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Isn't all beef grass-fed?
All cattle eat some grass at some point during their lives. In the United States almost all cattle are fed corn in a feedlot for about five months before they are slaughtered. This five-month period comprises almost one-third of their lives. It is inarguable that allowing our cattle to eat grass and roam freely for their entire life is more humane for the animal and more environmentally sustainable for our land.
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What breed of cattle do you raise?
Our herd is a closed herd on the maternal side. This means that all of the female cattle on our farm were born here, and their mothers were, and their grandmothers were, going back almost a century and a half. Our line of cattle goes directly back to the herd that James Edward Harris brought to this farm in 1866. We bring in bulls to avoid inbreeding and to add desirable traits to our herd. Our herd is Angus based, and most of the bulls that we bring in are purebred Black Angus.
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Grass-fed beef does not taste like corn-fed beef. There is less fat in our beef, and the relatively small amount of fat that our cows do have is different, in that, fat from grass-fed beef has a lower melting point. This gives our beef a flavor that many describe as ‘cleaner’.
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We believe that the local food movement is not about 10 miles or 100 miles. We believe that the local movement is about the decentralization, deindustrialization, and decommoditization of the American food industry. Most of the United States cannot cost effectively produce high quality grass-fed beef year round. Because of our favorable climate, we are able to do this in the Gulf Coast Plain.
We also believe what passes as “local” is, in fact, case specific. For instance, “local” eggs and tomatoes probably should be sourced from your county. There is not a county in all 50 states that can’t produce eggs or tomatoes during certain months of the year. For consumers in the Deep South, “local citrus” should mean Florida citrus and not Mexican citrus. We feel that our grass-fed beef, lamb, and poultry are local to the Southern region of the United States.
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Why is grass-fed beef more expensive?
Grass-fed beef costs a little more than industrial beef because it costs more to produce it. We are unapologetic about this. We do not use hormone implants, confinement feeding, antibiotics, or high carbohydrate feeds. These are tools that science has developed to take costs out of producing beef. When a farmer ceases to use these cost reduction tools, the production costs are added back. A farmer would go broke if he produced high quality grass-fed beef, and sold it for the same price as commodity beef.
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Where can I buy your product?
Our grass-fed ground beef is available at all Publix supermarkets. If you don’t see it, please ask the meat manager to stock it.
Also, our grass-fed steaks, roasts, offal, and ground beef is available at all Whole Foods markets from Miami, Florida to Princeton, New Jersey and from Columbus, Ohio to Birmingham, Alabama. The exceptions are the Whole Foods markets in North and South Carolina. Another producer handles the Carolina stores.
Our free-range pastured chickens are available at all of the Whole Foods Markets that carry our grass-fed beef, as well as additional locations in Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina & Tennessee.
You can also order any of our products from our online store.
Halperns,’ Buckhead Beef, Prime Meats, and Destiny Organics sell our beef to restaurants and health food stores.
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Do you sell sides of beef?
Sides of beef are available for pick up on our farm. The beef is cut, wrapped, and frozen. To place an order, complete the order form and fax it back to us at (229) 641-2083. To review the standard cutting instructions for our sides of beef, click here.
Please note that at this time we are unable to offer shipping for a side or whole beef order. All custom side and whole beef orders must be picked up at White Oak Pastures.
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Why is your beef not certified organic?
White Oak Pastures is the largest certified organic farm in the state. We do not certify our beef because not all of our neighbors and partners have received their certification. Our cattle are raised organically. None of our cattle are given artificial hormones, are fed in confinement, have received antibiotics, or have eaten corn.
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What is the age of your cattle at slaughter?
All of the cattle that we slaughter in our plant are under 30 months of age. The average slaughter age is 20 to 22 months.
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Since your animals are grass-fed, what grasses do they graze?
Our pastures are established in warm season perennials, including bermuda grass, bahia grass, johnson grass, and dallas grass. In the Winter, we overseed all of our pastures in cool season annuals, such as rye, rye grass, red clover, and white clover. We are fortunate to be located in the Gulf of Mexico’s coastal plain where we get 55+ inches of rain each year, and it never snows here. We are one of the few areas of the country that can keep something green growing in our pastures 52 weeks each year.
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Are any of these grasses genetically modified?
We grow no genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on our farm.
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What breed of chickens do you raise?
Our chickens are a cross of several heritage lines. They are a proprietary breed that we developed with our hatchery. It takes our chickens about 12 weeks from hatching to achieve slaughter weight. That is about twice as long as it takes an industrial broiler breed. We think that our chickens are worth the wait.
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How do you define “free-range”?
The USDA describes "free-range” as “having access to outdoors”. A lot of chickens that are labeled “free-range” were raised in conventional chicken houses. Our free-range pastured chickens are raised completely outdoors walking freely on our pastures. We provide a portable roosting house for them. Our chickens could walk to Atlanta, if they wanted to. They are completely unrestricted.
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How do you define “organic” meats?
The USDA has their own standards for organic animal production. We do not like USDA’s definition of “organic”, principally because it allows the confinement feeding of corn. They just require it be organic corn. We feel that we go far beyond the USDA certified organic standards with our grass-fed beef, lamb and pastured poultry program.
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What breed of lamb do you raise?
We raise Katahdin Sheep. This is a hair sheep breed, as opposed to a wool sheep breed. We do not think that Georgia is the right place to produce wool sheep.
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Is your beef dry-aged ?
No. Dry-aging serves two purposes:
- It is controlled tissue breakdown that helps to make steaks more tender.
- It allows moisture to intensify the flavor of the beef.
We choose to not dry-age our grass-fed beef. After a great deal of experimentation in our own abattoir, we have chosen to ship our beef as freshly as possible for the following reasons:
- The controlled tissue breakdown can serve to make steaks more tender, but in doing so, it makes the ground beef and the roasts more mushy. The same breakdown that is going on in the steaks is going on in these cuts as well. We feel that our steaks are adequately tender, and we don’t like mushy ground beef. Our steaks can be better aged in your refrigerator, if you feel it necessary to make them more tender.
- The flavor of our beef does not need to be intensified through moisture loss. It naturally has a wonderful clean terra noir that our customers say is addictive. The fresh flavor of our beef is one of its greatest attributes. We will not fool around with this.
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The recent exposure of "pink slime" in the beef industry has caused me to look into your products. Do you use ammonium-hydroxide or any similar type treatments?Heck, no. We take our animals apart the old-fashioned way: a man with a knife and a saw.
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How much freezer space is needed to store 1/8 cow?1/8 of a cow will take up about 2 cubic feet of freezer space.
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