular research results which show that a high-protein/lower carb diet (like diet shakes) will help you lose weight and keep it off - with even higher energy levels.

• Where's the beef? | Industry NYC - Posted on May 12th, 2010 by Erin McCarthy in Meatpacking District, Meatpacking industry. Meatpackers Learn to Cope with a New Kind of Marketing. by Aaron Adler and Graham Kates. If you ever want to get a meatpacker all riled up, ask him ...
  

• The Best Burger on Campus | The Unofficial Stanford Blog - Stern Dining is not known for its delectable, alimentary fare. However, every Wednesday at lunch, a magical transformation takes place. If you are prepared to brave long lines and silverware shortages, you, the diner, will encounter the best ...
  

• Flex-Fuel Humans | Do the Math - If you're one of those humans who actually eats food, like I am, then a non-negligible part of your energy allocation goes into food production. As an approximate rule-of-thumb, each kilocalorie ingested by Americans ...
  
• Hawaii food producers invited to Taste of the Range, Sept. 21 | Big ... - Also on tap is a 3 p.m. culinary activity, \u201cGrass Fed Beef Cooking 101,\u201d presented by James Babian, executive chef at Four Seasons Resort Hualalai.\u201d Follow Taste of the Hawaiian Range on Facebook or on Twitter, #TasteHI.
  

How and why to buy wholesale beef direct...

Missouri Grass Fed Meat For You to Buy - Wholesale Beef by Quarters

Of course, our beef is special. Everyone's is. But seriously, we work to constantly improve the quality of the beef we feed here in Missouri as meat to buy, based on the needs of our clients, our own "taste tests" and what is good for our resident cows and calves (and the bull, too.)

What you get with Worstell Farms beef is based on how we raise them:

• Only fresh grass and water - all they can eat.
• No growth hormones or additives. They get needed salt and minerals as supplements.
• Antibiotics only when they prescribed by a doctor (vet) to cure an illness.
• Our beef has been selectively bred to thrive on grass, not grain.
• Constant humane treatment in natural environments.

All of these, combined, result in incredibly good-tasting beef. And meanwhile, these animals are also improving the pastures they feed from, as part of the circle of life.

We sell by the wholesale beef quarter.

Meaning that we have the cow processed according to your preferences and what quarter is available for you. The processor calls you to see what cuts you want. (If you want all the best cuts, it's better to buy a half and then share it with family and guests.

The average quarter from our beef will give you about 80 lbs. of various cuts (depending on how many bones you need or want). Our grass fed, smaller-frame animals are lighter in weight, but bigger in flavor. We've found that an average freezer (stand-alone, not your typical refrigerator-freezer combo) will hold this easily and give a couple or small family enough to last them just over half a year, depending on how many parties they host. Figure with what you share with friends and family, you may need to order once or twice a year.

The reason for quarters in in the way beef is cut (and you can see the parts charts at What Beef Cuts Are). The steaks are mostly in the front half and these are the most popular cuts. Our culture has put more emphasis on cuts which can be quickly seared on a hot barbecue, so chuck roasts aren't as popular. (Very little demand for ox-tail soup these days...)

Can't I just get hamburger?

Occasionally - and very rarely - we have a demand for substantial amounts of ground beef. We'll try to partner you up with someone else with similar requests. Now note: this is some of the most flavorful ground beef you can find, since all the cuts which would have been sirloin or other steaks are now mixed with everything else.

If you partner in on half a beef, then you can request ahead to have your half all ground if you want. Your cost is the same. (Note that most processors charge extra for patties. If you make your own, you'll save...)

On other pages in this section, we go into more detail of exactly what puts the flavor into (and takes it out of ) grass fed beef, plus other factors such as stress in handling and how they are processed.

And as usual, you can contact us for any additional information.

Special Processing Requests

You are buying a partial share in a live animal as a down payment and then paying the difference in service charges. So how you get your beef cut is up to you. Again, we process for the most possible cuts, which makes for thinner steaks than those $50 ones in high-priced restaurants.

As you buy on the half or whole, you have a greater option in how you can get your beef processed. So have them cut as thick as you want - you'll get fewer, but boy will those be impressive and tasty!

Just let us know when we contact you about the processing date, so we can then pass this on to our processor.

We are currently investing in a "buyers club" option, where we will process a beef for just steaks and hamburger, and members of that club are able to purchase smaller quantities, but on a strictly first-come, first-served basis. The beef is owned by the club and so is a benefit to members only. Contact us for more details.

Update: Sorry, we're out of beef for this year - if we haven't contacted you about your order, contact us to get on next year's list.

We only process so many beef a year. Because we are a small, local farm that is more interested in delivering lots of value through our beef.

And our harvest season is in Spring, right up to June, not all year round.

As more people find out about our farm, more people want our product. Unfortunately, we can't provide our beef to everyone. And some people simply live too far away.

So we did some research and found U.S. Wellness Meats for everyone else. They are another Missouri grass fed beef producer, who also deals in other produce from local farmers nearby. And they ship next day to your front door. Well worth checking out.

(Get more info here.)

 

 

via worstellfarms.com

Easy, Fast Lawn Mowing With Cattle

Cheap and Easy Lawn Mowing with Your Steers

(Fertilizer No Extra Charge)

OK, my mother finally suggested it. And this year, our cattle have taken the job of mowing (most of) our lawn.

We have a large front and back yard. It would take 2-3 hours to mow all of it, and this was once a week during the worst of the year.

Our old mower had hit the shop the last couple of years during that worst time. Once with a broken rod, and another with electrical problems (bad starter). So the grass got long and shaggy. I suggested that since we were short on grass for the Bull and steers we had up at the house, we just let them have it. A section away from the house, just for trial. (We keep the Bull and grass-fed steers up near the house for pampering/finishing until the Bull is ready to go back with the cows and the steers are ready for harvest.)

Since they crop it close, we couldn't care. It's just lawn, anyway. And the manure is an extra. We found that the first time through, they do a great job, since there aren't any patties (much) left from the last year. Otherwise, they leave little tufts here and there. The rave results, and the improved weight of those guys, was a good seller to expand the activity.

This year, I was about to take out the mower for the first time, and my mother seemed to be astonished that I was going to mow so much, almost insistent that I let the Bull and steers do that job. So I listened to her and strung the polywire around anything we didn't want rubbed on or trimmed (a couple of out buildings, the thornless blackberries, and the dwarf fruit trees). One trick was to park an old trailer on edge of the gravel lot and wire on an insulator rather than attempting to drive a post there. And we have an oil pipe welded to a tire rim that takes up the slack in a similar area.

I still get the job of mowing around those low trees.

These bovine boys are so trained to that polywire, I don't even have to charge it all the time. If it's a wood building, I found that the polywire can go right on it, so I need less posts (as long as I keep it tight).

And this is part of our rotation by the house. They eat all this off close, and then I let them into another pasture they haven't been in for awhile. I don't have to water them in our back yard as there's a big pond there - and they trim right down to its edge, a plus. While I don't let them mow the pastures that close, lawn is still lawn.

When they are done, I take down the polywire and go through to clip off the high spots (as mentioned above - tufts) After that we leave it to grow high again. And mow anything I couldn't get to near those out buildings.

Then the lawn sits to grow up again until it gets back up to about 6-8 inches. Meanwhile, I trim off the edges and make it look like it's cared for  - and the Bull/Steers crowd gets it again.

This continued until June, when the Steers are shipped and the Bull is back to other quarters with his harem. But these boys keep the lawn trimmed through the most abundant growing season. (Later I can also let in the cows and their calves, as one of their pastures is right "next door", but have to string a double polywire to keep the calves out of the road. And it definitely is charged at that point.)

What do our neighbors think? Well, they find it amusing. We have Belted Galloway/Angus crosses, so it's a bit picturesque, especially with the yellow polywire as an "accent". And I always trim the roadsides and ditches. The cattle take care of trimming the trees and shrubs (not the evergreens by the house, which are toxic), so the lawn keeps an interesting "ambiance" all summer.

And visiting family knows what we are doing - and usually get a half from one of those steers, so usually stay mum if they have any complaints or comments. (Or get a return comment that they can come over and take over the mowing anytime they like.)

One side-benefit is our mole population gets a work-over. Not only does the pulsing effect (and fertilizer) make for more luscious lawn, but the cultivator action forces the moles to dig deeper.

FWIW - your own mileage may very. Don't try this with your corn-fed feeders, but grass-finished steers, momma cows, their calves, and grass-fed stockers seem to do fine.

PS. If you aren't close enough to take advantage of our locally-grown Grass Fed Beef, consider U.S. Wellness. They are another Missouri farming operation which sells more than just beef. (I hear their cheese is excellent!) And have next day delivery.