Creekside Farms
Allan and Linda Elgar
448
Elgar Drive
Millbrook, Ontario L0A 1G0
416-709-0082,
lindaelgar@yahoo.ca or
elgar@sympatico.ca
Our 100% grass-fed cattle not only live happier, healthier lives, but their meat has many health benefits compared to corn or grain fed “factory farm” cattle:
We are small-time farmers, raising 100% grass-fed cattle on the farm that has been in the family for over 60 years. We sell our professionally cut and government inspected beef by the side or quarter in the fall. It is flash frozen, cut to your specifications and delivered to your door.
Grass Fed Beef Can SOLVE Global Warming
Why choose our pastured, grass-fed beef over supermarket factor farm beef?
Our cattle are raised the natural, old fashioned way. They graze freely in lush pastures as nature intended. Calves stay with their mothers through to maturity, and the herd has bonded like a family unit. They eat organic perennial grasses, alfalfa and clover - food that suits their digestive systems. We do not use growth hormones or any other additives to enhance weight gain.
In comparison, typical grocery store beef is from factory farm animals that lived in large cramped concrete feed lots. They are fed corn or grain or sometimes concoctions that contain poultry litter and restaurant waste. The goal is to gain weight as fast as possible to be ready for market sooner. However their systems are not suited to this food, so they frequently get sick. Farmers have responded by giving preventative doses of antibiotics. To further speed the weight-gain it is a common practice to regularly administer growth hormones to the cattle. Finally, growing the corn and grain for cattle requires much fertilizer, pesticides and tractor work (using fossil fuels and adding pollution). These products are sometimes shipped to the farm from far away (more fossil fuel and pollution). On the other hand, pastures contain perennial grasses and legumes, fertilized naturally by the cattle themselves creating a more sustainable environment.
Prices and Ordering Options
Our 100% grass-fed cattle go to the butcher at the end of the summer after they have enjoyed months of fresh clover and grass, so we only have beef available in limited quantities in the fall.
We are selling “sides” and “mixed quarters”
Sides: Sides are available for $---per pound “dressed weight” (this is the weight before the butcher cuts the roasts etc.) approximately 300-500 lbs. A typical order would include about 30% steaks (cut to 1"), 35% roasts (3-4 pounds), 30% hamburger and 5% stewing beef. If a side is too much for your family, consider sharing a side with friends or co-workers. This was done very successfully last year.
Mixed Quarters: A mixed quarter sells for $--- a pound. It is half of a side, and contains a full assortment of cuts from the front and hind quarters and generally would weigh 150-250 lbs (dressed weight).
About our butcher - Our beef is processed at a reputable government inspected facility. Delivery to and from the butcher is included in the price. Customers can specify their cutting and wrapping preferences (size of roasts, thickness of steaks etc.) We can help you with this. Normally the consumer pays the cost of cutting the beef, which runs about 60 cents per pound for fast-frozen, butcher-wrapped custom cuts, but we will absorb this cost.
So, in a nutshell, if you order a side or a quarter you get everything from tenderloin to ground beef from ethically raised, grass-fed and finished beef, cut to your specifications and delivered to your door. By the way, this price is comparable to what farmers generally charge for factory farm sides of beef (although grass-fed cattle take longer to mature and therefore are more expensive to raise). We sell mostly to friends and neighbours, and so we try to keep our price friend-friendly.
What Can I Expect To Get If I Order A Side?
These are some of the cuts you can expect from a side or quarter of beef. We suggest cutting all steaks 1” to 1 ¼” thick. We suggest 3 lb. roasts - enough for a nice dinner and leftovers for sandwiches.
Rump/Sirloin tip roasts: Approximately 2 tip roasts, 2 Pikes Peak roasts (also called Heel of Round) and 2 rump roasts are on a side of beef. You can have the tip roasts cut into tip steaks.
Chuck section:
This is the chuck and shoulder roasts or pot roasts. Approximately 8-10 roasts
on a side of beef.
Prime
rib section:
You can either have this left as prime rib roast or cut into rib steaks. With a
side you will get approximately 12 steaks, taking all as steaks. Or 8 steaks
with 1 – 3lb roast.
T-bone Steaks:
There are approximately 10 t-bones and 6 sirloins to a side of beef. You can
choose New York strips and tenderloin filets (filet mignon) instead of t-bone
steaks as they are from the same steaks. (You would need to specify this on the
custom cutting form under “additional requests”)
Round Section: You can have either round steaks, roasts or a combination of both. If you don’t use either of those, you can put it into ground beef. There are approximately 8-10 steaks from this section.
Ground
beef:
There is approximately 40-60 lbs of ground beef on average to a side. This will
increase if you put in the chuck or round, and will decrease if you get stew
meat.
Stew meat:
Stew meat is boneless chunk meat for soups and stews.
Soup bones:
These are meaty soup bones and will make a hearty soup base with quite a bit of
beef to pick off the bones. Or you can choose to have them trimmed out and
added to the ground beef. There are approximately 12 pkgs. on a side.
Yet another study shows that grass-fed meat is nutritionally superior to feedlot meat. This newest study examined the differences in fat content between four breeds of cattle that were either 1) raised on pasture or 2) given grain and other feedstuff in a feedlot.
As in previous research, the results showed that meat from cattle raised on pasture had much healthier fats. The researchers concluded that grass-fed meat is “clearly superior” and “remarkably beneficial.” They stated that grass-fed meat “should be promoted as an important part of a healthy balanced diet.” Read the study summary.
(Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, June 2008, 56:4775-4782.)
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Grass Is Greener: Buy Healthy Meat
- an article in Women's Health Magazine
Environmentalists, E. coli sufferers, the Skinny Bitches--the list of beef haters grows longer every day. But let's face it: For a lot of people, biting into a thick, juicy steak ranks up there with cocktails on the company's dime as one of those priceless MasterCard moments. So what's a carnivore with a conscience to do? Instead of focusing on what you're eating, how about taking a look at what your prime rib had for lunch last week? Research is showing that beef from grass-fed cattle is leaner, healthier, and less costly to the planet--and may even be safer to eat than the heifers you're chewing on now.
Omega Moos
Most U.S. raised bovines feast on a grain mix
made up mainly of cheap corn. Just like humans on a high-carb diet, grain-fed
cows fatten up fast. This gives ranchers a quick, inexpensive turnaround from
the feedlot to your
supermarket's meat department. But a number of retro ranchers are feeding
their herds the way they all did 50 or so years ago: letting them roam the
fields to graze at will. They're switching to grass for a variety of reasons,
including a desire to improve their animals' quality of life.
It just so happens that what makes herds happy also makes their meat healthier.
Beef from grass-fed meat (the industry lingo is "grass-fed beef") packs up to a
third less fat per serving. The fat it does have boasts more benefits: A
three-ounce serving contains 35 milligrams of the heart- and brain-protecting
omega-3s EPA and DHA, compared with only 18 milligrams for the same serving
of meat from grain-fed stock. Steers that munch on pasture also have twice the
conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) per serving (26 milligrams, compared with 13
milligrams in grain-fed). According to Kate Clancy, Ph.D., a senior fellow at
the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, early research in rats has
linked higher CLA levels with easier weight loss and a reduced risk of heart
disease as well as certain types of cancer.
Another possible health perk: fewer bouts of food sickness. The Journal of
Dairy Science has reported that levels of E. coli are usually higher in
grain-fed cattle. The leading theory, says David Pimentel, Ph.D., professor of
ecology and agricultural sciences at Cornell University, is that grain creates
an environment in a steer's stomachs (they have four of them, remember?) that's
more hospitable to the nasty bug, adding to the likelihood that the meat of a
grain-fed animal will be contaminated with E. coli during processing.
More
Grass, Less Gas
Cattle farms leave a Sasquatch-size footprint on our air quality, but that can't
all be blamed on Bessie's methane-emitting farts. The problem is that growing
the corn to feed the cows produces a load of greenhouse gases. Corn production
takes a huge number of what those in the enviro biz call energy inputs. Among
these are chemical fertilizers added to the soil and the fuel that's burned by
harvesting machines. In fact, a single acre of corn requires 14 energy inputs,
Pimentel says. That wouldn't be a big deal if we were growing just enough corn
on the cob for the Johnsons' annual clambake, but the U.S. produces 1.5 billion
bushels of the yellow stuff each year--just to feed cows.
By contrast, a field of grass gets its energy from the sun--pretty much the
ultimate renewable resource. Of course, ecofriendly ranchers still use farm
machinery and transport the beef on trucks, but it takes half the fossil-fuel
energy to produce two pounds of grass-fed as it does to produce the same amount
of grain-fed, Pimentel says. Bottom line: Eating a burger that has nibbled on
turf reduces our damage to the planet in a big way.
If you're looking to impress family and friends with the best grilled flank steak or the juiciest burger, the next time you go shopping for meat opt for sustainably raised, grass-fed beef. Despite the mystique surrounding the cooking of grass-fed beef, it only takes a little extra care to dish up amazingly tender and succulent steaks.
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