JBS and National Beef Announce Intent to Market 100% Grass-fed Beef; Just In Time For The Winter Green-Up!!!
Within the last several weeks two announcements of national consequence were made. Both National Beef and JBS, two of the world’s largest meat packers, and certainly two of the Big 4 here in the United States, announced they will launch branded beef programs marketing 100% Grass-fed Beef domestically sourced. In much the same way Organic has become fairly mainstream, 100% Grass-fed and Finished (NO Grain ever) is also becoming a major sector of growth in beef demand. The Big 4 are recognizing it and intend to capitalize on it.
What does that mean for us here in the Northeast? Why is the Winter Green-up Grazing Conference important in this or related to these announcements?
The answer to both these questions is simple. The infrastructure and knowledge base (number of producers who know how to truly grass-finish cattle or have the right kind of cattle to grass-finish) is very small and too fragmented to meet current demand, let alone the new demands put on the system by these powerhouses of the beef industry. Is this a problem? NO. This is an opportunity, not only for those of us who already have a handle on the difficulties inherent to consistently producing a high quality 100% Grass-fed product, but also for those who wish to learn.
The 7th Annual Winter Green-up Grazing Conference hosted each year at the Century House in Latham, NY will occur this year on Friday, January 30 and Saturday, January 31. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Albany County and Black Queen Angus Farm, LLC are pleased to announce what could be one of our best overall lineups of speakers yet!
This year’s Headline Speaker is none other than Allan Nation, Editor of The Stockman Grassfarmer Magazine, blogger, author, and general Grazing News Guru. Allan has been writing on grazing and the grass-fed industry for more than thirty years, since before it was “cool” to do so. He is a visionary in that regard and a damned good speaker. He will be discussing the trends in grassland agriculture and how to profit from them. How timely that we have lured him here to Upstate New York right when the markets are about to skyrocket in demand.
Neil Dennis from Sunnybrae Farms in Saskatchewan, CA was supposed to be our second Headline Speaker, but Neil recently underwent surgery which resulted in some complications that prevent him from traveling. He has assured us he will be in Latham in 2016.
At the last minute the Winter Green-up Committee was able to get Luke Linnenbringer to commit to fill Neil’s shoes. Luke was a key speaker at the 2014 Grassfed Exchange Conference in Columbia, MO back in July. He and his family also hosted the 400 conference goers at his farm. It was an amazing experience for this writer to see first hand both Greg Judy’s grazing/ranching operation and Luke Linnenbringer’s in the same day.
Luke uses a very systematic approach and holistic planning to his grazing of annual and perennial pastures, as well as the multi-tiered marketing of cattle, hogs and chickens grazed on his land. One thing that was really impressive in his operation was the focus on soil health. At the Linnenbringer Farm, one of last year’s Green-up speakers, Doug Peterson (Missouri NRCS Grazing and Soil Health Specialist) conducted a demonstration looking at rainfall infiltration, runoff, and soil structure using samples from Greg Judy’s operation, the Linnenbringer farm, a set-stocked pasture from another farm, and the cornfield owned and operated by another farmer directly across the road from the Linnenbringer farm.
In that demonstration, it was shown just how detrimental to soil health conventional tillage and the long-term use of herbicides is. What was truly astounding though was the side by side comparisons of the soils/sod from the Judy farm and the Linnenbringer farm. These two producers use very different models and yet come to nearly identical results in terms of how healthy and productive their soils are.
Luke uses a lot of no-til annual crops in his grazing operation, in much the same way Gabe Brown does in North Dakota and Jeff Moyer at the Rodale Institute.
And this provides a great segue into another topic to be covered at this year’s Green-up. Tom Kilcer of Advanced Ag Systems will present on his work with BMR Sorghum Sudan and also with Triticale and other annual crops. After 34 years with CCE, Tom went into private practice, but he is still doing cutting edge applied research to help us everyday farmers become and remain profitable in our cropping and livestock enterprises. You won’t want to miss this one-two punch of Tom Kilcer and Luke Linnenbringer.
Lest you think this is entirely on conference geared to Grass-fed beef, we are bringing you Dr. Gary Kleppel from SUNY Alabany, Professor of Biology. Gary is both a scientist and a shepherd. Gary’s research into the effects of sheep grazing in various habitats has lead to remarkable findings and of course more questions. The main gist is that targeted grazing under holistic planning and thought results in healthier soils for man and beast. Gary’s presentation style is clear, concise and pretty humorous. He knows how to convey complex concepts in a really fun and accessible way.
Also on board in the small-ruminant realm is Jim Taylor from Sunny Acres Farm in Athens, NY. Jim and his wife, Deborah, raise 100% Grass-fed meat goats. Their focus has shifted over the years from Boer goats to pure bred and high percentage Kiko goats in their grazing operation. They market meat and breeding stock alike. Also, though, Jim takes a very scientific and management oriented approach to his grazing and breeding practices. His observation and attention to detail are exemplary and he has led many pasture walks at his farm over the years in collaboration with Extension.
Finally, and not least, Tim Joseph, Founder and President of Maple Hill Creamery, along with dairy farmer Paul Van Amburgh will talk about the astronomical growth and demand for Maple Hill Creamery yoghurt. The key to the business is the production paradigm used. All milk used by Maple Hill Creamery is from Certified Organic (PCO) and 100% Grass-fed cows. Right now the majority of farms selling to Maple Hill Creamery are in NY State, but the demand for growth is so high farms are being recruited in other states now too.
Another and perhaps more important reason for the success of Maple Hill Creamery’s business is the holistic approach taken in working with the farmers and farms that sell milk to the Creamery and the way in which consumers and producers alike are treated as partners in the endeavor.
It is not too late to sign up for this year’s Winter Green-up Grazing Conference. The cost is $180.00 for Two Very Full days of instruction and information that can help you fill the demand our nation has for Grass-fed Meat and Dairy Products.
Source:cornell.edu