Hormones: Good, Bad, Ugly

[Sarah]

Really there are cow/calf producers around here?   Are they the ones with the muddy boots that drive around all day through town with there cute little horsey trailers.   I just thought we were on a rodeo circuit route.

So if there is not enough feed to feed cattle then how are we supposed to get milk?  If the market is wanting grass fed beef, which it doesn't, then why would we need to feed them grain if we have grass.  There would be no need to send them to the feed yard.  The market wants lean, palatable, and juicy.  That is hard to produce on grass.  It takes a pasture with 3-5 acres per head about 18 months to get large enough to eat.  Pastures don't produce grass 18months so where is Texas are you going to winter them.   When is the cattle drive to begin because driving them in a truck in not very green.  You better plan on about a month based on the 1840's speed.   In a feed lot that would be 90 days.

   We have no dairies close enough to provide us with cow juice organic or natural.  Transportation is the biggest issue of any commody.  If you have a raw material you have to get it to the market where ever that happens to be.  There are huge dairies that are built in Kansas because they have figured out it is cheaper to move the finished product than haul the feed.  It costs you the same dollar for fuel to haul 50klbs of grain or 50klbs of milk.

If you have a consumer that only wants the cheapest not the best then you are going to get foods and services that are cheap and inferior.


Natural is a great word.   Horse shit is all natural, lots of digestable whole grains, full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.  Recyle, reuse, reduce, reruminate!

That's why we raise our own milk and don't buy it!  ROTFL 

And if you think people aren't interested in natural, you better look around.  It's becoming a might hot topic these days!  But those people aren't going to come into your store and ask for it.  They look at the "Whole Foods" stores for it or go straight to the producers themselves and I know personally from inquiries from people who contact me that yes there is a big interest in meat and milk from grass fed only animals.  There may not be much of a call for it in Elk county, but that doesn't surprise me.  You have to go the cities to find those people.  They're the same ones that think that brown eggs are better for you than white eggs. 

If you really want better and you want to know exactly what is going into your food, than you raise it and kill it yourself.  But that can also turn you off what you eat.  LOL  Most city people don't want to see what they're meat was before it was put into pretty little packages.   

[Sarah]

Now, now...Patrick, we all love you...you're an original...God broke all 12 molds on you! lol

Thank God for that.  hehe

[Tobina+1]

We HAVE quite a few small lockers around the area (Family Tree and the one in Fredonia pop to mind).  Whether they're federally inspected or not, I don't know, but I imagine they would if they had the need.  My parents use a very small packing plant to process all the beef they sell, and it's federally inspected.  The USDA guy comes once a week, and that's when my parents schedule their cattle for processing.  Also, what makes you think a packing plant could survive here if the one in Emporia shut down earlier this year?  Why not support more of the local businesses we already have, rather than trying to recreate the wheel and argue about creating new ones?  So, Steve and Sarah have "organic" milk... maybe there are some people in Elk County who can help them become inspected (or whatever it takes) and then Family Market can stock some of their shelves with locally grown products?  Yes, there will still be the need for "store bought" milk (people who can't afford it or who don't like the taste), but that's why it's called "niche marketing". 
Instead of arguing against each other on which tastes better (completely an opinionated argument that no one will win) and which is "better" for you (again, somewhat of an opinionated argument these days... could probably come up with the same amount of research for both arguments), why not figure out how to get products to people who want them? 
I still buy my Lactaid milk at the W store b/c the non-dairy stuff that FM sells is NOT good (in MY opinion, but if it's on the shelf, then someone is buying it and that's OK).  I buy Silk chocolate, though, and I bet Chuck would rival Billy in a milk drinking contest of that stuff!     If I could drink regular milk, I'd try the all natural stuff just to see what it's like.  It's rare to have that available these days.

[srkruzich]

We HAVE quite a few small lockers around the area (Family Tree and the one in Fredonia pop to mind).  Whether they're federally inspected or not, I don't know, but I imagine they would if they had the need.  My parents use a very small packing plant to process all the beef they sell, and it's federally inspected.  The USDA guy comes once a week, and that's when my parents schedule their cattle for processing.  Also, what makes you think a packing plant could survive here if the one in Emporia shut down earlier this year?  Why not support more of the local businesses we already have, rather than trying to recreate the wheel and argue about creating new ones?  So, Steve and Sarah have "organic" milk... maybe there are some people in Elk County who can help them become inspected (or whatever it takes) and then Family Market can stock some of their shelves with locally grown products?  Yes, there will still be the need for "store bought" milk (people who can't afford it or who don't like the taste), but that's why it's called "niche marketing". 
Instead of arguing against each other on which tastes better (completely an opinionated argument that no one will win) and which is "better" for you (again, somewhat of an opinionated argument these days... could probably come up with the same amount of research for both arguments), why not figure out how to get products to people who want them? 
I still buy my Lactaid milk at the W store b/c the non-dairy stuff that FM sells is NOT good (in MY opinion, but if it's on the shelf, then someone is buying it and that's OK).  I buy Silk chocolate, though, and I bet Chuck would rival Billy in a milk drinking contest of that stuff!     If I could drink regular milk, I'd try the all natural stuff just to see what it's like.  It's rare to have that available these days.

I have trouble drinking cows milk, it causes acid reflux.  But with goats milk i don't get that at all and it stops the reflux.  I found out the reaosn why is that cows milk is acid based milk and goats is a alkalai based milk. 
One of my sons is allergic to all milk products and corn products.  Now try finding food for someone like that these days. LOL.  But goats milk was a lifesaver for him.

[W. Gray]

My wife has a similar problem.

She uses soy milk, especially with cereal.

[Sarah]

We HAVE quite a few small lockers around the area (Family Tree and the one in Fredonia pop to mind).  Whether they're federally inspected or not, I don't know, but I imagine they would if they had the need.  My parents use a very small packing plant to process all the beef they sell, and it's federally inspected.  The USDA guy comes once a week, and that's when my parents schedule their cattle for processing.  Also, what makes you think a packing plant could survive here if the one in Emporia shut down earlier this year?  Why not support more of the local businesses we already have, rather than trying to recreate the wheel and argue about creating new ones?  So, Steve and Sarah have "organic" milk... maybe there are some people in Elk County who can help them become inspected (or whatever it takes) and then Family Market can stock some of their shelves with locally grown products?  Yes, there will still be the need for "store bought" milk (people who can't afford it or who don't like the taste), but that's why it's called "niche marketing". 
Instead of arguing against each other on which tastes better (completely an opinionated argument that no one will win) and which is "better" for you (again, somewhat of an opinionated argument these days... could probably come up with the same amount of research for both arguments), why not figure out how to get products to people who want them? 
I still buy my Lactaid milk at the W store b/c the non-dairy stuff that FM sells is NOT good (in MY opinion, but if it's on the shelf, then someone is buying it and that's OK).  I buy Silk chocolate, though, and I bet Chuck would rival Billy in a milk drinking contest of that stuff!     If I could drink regular milk, I'd try the all natural stuff just to see what it's like.  It's rare to have that available these days.

We didn't get into it because we wanted to market it or because we necessarily thought it was better, but more for the fact to become and self sufficient as possible, to supply our own meat, our own milk and our own cheese, our own eggs, whatever.  The more we raise ourselves, the more money we save.  We only sell when we have excess.  We looked into becoming licensed by the state and it is an absolute nightmare!!  I can tell you why there are very few commercial goat dairies. 

You're right in that it's all a matter of tastes.    Some people like it, some don't.  And a lot of it depends on what the girls have been out browsing in, but we've never had milk that was bad, but raw milk does like to turn to cheese fairly quickly.  LOL 

I think the main reason why there's no huge processing plants around here is the lack of water.  That was one draw back for us on getting licensed by the state.  Not enough water and we can't haul in enough water without it costing a fortune in gas.  If/when they ever get rural water run in, then it might be worth looking at again, but even then, I would hate to put a strain on the already short supply of water we have out here. 

Until then, we'll keep milking our critters and raising them for the table and sharing when we have too much and keeping our own family well stocked.    That was our goal in the first place. 

[S-S]

Griesels have their eggs or chickens inspected. They have a license and sell their eggs at P & J's. I'm not sure how that works or if it costs.

Tobina, one of Billy's hunting friends made fun of him the other night for drinking the soy chocolate milk. He said he should just go suck on a bean sprout!

[srkruzich]

Griesels have their eggs or chickens inspected. They have a license and sell their eggs at P & J's. I'm not sure how that works or if it costs.

Tobina, one of Billy's hunting friends made fun of him the other night for drinking the soy chocolate milk. He said he should just go suck on a bean sprout!

We can get the license too, they dont inspect the eggs or chickens at all. THey just issue a license and you buy the tax stamps.