Happy Friday!
Brrrr
is the word today. We hope everyone is doing well and staying warm.
Domisty
& I spent the early part of this week at The Carolina Meat Conference in
Winston Salem. This is one of the few places where we get to spend 2 days
talking meat farming with other farmers, butchers, chef, and researchers.
As always, it's a great opportunity to learn about marketing, meat
quality, farm profitability, and feed programs. One of the most
interesting, and intensely debated topics is how feeding programs affect the
nutritional profile of the meat. This has been an area of particular
interest to me in the past 5 years since working with Dr Susan Duckett, meat
scientist at Clemson University. Since in my previous newsletter I wrote
about our switch from 100% grass fed beef to a program of slight
supplementation I have fielded several questions regarding it's effects on the
nutritional profile of our beef. Now I don't want to bore anyone with
charts and details and footnotes so here are a few comments/ points about what
has affected our decision to include feeding.
-Profitability
(the forgotten aspect of sustainability). Not to be greedy but
we are a business and producing a consistent quantity and quality of product is
what keeps us in business. This is a way that we can meet the demand for
our products, increase our margins, and hopefully make a little money.
This is what keeps us coming to the market and providing you with a great
product. We have no desire to own a big house on Lake Norman but we do
need to make enough to pay the bills and support our family.
-High
oil grains- Corn & soybeans, not grain in general, is what increases the
levels of Omega 6 fatty acids and bad cholesterols in the meat profile.
This increase is proportional to the amount of such grains in the animals
diet. For example a conventional feedlot steer may receive 25-30lbs of
corn feed (80% of it's total daily feed consumption) and will contain a much
higher Omega 6 level than a pasture raised animal receiving 5lbs of corn feed (20%
of it's total daily feed consumption). Contrary to popular belief,
chicken has the highest levels of Omega 6s due to the fact that most of
its feed is corn & soy (upwards of 95%) and farm raised fish are fed corn
which puts them in the same category as feedlot beef. Our beef is
NOT FED ANY CORN OR SOY only crackers that contain certified GMO free wheat,
Olive Oil, and Spices. Who knows, the olive oil may even boost
the Omega 3 levels?????
-Just
because we feed crackers this doesn't mean that our beef is not gluten free.
Gluten is a protein that is present in wheat, so it is broken down in the
digestive system and utilized by the body of the animal as an amino acid.
-To
keep things in perspective- over 99% of the feed that goes into producing our
beef is grass or hay. The crackers just provide a little carbohydrate and
protein boost to even out the growth curve.
We're reloaded on beef and lamb this week so come see us!
Come
see us at the Farmers Markets tomorrow and next Saturday (Dec 21)
Davidson
- 9-noon
Salisbury
-9-noon- Since
rainy weather is forecast for the morning, please email us your orders so
Domisty can get them together ahead of time.
Don't
forget to check out our Wild Turkey Farms Facebook page and
"like" us to get the most up to date info.
We
hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that
support us & other local farmers.
300
East- Charlotte
Customshop-
Charlotte
Greeneman
Farms @ 7th Street Market- Charlotte
The
Prickly Pear- Mooresville
Pure
Pizza @ 7th St Market - Charlotte
Whiskey
Warehouse- Charlotte
Chef
Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
The
Peculiar Rabbit- Charlotte
Fork-
Cornelius
Napa
On Providence - Charlotte
Harvest
Moon Grill at The Dunhill Hotel- Charlotte
Thanks
for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.
Lee,
Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild
Turkey Farms LLC
China
Grove, NC
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