Dodge City, Longton, a Steak Order, and Legal Jurisdiction

[kdfrawg]

I was asking about grass-fed beef in light of a book by Michael Pollan called The Omnivore's Dilemma, which describes in much detail the almost total reliance on corn in the feeding of beef, and for much else in our food chain. This is something that has happened in the last generation, maybe two, and has had quite an effect on how and what we eat, and the methods used to grow what we eat, both vegetable and animal. I wonder if anyone here has read that book, which is much in favor of the way beef (and everything else) was raised before the use of so much corn.

[Diane Amberg]

 With so much corn about to go into Ethanol, those cattle may be back to just grass. I know chicken prices have gone up here.

[Wilma]

Around here the beef is on grass until they are big enough to go to the feed lots where they probably receive some supplements that contain corn.  Some ranchers feed pellets that are a supplement to the grass, but I think you can say that the cattle in Elk County are grass fed up to the finishing point.  Ranchers might feed corn to finish the cattle they intend to butcher for their own use.  The corn fed beef that is advertised doesn't come from Elk County and probably hasn't been fed that much corn.  There surely is someone that knows more about the beef industry in Elk county than I do that could tell us about this.

[Diane Amberg]

  Al recently read something to me that had me wondering. Apparently South American beef is coming here, and being ground with a small amount of American beef juices and fat and sold as American source ground beef. Anybody know any thing about that or why?

[Ole Granny]

Around here the beef is on grass until they are big enough to go to the feed lots where they probably receive some supplements that contain corn.  Some ranchers feed pellets that are a supplement to the grass, but I think you can say that the cattle in Elk County are grass fed up to the finishing point.  Ranchers might feed corn to finish the cattle they intend to butcher for their own use.  The corn fed beef that is advertised doesn't come from Elk County and probably hasn't been fed that much corn.  There surely is someone that knows more about the beef industry in Elk county than I do that could tell us about this.

From what I remember this is correct.  Things could change.  I noticed MK & O Ranch iis raising Angus and Black Baldy where before they were only Registered Herefords.  Time changes things.  The grains are fed about six weeks before butchering.  Makes that tender marbling, mouth watering.

[Delmonico]

I was going through some notes and referance material and now I remember something else I should have meantioned on the oranges and lemons.  Because of the wax in the skins of citrus fruit they can also be preserved for months by keeping them in a barrel of brine stong enough to float an egg.  The same as vegtables and meat, by keeping bacteria and fungi from being able to grow.  The waxy rind on the citrus fruit does keep the salt from soaking on into the fruit though.

[kdfrawg]

Aha! Makes sense. Thanks! We didn't have as much technology then, but we managed.

[Delmonico]

What I find interesting about the citrus fruit there in dodge City at that time is that the reason for the town to exist was to supply the Buffalo Hunters and to ship their hides.  Scurvy was a problem on the frontier and fresh vegatables and fruit, espially citrus fruit was well known as a prevention and cure for scurvy long before that, the British Navy issued lime juice on it's ships long before that.

The citrus was most likely aimed at the hide hunters trade, folks who had money and were not afraid to spend it for what they wanted or needed.

BTW, an aside, anyone ever drank a Gin and Tonic Water.  A very old cocktail.  Was made popular by British Army Officers in the tropics.  Tonic water is quinine disolved in water, a prevention for malaria and an issued item one had to take in the tropics to prevent malaria.  Also your line juice could also be added because the army provided that also, although often fresh.  Ad some Gin and there you go.

Mary Poppins said a spoonful of sugar helps the medicnne go down.  The British Officers also belived a jigger of Gin did the same thing.

[W. Gray]

Salt water shipping may be the most logical answer for that citrus. If limes could last on ship they must have been carried in salt water.

Oysters, although a little different, were shipped by the same method and were able to survive for quite some time in rail and freight wagon transportation.

Even the people of Boston, Kansas, were able to dine on oysters from Chesapeake Bay but they were careful to eat them only in a month containing an "r".

[Diane Amberg]

   Yes, because "R" months are also the cold water months here. The oysters have no bacterial problems then. Personally, we don't start eating local oysters until November. Spring oysters also have a poor texture, has to do with reproduction. Here in the 1800s when the oyster industry was huge, people would go to the docks in late Oct. or early Nov. and pick up their barrel of fresh oysters packed in seaweed, ice and cold brine. As long as the shells stayed closed, they would keep for months.