Restock Dates: Please see our Farm Blog where we post our weekly newsletter for the latest updates

It's Like Christmas!

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

June 29, 2024

Good Morning From Your Farmer,

"It's Like Chirstmas" - that was Laura's comment when picking up her half beef on Monday. Lot's of excitment to have their freezer filled with farm fresh beef.

This was our second special harvest for half/whole beef where the processing is completed by Homestead Farm & Packing. By moving the custom processing to Homestead it frees up our plant/staff to focus on retail cuts that are sold by the piece through our store. Mostly, this helps us be able to serve more families.

Demand continues to be strong for our half/whole beef. So, if you are interested in buying some for your family, I have added inventory to our store. We will take orders for first come first served. Price is the same at $5.25 lb. based on the hanging weight. A harvest date has been scheduled with Homestead for July 30th. Cut/Pack will be around August 15th. And, pickup would be August 19th.

You can place your order from this link. Be sure to read the Ordering Tips and download the cut sheet located near the bottom of the page. Please give me a call if you have any questions. Your paid deposit of $500/half is all that is needed to secure your order.

You may remember me introducing Covenant Heritage Farm located in Perkins, MS that uses our beef tallow to make wonderful skin care products. Well, this week Samuel contacted me to say their website is up and running and all the T's are crossed and I's dotted for them to receive orders and ship product. Check out their website and place your order from this link.

A couple of weeks ago I shared a podcast and discussion with Dr. Stephan van Vliet regarding the research his team has been doing looking at phytonutrients and omega 6:3 ratios in grass fed vs. grain fed beef. Here is the results posted:

  • Omega 6 to Omega 3 Ratio (6:3)- a lower 6:3 ratio is considered highly beneficial. ***Grassfed to Finished Beef has a ratio of under 2:1 Omega 6 to Omega 3 compared to a ratio of 11:1 to over 50:1 in feedlot beef.


Another very important point Dr. van Vliet concludes is not overgrazing and increasing plant diversity are the two most important factors in raising nutrient-dense product. In layman terms he is telling farmers to graze 50% and leave 50% of the forage in your pasture then move your cows forward. Also, do not have a monoculture pasture. Pastures are not meant to look like manicured lawns or golf courses.

This week I want to share results on NGF pasture raised eggs vs. commercial grown eggs.

This Spring Resaca Sun Feed where we buy our Non-GMO feed asked me to send samples of our eggs to a lab for testing. The research included three farms with pasture raised eggs but on different NON-GMO feed (corn & soy, corn & soy free, and corn free). There was also commercially raised eggs from a CAFO included as well. All of the farms are located in the SE United States.

Lab results for Omega 6:3 ratio from our eggs (corn & soy NON-GMO feed) pasture raised hens to be 7.6:1. While lab results for Omega 6:3 ratio from eggs raised conventionally in a CAFO was a whopping 31.2:1. That is more than 4 times higher than corn & soy based eggs from hens raised on pasture.

Results show how much healthier our eggs are for human consumption. Not to mention the positive impact on our soil, ecology, and the hens themselves.

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Once Resaca Sun Feed publishes their report I will provide you a link to read the complete report.

At any rate, we are very pleased to have been included in this research and appreciate the forward thinking of our feed supplier to provide this valuable information for our customers.

** Product Availability Update **

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

Chicken -Restocked June 26th. Next Restock is July 10th
.
Turkey - Sold Out! New poults arrived, but will be months before ready. Demand popped and I dropped the ball on this one.

Eggs - Restocked each Wednesday. We are well stocked on eggs - especially large at this time.

Beef - Restocked June 20th. Next restock will be July 18th. Half Beef added to store July30th harvest

Pork - Restock June 12th. Ground Pork & Patty Sausage restocked June 14th.

Lamb - April 17th lamb did not work out. They were only 50 lb live weight or about half the weight needed for slaughter.

More from the blog

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.

Beef Update & A New Product

Beef Update – Typically this time of year folks are hesitant to buy bulk beef for their freezer due to hurricane risk. That is why we have delayed our next custom half & whole beef processing until September. If you are interested, our next harvest will be September 2nd with pickup on September 22nd. If you want to be included then please email me your name, email, and cell number to be added to our wait list - and be the first folks contacted and guaranteed to receive an order. Beef prices continue to increase and hit a new All-Time high this week fueled by strong demand and limited supply. For example, based on what a 700 pound steer sold for at the Hattiesburg Stockyard Monday, I could make more than feeding him till he weighs 1100 pounds and sell as packaged beef - but our mission is to provide nutrient-dense, clean food to our customers. Effective immediately custom beef half and whole prices will increase $0.50 to $6.25 per pound based on the hanging weight. Retail cuts will increase for September deliveries as well.

Real Health Is NOT A Pill. It's A Practice!

Two Great Must Read Articles – Typically I don't make a big deal about articles we have read, but these two are so good that I felt they needed to be shared. The first is by Joel Salatin titled "Food Think" that is part of his The Lunatic Farmer blog. You can read the full article at this link. The second article is one Beth forwarded to me from the Health Viewpoints section of Epoch Times titled "Americans Spend Trillions on Health Care but Remain Unwell - Here's Why" Dr. Yang, FAPA, a board certified psychiatrist, begins by stating the difference between treating disease and building true health lies in a proactive and preventative lifestyle. Note - Beth and I would agree with other folks who commented that his article is spot on and very important for folks to read and understand. You can read at this link.