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Farm Update

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

August 19, 2017

Farm Update –

Weather impacts everything we do! As you know, it has been a very wet summer. Early July we were forcasted to have 4-5 days of little to no rain. So, July 3rd I cut 2-pastures for hay and a 3rd on July 4th. Thursday it was time to bale. Unfortunately, my baler had issues that I was able to fix and started baling with about 12 or so completed before a major roller broke half in two. I borrowed a neighbors baler and was able to get another 12-13 baled before dark. As I entered the pasture to start baling Friday, two bolts of lighting struck and it has rained just about every day since. Bottom line we lost 100-110 bales of hay valued at $35 or so each (plus the cost to fix the baler).

July 20th I took a neighbor to see Ray Archuleta (The Soil Guy) in Canton, MS. I had previously tried to convince him about the destruction tillage causes to the soil water & nutrient cycles as well as releasing carbon back into the atmosphere. He never really was convinced until he personally saw the results from a "Rainfall Simulator" demonstration. We now have a new convert!

Customer Feedback- 

Ben, 

I tried to tag your page in this post last night but I couldn't. I wanted you to know that we all thoroughly enjoyed a meal from your farm last night. The eggs and sausage were a big hit! (see above picture) Feel free to share if you want. Thanks for all you do! Janet B.

Quote Worth Re-Quoting – “Don't worry about people stealing your ideas.   If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.”   ~ Howard Aiken

As always, thank you for supporting our regenerative, local farm.

Ben & Beth

More from the blog

Farm & Market Updates

Market Update – Our farm objective is to raise nutrient dense meats without all the chemicals, vaccines, hormones, and etc. And be able to provide them to a community of families at a reasonable price. We measure success based on pounds sold verses dollars earned. Current beef prices are making that harder to accomplish as families seek options to reduce their food bills. I know we have not passed along the full impact of higher prices to our customers which means we are not making as much as before nor are we selling as much beef.

Beef Pricing Update & Sausage

Beef Pricing Update – Beef prices continue to increase and hit a new All-Time high AGAIN last week. This week, the Chief Production Officer (CPO) for JBS Meats (one of the four largest beef packers) stated that prices will remain high for at least the next two years. His rationale was the low cow herd numbers, little to no indication farmers/ranchers are retaining females to grow their herds (at these high prices they are taking the money now while it is there); when females are being retained it will take over 2.5 years before a calf will be ready for harvest (9-month gestation + about 24 months old at harvest). Lastly, consumer demand remains strong.

Taste Test

Greetings Ben and Beth, I'm really looking forward to my next order pick up. I'm trying to improve my cholesterol numbers, thus eating more chicken, and ran out of your chicken products. I ended up buying some industrially produced chicken, and man was that a mistake! It smelled terrible raw, also while it was being sauteed, and also later when I reheated it to put into an otherwise healthy salad. I have enough of this subpar stuff to last until I pick my order, but I don't think I can ever buy this CAFO stuff again.