Happy Critters Farm & Orchard
Our Grass Fed and Finished beef sold by the cut is USDA inspected and vacuum seal packaged. Our herd receives No grain or other finishing concoctions, No pharmaceutical vaccines, antibiotics, steroids, growth hormones, de-wormers, etc., and our pastures receive No man made fertilizer, herbicides or pesticides. With thoughtful land and stock management there is little to no need for these things and their long-term side effects to land, animals, and consumers.
Our small herd consists of Red Devon and South Poll cattle. Our land management focuses on promoting perennial forage diversity and soil building. Our stockman ship focuses on low stress animals which in turn makes them a joy to manage and interact with. Our primary contribution to maintaining the symbiotic balance between land and ruminant animals involves daily time for observation and frequent movement to fresh clean forage. We understand that rain, sunshine, forage, and cattle work together to build healthy soil and nutritious human sustenance the way nature intended. We just help balance the relationship and get out of the way. If we desired to become certified organic our only obstacle would be a reliable source of organic hay and higher prices to consumers.
Out of a desire to offer quality steak and roast cuts, we pay special attention to Grass Finishing our cattle. “Grass Fed” is only good enough if you don’t mind gambling with a potentially tough and chewy eating experience. “Grass finishing” is about getting the marbling into the meat that promotes deeper flavor and tenderness. Finishing on grass requires knowledge and extra effort to do well. We also work with our butcher to make sure meat quality is worthy of steak and roast cuts before the carcass is processed. How do we do this? We ask them to remove sample steak cuts from the carcass at the end of dry curing time so we can observe marbling and cook them up for a taste test. We also value our butcher’s observations of carcass quality and cut recommendations. If we feel meat doesn’t make the cut, it gets processed into ground beef, period.
Thank you for considering us for your local, grass finished beef. Keep an eye on us for other local farm products in the future. We’ve planted a permaculture styled orchard that should be producing fruit in 2 or 3 years. If time and energy allow, we also have an eye towards producing vegetables and forest finished hogs. We’re located south of Mountain Grove, Missouri and want to serve local patrons with wholesome food choices.
Thank you kindly,
Nate and Brittany of Happy Critters Farm & Orchard, LLC
