Clean and Cold | Adorable Calves

Good morning from your Farmers,

Contents:

1. 1. New Calves On Our Farm
2. 2. Clean AND Cold
3. 3. Product Availability Update

New Calves On Our Farm– Sometime in April we call our vet and schedule a breeding soundness exam for our bulls. This is before we add our bulls to our cow herd May 1^st each year.

Our oldest bull, affectionately named “Ole Man” by the guys here, was born on our farm the Spring of 2016. His sire goes back to the same bloodlines that we purchased from the Wyoming ranch last year – we AI’d one of our cows to Ole Man’s sire.

Each year when we have the bulls tested the Ole Man consistently outperforms his younger rivals.

So, by early February we expect to start seeing new calves. And we have. So far we have twenty-seven new calves. Here is a picture of several calves standing around a recent burn pile – toasted marshmllows anyone?

                                                                       I’m adorable!

Clean AND Cold- Two guiding principles we adhere to in our processing plant is Clean AND Cold.
When handling food, especially food that will be sold to others, it is very important that your facilities, equipment, tables, and people are clean.

Cold is equally important. The USDA guidelines for chicken is under 40 degrees within 16 hours and for red meat under 40 degrees within 24 hours. Otherwise, the risk greatly increases for pathogen growth that can make folks sick at a minimum.

I remember watching a forensics show years ago about people dying from a very rare pathogen (it actually took a long time for them to discover what it was – much less the source of the contamination). The only common thread was the people dying all lived in the southern part of Milwaukee.

They finally discovered the source was discharge from the waste treatment plant (located near the center of the city) into Lake Michigan. And, the discharge flowed south before the water from Lake Michigan was collected and treated to supply drinking water to the south part of the city.

So, we do not do the minimum temperature of 40 degrees. Our carcass cooler is set to keep the meat at 32 degrees. And, we calibrate our thermometers that are used to record the meat temperatures daily. An old saying- “If it is not recorded then it did not happen.”

Another guideline from the USDA says floors, walls, work tables, etc. must not absorb water (like wood, sheetrock, etc.).

So, why do we need to know this? Good question.

Recently, a friend of mine in GA sent me a FB post of a young man cutting and packing a whole pig on a wooden table in his dining room that had wood floors and sheetrock walls. He did have the table centered under a light.

It appears the pig went from being slaughtered in his yard, carried inside his house where it was cut and packed, and put into his freezer waiting for orders.

I cannot imagine the cleanup! And hope nobody gets sick. Buyer Beware – right?

** Product Availability Update **

NOTE: Restocks are made about 6 PM on the dates indicated below!

Chicken - Restocked March 12th. Next Restock will be March 26th

Turkey - It will be mid 2025 before the next restock.

Eggs - Restock each (NOW) TUESDAY PRIOR to YOUR delivery date. PLEASE NOTE- Due to current market situation with eggs we have implemented a $4 surcharge per dozen for meat orders that are less than $100

Beef - Next Restock will be March 23rd.

Pork – Restocked March 12th. Cured items by end of March

Lamb - Restocked March 14th. Then, we will harvest 20 lamb March 21st for March 28th restock.