The Ranch

Beef Requests and the Challenges to Overcome

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We have been receiving a lot more requests for frozen locker beef than ever before in the last couple of weeks. This is great and we wish that we could deliver the meat immediately! However, unfortunately our beef will be ready no sooner than December 2020, simply because this is when the calf will reach the correct weight and maturity.

Grades and Yield

One of the main challenges to raising grass-fed beef is keeping the daily weight gain high. If the calves do not gain weight on a daily basis (around 3 pounds per day) then they may begin to burn fat to make up for the lost nutrition and if too much fat is burned then the finished meat may result in a lower grade.

In general, grades consist of Prime, Choice, and Select.  Prime is considered the best grade due to it’s high content of marbled fat, resulting in the most tender steaks.  Prime also yields the most meat from a carcass. Select is the lower grade, has less marbled fat and may not be as tender. Select also yields less meat from the same carcass. So when you purchase a carcass, you get more cut up beef from prime than you would from select; therefore, prime is the better deal since you get more meat for the same dollar.

Why such a long process?

We usually reserve calves born in the spring (March) for our beef program.  The calves will be raised by their mothers until they are 8 or 9 months old and then we take them and wean them, usually in November.  At this point the calves weigh about 650 pounds.  After they are weaned we usually sell 700 pound calves in January, so the calves are now about 10 months old. The calves that we sell will be put on wheat pastures and they will continue to gain around 3 pounds per day; however, the calves that we retain for our beef program will be grazing stockpiled forage, hay, and they will be given protein supplements. The retained calves will be lucky to gain 1 pound per day.

In May when the grass turns green and begins to grow, the retained calves begin gaining weight.  They are left to graze all summer and fall and typically reach a final weight of about 1300 pounds by December, depending on the grazing conditions during the summer. At this point they are about 22 months old.

The point being made is that this is a long term process. It takes 22 months to make a finished product and it takes 12 months of advance notice to know how many calves to retain.  If we think that there will be high demand, then we hold back more calves in January. If we think the demand will be low, we hold back fewer calves in January. We must know 12 months in advance what the demand will be.

Delivery

The next problem is inventory on hand to deliver meat in a more timely fashion.  As discussed above, the delivery is always around November or December because we are only holding back calves born in the spring. There is a way around this issue, we can hold more calves back (both born in the spring and fall), graze them to 1300 pounds, and then butcher once a month for monthly delivery.

A Final Note

Finally, a note about the national meat supply: Calves are usually born in the spring or fall, but as you saw above they can gain weight at different rates in the winter causing cattle to approach harvest weight at different times throughout the year.  Feedlots are used to control weight gain on the cattle as well and keep the beef supply matched to consumer demand. In a normal situation, beef is prepared for export, grocery meat cases, and restaurants.  During this abnormal time we still have the same amount of beef but it is not getting to the end user as quickly because the restaurants are now closed. Eventually, the amount of beef headed to grocers will increase and there will be plenty of meat available on shelves again.  Once the restaurants reopen, there will be another supply jolt as beef is rerouted from grocers back to the restaurants, meaning you may see an under-supply at the restaurants and an over-supply at the grocers; eventually this will work out and supplies should return to normal.

At Grant Creek Ranch we are continuing to raise calves for the national market and our freezer beef program. We are also trying to increase our herd size so that we can provide even more calves to the market.  We will continue to grow our freezer beef business and continue to provide 700 pound calves into the national beef chain. We are glad to see that beef is a product that consumers desire!

Here are some pictures to illustrate the post!

Pictured below are the cows

Portrait of a Cow
Cows

And here are the bulls

Bull wanting in the Truck
Bull showing off

New crop of baby calves that have just been born

Baby Calves with their Mothers
A Brand New Calf

Weaned calves, these weigh about 700 lbs and are 10 months old

700 Pound Weaned Calves
Weaned 700 pound steers

These steers are mature, they are 21 months old and they weigh about 1200 pounds.

Beef Steer

Steers for our Beef Program

Burning Up: Controlled Prairie Fires

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A couple months ago we conducted a controlled fire at our ranch to prepare for another year of grazing. This is a common practice for ranchers and something that is usually done anywhere from once a year to every couple of years. The main reason we do this is to burn away all the dead growth that the cows will no longer eat or gain nutrition from and make way for some new green! This is something that is crucial in maintaining forests as well and surprisingly plays an important role in preventing forest fires. The idea is basically the same for both ecosystems. By burning away the dead stuff in a controlled environment you take away the fuels that allow for an accidental fire to get wildly out of control. This greatly benefits wildlife in the area as well by stirring up insects and clearing the overgrowth to allow birds and other animals to feed, starting the food chain. Improving all sorts of animal habitats, allowing for new growth, and recycling nutrients back into the soil are all advantages that come from this method. It isn’t pretty at first but doesn’t take long for new life to spring up and really freshen the place up. If you’re interested in reading about this process from someone outside of ranch life, keep on reading! Keeping up with the ranch is definitely hard work and takes a lot of time and effort. I was glad I got to be a part of such an important day.

I rarely get to visit the ranch myself as 99% of my duties are here at the office, but I begged and begged to tag along for burn day. Ok, I didn’t actually have to beg, just remind them several times to not forget about me. Believe it or not, I WANTED to help – manual labor and all. As someone who is relaying this information to the public, I feel it is important to experience first hand what I write about. I also knew this was going to be an exciting and interesting day.

We got started early. The plan was to burn about 1100 of the 1400-ish acres we have. We were on the road at 7:30am and to the ranch by 9:00am. It’s my experience so far that these ranch trips are never just a quick “get the equipment running and go” type things, haha. We got the gators, four-wheelers, trucks, water tanks, lighters, propane tanks, drink coolers, and finally the crew all together. Being probably the most directionally challenged person I know, all that mattered to me was that I stay with a smart person so I didn’t get turned around and stuck in a place I really didn’t want to be.

We all started out together and a couple of the guys got a little fire started….then we stood there and watched. I’ll admit I was a little disappointed and worried that was it, but give it a few minutes and we had all split up with a plan. My buddy Joe (the one that taught me to drive the tractor on Ranch Day last year) and I took off some direction to some field. I honestly assumed I’d be doing a lot of watching and eventually get to try my hand at the propane wand. Nope. I was thrown in immediately and it was a lot of fun. Basically Joe drove down a strip at a constant, slow speed while I hung out the door with the wand, lighting a small fire that quickly rose and grew behind us, spreading with the wind.

Chaotic Joe and Jess Moment #1: I looked like a total city girl (which I’m really not!) and forgot my phone was in my jacket pocket. It fell out, I yelled and started to get out of the gator, but before I could even get past the door my trusty partner was over to my side, grabbed my phone, and was rushing to get back in to drive away from the flames that were quickly gaining on us. Good times…

So this is basically how the day went. I would hang out the door as long as my arm could take it, then we would switch and Joe would drive and light at the same time. After we did the perimeters of the ranch we had to go more inward and light areas to burn again. It was so important to be careful around neighbors’ land. Communication, a leaf blower, and water was key.

Chaotic Joe and Jess Moment #2: Ok, not really chaotic, but comical. At one point Joe had to help with a bigger area and hopped out, leaving me to man the gator thing “in case I had to move it away from the fire.” I didn’t realize “in case” actually meant “when.” Reverse was easy but I probably should’ve figured out how to move forward before I was alone…

This little switch in drivers became a favorite of Joe’s and he quickly became spoiled by having a chauffeur. Needless to say I was in the driver’s seat the rest of the day. My skills were put to the test as I had to burn and drive at the same time occasionally. My buddy is much better at this than me but I did it! The strength it takes to light these fires is weird. It’s not like there’s much moving involved, and while my arm did get tired I felt like I could’ve held it out all day as long as I moved positions and could prop it up against something occasionally. The true test was when Joe handed me a peanut butter cracker and I realized my arm was actually jello. I struggled (and looked incredibly dumb) trying to get the cracker to my mouth. Let me just tell you how sore I was the next day…

Chaotic Joe and Jess Moment #3: At one point I’m driving along and didn’t even realize Joe had hopped out and was walking behind getting a drink out of the cooler. He did this quite often, but at one point he had to help me relight the wand – He had trouble, the flames got closer and closer, I’m yelling for him to get back in. In hindsight, it wasn’t actually that bad. If he really thought he was in danger he could’ve taken some steps over and I could’ve driven a little away. But again, comical as I unnecessarily freaked out. I’m not comfortable with fire. Clearly.

We continued going inward. Joe got to experience my true lack of direction as we drove around a whole line of trees and he tried to tell me to drive back to where we came from. I’m not sure he understood fully that I had no clue where I was. This was probably the most fun part of the day. We lit and these fires got huge and moved quickly but they were gone faster than they appeared. We would go down one line, turn around, and were driving on what we had just burned to do another line. As entertaining as it was to watch, it also makes you realize how seriously this dead growth could cause many problems if not maintained in a controlled environment like this.

Chaotic Joe and Jess Moment #4: Have you picked up on how overly dramatic these “chaotic” moments are yet? At one point we were starting to go towards a hill to continue lighting fires, but instead a fire started racing towards us over that hill. Clearly, someone had beaten us to lighting that strip. No, we weren’t actually even remotely in danger, but as we turned around to go back the other way I really thought about how terrifying it would be to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fire’s no joke.

These types of comments are what get me called a dork all the time, but at some points I almost felt like a storm chaser…with fire. As relaxed and laid back as we were most of the day, safety really was a priority. Again, I say communication is key. At one point we while standing around chatting, all of a sudden someone comes on over the walkie-talkie and one of the guys mid sentence takes off running while yelling, “we’ve gotta go!” We all take off to where the rest of the gang was to help contain a fire that we were close to losing control of. This stuff happens. I felt like I was in one of my favorite movies, Twister. 

We did this all day until about 6:00pm when us Tulsans headed back to the ranch house to pack up and go home. We are fortunate to have ranch hands that live nearby to help keep an eye on things. Tired and exhausted, we finally took off at around 7:30, but (priorities first) we had to stop by Buck’s BBQ on the way home. I don’t know if it was the lack of food all day mixed with an excess of energy drinks, the fact that it was a long day of physical work, or that the food really was that good (it is), but that night I ate the most amazing steak I’ve ever had. With sides of onion rings and a baked potato, followed by a delicious slice of coconut cream pie, I went home full, happy, and sleepy. Everyone needs to make a trip up to Sedan to eat at Buck’s.

I was home by 10:30, asleep by 11:00, and back to the office by 8:30 the next morning. It was fun being greeted by my equally tired and sore coworkers, and hearing that the rest of the guys were moving a little more slowly that morning as well. I felt like I kept up well and am part of the ranch group now.

It was so fun to get out of my normal element and spend time with coworkers outside of the office. You learn a lot (such as Brian’s hatred of cedars and obsession with burning them down) and it’s great getting to share these experiences with anyone interested.

I really got to witness the hard work and long hours that are put in to maintaining a ranch and admire the teamwork and careful communication required to make safety a priority all while doing our part to preserve the prairies and take care of our cows!

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It’s a New Year!: Let’s Get Those Orders In.

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Hello readers!

It’s so good to be back to our normal routine. The last month has been very hectic with marketing, communication with customers, finalizing orders, communication with the butcher (we’re BFFs at this point), picking up and delivering beef. It’s been great but I’m ready to get caught back up and start a new year.

2018 was a success! It was our first year reaching out to the public with our beef and spreading the word about Grant Creek. We, especially I, learned a lot about the process and I feel we had a pretty smooth year. Now we’re ready to tackle 2019 and expand our customer base. My New Year’s resolution is to get us even more out in the world and continue to bring you more exciting articles and recipes!

Speaking of, I owe you a recipe. I was very excited to try a cut I have never personally made before. It was great, but you’re going to have to wait to find out the details.

So what was the first dish I made in the new year with my new batch of meat?……

….Nachos. Not very exciting. I wanted to share this picture below though. I am admittedly horrible at remembering to thaw meat ahead of time. I’m not sure it’s something that will change anytime soon. I don’t love defrosting in the microwave but I made an exception this time. This picture is AFTER I defrosted. The first thing you should notice is the plate isn’t full of liquid! Store bought beef is so often loaded with extra moisture and half of it escapes during the thawing process. It was so nice to know that I got a pound of beef and a true pound was my end result. I didn’t pay for weight I wasn’t getting in the end. 

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1lb of ground beef AFTER defrosting.

So now we’re starting over and want to explain what exactly that means for us. Obviously by now you’ve picked up on some aspects of our process through our blog posts and you’re familiar with some of the pros and cons of purchasing locker beef. Pros: Cost efficiency, availability and convenience, and health. Cons: Upfront Cost, can’t pick and choose, only available for purchase at certain times.

Let’s focus on that last one. We are not a retail store in which you can pick and choose what you want when you want it. Our beef is only available once or twice a year. This is something we will definitely expand on as we grow, but for now it is crucial that we know the interest of our customers early! Below is a better explanation of our process, timeline, and why we must know in advance if you are interested in placing orders.

Calves are Born

We have two separate herds of cows, one group calves in the spring (February and March) and the other group calves in the fall (September and October). About two months after they are born the new calves are gathered up and given identification ear tags. The calves remain with the herd, drinking their mother’s milk and grazing, for at least 6 months. After this time, they’re gathered up and weaned from the herd.

Calves are Weaned

The weaning time for the spring calves is November (they are approximately 8 to 9 months old at this time) and for the fall calves is May (they are approximately 7 to 8 months old at this time). At weaning time, we have to make a decision to either retain the calves or to sell the calves. For the November weaning time we will retain calves for our beef program based on the interest that we have received from our customers. The remaining calves are sold. Our usual market for the calves being sold in November is either the Eureka Sale Barn or the El Dorado Sale Barn. The retained calves are taken to our Carney, Oklahoma pre-conditioning ranch where they are weaned and then wintered. Wintering refers to the care and feed that the calves receive during the winter months when there is no available grass.  These cattle will graze forage left over from the summer, they will be given hay, and they will be given protein supplements. There is a rather high cost to wintering cattle (cost of labor, cost of hay, and cost of supplements), and we only choose to winter cattle that we know can be sold later in our beef program.

We take the fall calves weaned in May to the pre-conditioning ranch where they are weaned and then put out on Bermuda Grass pasture for 45 to 90 days.  After this period these calves are either sold or retained for our beef program. Again, any retained calves will have to be wintered, so we only retain those calves that we know can be sold later in our beef program. For these calves, this decision making time is July or August.

Retained Calves

Retained calves are pastured in Carney, Oklahoma over the winter and following summer. All of our grass-fed beef is harvested approximately 1 year after the calves are weaned.  Fall calves would be available in June the following year and the Spring calves would be available in November of the following year.  Our beef supplies are very limited since we only retain what we know we can sell. Knowing customer interest helps us to be able to determine how many of our calves to retain at weaning time.

What we need from YOU

It’s so easy to wait until the last minute for most things today, however as you have read we need enough notice to know how many calves to retain. So if you are interested in ordering for the first time, or even if you JUST received an order and know you will be out by November/December, please email us! Remember, we need a deposit to actually hold your portion. The reason we ask for this is because we have too many people express interest but then disappear when it’s closer to time. While taking people at their word would be nice, we run into problems if too many calves are retained and we get stuck with the extra beef. We need that small commitment in the beginning, but rest assured the balance is not due until the cows are slaughtered and weighed. This gives you plenty of time to save and prepare. All you need to do is go to our Contact page or fill out a Purchase Request and we will reach out to you!

Questions? Just ask! We are here to help in any way we can. We understand it can be a lot of information to take in if you’ve never purchased bulk beef before and there are no dumb questions. I promise we’re all very friendly here 😉

 

 

The Nature of Grant Creek Ranch

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Calves and Beef are obviously the big business of Grant Creek Ranch. Understandably, this is what we focus most of our time and effort on promoting. We have a great product to offer that we all stand behind 100%. Naturally we want to share that with the world, or at least our small part of the world for now, but in fact there is so much more to Grant Creek.

Curious calves staring back at the camera.
You have to admire how they stick together

The drive to our ranch is not unlike most one would experience in the central part of the U.S. Once you leave Tulsa and pass through the suburbs to follow you reach what most people probably envision when you tell them you’re from Oklahoma or Kansas: Flat nothing. Of course there’s so much more than that, but to the untrained eye it can seem desolate. What you see are flat fields of grass, hundreds of cows, the occasional house, hawks gliding through the air. It takes you to a quieter time before cities pushed further and further out. It’s fun to wonder about the people who live out this far. How often do they go grocery shopping? What’s the closest town to them? How much work does it take to maintain this much land? What do they do??

Black-Eyed Susans

While I love outdoorsy things and have no problem getting my hands dirty, I am admittedly a city girl at heart. I love the convenience and easy access to necessities and entertainment. Most of all, I love the style and look of “City.” For being in a southern state I’m not much of a southern girl (regardless of how much I may love biscuits and gravy or beans and cornbread). However, having just recently moved out to the “country” myself I can definitely see the benefits. It’s much quieter. I have talked to my neighbors more than I ever did living in town. Traffic isn’t much of an issue unless you run into the occasional slow tractor or loose cow. There definitely is something relaxing about being in the country and time seems to slow down, especially at the ranch.

Going further in our hypothetical drive towards the ranch it gets increasingly quieter and calmer, towns are even fewer and far between. You can tell the people around have to rely a lot more on their local resources. It’s a completely different atmosphere. Luckily this is where the scenery gets better with rolling hills starting to form, wide open skies and beautiful flowers. When you get to the ranch there’s open space for miles. You can’t help but stand and take in all the beauty you don’t get in a city. While pictures won’t do it justice it’s certainly the next best thing and I wanted to share them with our readers!

An empty bird’s nest
Swift apartments built up inside our shop
A hawk flies through the clear skies

Birds, and their lodgings, are everywhere at Grant Creek. I find the nests of the Swifts/Swallows to be the most interesting. They are built up all throughout the shop we use to house our big equipment. They use such a unique design you don’t often see. Hawks are another common bird that are so beautiful to watch as they gracefully glide through the air, giving the impression its an easy task.

I am amazed at the people who can identify certain types of flowers. It’s certainly not a talent or skill of mine so please comment below if you know what these are. Google is letting me down. For now, I will simply admire their beauty and all the colors. Maybe I’ve watched Disney’s Alice in Wonderland a few too many times, but looking at the purple/blue flower with yellow in the middle I can imagine it’s a little tiny woman twirling her glamorous dress all around her.

A spider relaxes on his soft petal seat
Butterflies can be found everywhere on the ranch
Look closely…there’s more to this picture than you may realize.

Of course, where there are flowers there are insects. I can’t say they’re my favorite things ever but I can appreciate the pictures. Look closely at the pictures above. Do you notice the little spider chilling on his purple chair? Most interesting of all, zoom in on the picture of the tall violet stem. There’s more than the big bumble bee to find here. Putting their awesome camouflage skills to perfect use is an insect hidden on almost every one of those buds. Can you see them? Does anyone know what these are or what type of flower this is?

It’s almost hard to believe that in all these big open spaces you can find so much. You have to look closely or they’re easy to miss. Photo credit goes to Steffanie, the wife of one of the ranch’s managing members. She has such an eye for catching these magnificent images while most of us rush on by. Thank you, Steffanie!

Two Places at Once: Our Locations Explained

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You might be wondering, or even confused, about our process and how we do things at the ranch, especially since you might have noticed I throw out Kansas and Oklahoma a lot. Why multiple locations? Let me explain.

As I have mentioned before in Ranch Day!!, our main ranch (Grant Creek) is in Cedar vale, KS. It is about 1,400 acres of beautiful pastures and creek. We also own some farm land in Carney, OK. Technically, these are all owned by Riverview Property Co., LLC. Riverview is an affiliate company of Marjo Operating Co., Inc., a small oil and gas company out of Tulsa, OK. This is where the blog magic happens. Mark and Brian run ranch operations with the help of a few guys both in Kansas and Oklahoma while I pass on all the information I hope you all enjoy reading. Then there are the other office duties like Accounting that go on at our Tulsa office as well.

All of our cows and bulls live at Grant Creek Ranch and all of the calves start out there. When calves are born, they stay with their mothers for about 6 months. During this time they roam free and are only caught once when they are tagged with ear tags. After this period, the cows are separated into two groups: Those that will be raised for meat and those that will be sold as calves.

Raised for meat

The calves that are kept to raise will go to the ranch in Carney, OK after they have reached 6 months old. The pastures they will graze are mostly Bermuda grass fertilized with nitrogen. This is safe for the cows and the meat and causes the grass to grow extremely fast, giving the calves plenty to eat. Of course there is a weaning period first. The calves are kept in a smaller area only for about a week. They are fed hay and supplemented with protein, similar to what we have to do in the winter. This is an important step because unfortunately this can be a stressful transition for calves and it can make them susceptible to certain health conditions. We want to make sure they are watched closely and kept calm. As you know we treat our cows well so we have never had any issues with their health or well-being. After this transition time, they are released into the pastures to continue grazing and grow.

Our current calves were born in February/March and will go to Carney in September. They will remain until they are about 1 1/2 years old, gaining approximately 3 pounds per day.

Calves to sell

All of our calves go through this similar process. The ones that are selected to sell will be weaned and then taken to Oklahoma City to be sold. It is better to sell them after the weaning process to ensure they do not develop any issues. This means they can be sold for a higher price and at less risk for the buyer. What happens to these calves next is up to the buyer. Some are sent to feed lots, others are probably sent to other pastures. Who knows, some might even be used for therapy. Yes, this is a thing. Read about it.

Delivery and Processing

Because we have farms locally in these locations, we focus on processing and delivery in these areas only. Someday we hope to grow to be able to branch out our business and offer our meat to a larger demographic. The cost of keeping the meat cold during shipping makes this at a challenge at the moment.

We do offer free delivery in Tulsa and can even make arrangements to have the meat processed at a closer location to you to make ordering easier and more convenient, depending on where you are.

Spread the word so we can start reaching more people and make the delivery process easier and more available for everyone!

Cow Appreciation: Treat ’em right!

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HAPPY COW APPRECIATION DAY!!!

We definitely appreciate our cows at Grant Creek Ranch. Beef is arguably the best meat out there…at least it’s my favorite.

Cows sacrifice a lot for us and in return we treat ours with the best care.

  • We do not inject our cows with hormones. Again, our main goal is not to produce giant animals. Our goal is to produce healthy, flavorful meat.
  • Our cows roam freely.  Feedlots are usually a stressful environment for an animal. If a cow is stressed it will produce adrenaline and other hormones that will affect the meat. Remember, we don’t want extra hormones.
  • We are a closed herd. We are not bringing cows in from just anywhere. We are careful in our selections. Doing this drastically reduces diseases and illness that can develop and be easily spread in a herd raised with less discretion.
  • We do not use unnecessary antibiotics. Feedlots are usually crowded, which leads to more sickness and disease, which leads to the need for antibiotics, which affects the meat. If we do not use these methods, it would make sense that we do not need unnecessary antibiotics, and frankly why would we waste the money on them just to be proactive? Now, just like if you are sick, sometimes it is a necessity to ensure the health of our cows, but we try to keep this to minimum.
  • We are never cruel. If a cow is in a stressful environment, it’d be natural to associate humans with that emotion meaning they are not as receptive to humans. Our cows are only handled a few times a year. What exposure they do have to us is always pleasant, therefore they are not scared and are very tame. Connect this to the points above and you can come to the conclusion that they will produce much more tender meat.

If you noticed, all of these points lead to another. Not all beef is the same and every aspect of their care absolutely has an impact on the product you are buying.

Plain and simple, it just makes sense this way.

 

Ranch Day!!

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Last Friday, we took a company outing to the Ranch in Cedar Vale, Kansas! What we thought was going to be a miserably hot day turned out to be quite nice and tons of fun.

To give you a bit more background, we actually are primarily a small oil & gas company out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, but we also own Riverview property Co., LLC, which has some rental houses in Midtown Tulsa and farms near Tonkawa, OK and another cow-calf operating in Carney, OK. As part of these ventures the owners’ dream of owning a ranch finally came true, bringing you Grant Creek Ranch: 1,420 acres of beautiful land in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

 

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Unfortunately, Ranch Day happened to fall on the hottest day we’ve had so far this year. Being in Oklahoma, the crazy weather never comes as much of a surprise. With a forecast of 95°, a heat index of 110°, and 70% humidity we honestly were expecting the worst. We packed up the cars with our lawn chairs, sunscreen, and bug spray and made the hour and a half long drive to Grant Creek.

What did come as a surprise was how nice the day actually ended up being. The huge tree in front of the ranch house provided the perfect amount of shade for our group accompanied by a nice cool breeze. We picked up BBQ from Buck’s BBQ in Sedan for a lunch of brisket, pulled pork, red potato salad, pies, and other goodness. This place is HIGHLY recommended if you’re ever in the area. Delicious food, cold beer, and great friends: what else could you ask for?

 

Next, we took a tour of the ranch to see the many pastures, shady creek, and of course…our cows. There are so many kinds of birds and flowers to admire, old structures left on the property made our imaginations soar, and the views are spectacular with nothing but land and sky for miles and miles.

 

Most of our employees are not directly involved with the ranch so it was great for them to be able to finally see what it’s all about and all the work that is put into it. I was particularly excited to see everything as I am involved in more of the background work, this blog included. To finally be able to physically experience it made my already amazing job that much better. Heck, I even learned how to drive the tractor! They’ll be putting me to real work in no time.

 

I’m drivin’ a tractor!
Mark, one of our fearless leaders
Brian, the other owner, and his dad.

At the end of the day, we were all thankful for the road trip and can’t wait to do it again soon.

 

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Update on Beef Sales

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2018 Grass Fed Beef Sales – Tulsa Area

Our beef will be ready to be picked up from the processor in late December 2018.  The hanging weight should still be the same as discussed in the sales page and the price will still be $3.99/lb hanging weight plus processing. We still have some beef left to sell, so if you are interested in beef for 2018 please take a look at the sales page for details on reserving your beef. There is a form that you can fill out to get in touch with us. We will get in touch with everyone who has reserved beef in about a month to discuss payment of your deposit which will guarantee your beef for 2018.

2019 Grass Fed Beef Sales – Tulsa Area

We are already planning for 2019 beef sales and if there is enough interest we may have beef sales in July 2019 and November 2019. Our normal beef sales time is late in the year, but we understand that some people may want beef before this date. If you are interested in beef for either date in 2019 then please fill out the form on the sales page and in the comments section let us know that you are interested in either summer or winter 2019 beef purchase.

Update on Calf Purchases – Oklahoma City Area

We have for sale 1 year old weaned calves that have had one round of shots and are eating out of a trough. These calves are located at our Carney, Oklahoma pre-conditioning facility and may be delivered from here if you are interested. If you are interested in purchasing these calves please fill out the form on the sales page and let us know. We will then be in touch with you to arrange a time for you to take a look at the calves and to discuss pricing and delivery of the calves.

Calves for Purchase

 

May is Beef Month!

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Happy Beef Month, everybody!

We are excited to be really focusing on getting the word out about our grass-fed beef this year. We stand behind our practices 100% and believe we sell a great product. In doing some reading this morning I came across Don’t Forget You Are Eating An Animal,  a great article that perfectly sums up a lot of our thoughts.

Certain diets have been mentioned on our website a few times recently, especially in our post about Bone up on Health: Grass-fed Beef and the Diets of Today. Grant Creek Ranch actually has no stance on any particular way of eating, however we are definitely behind the overall benefits of consuming wholesome, unprocessed grass-fed beef.

We’ve talked extensively about why you should make the switch to grass-fed.

  • Health: Not just the nutritional aspects, but the animal itself. The way we raise our cows results in less disease, stress, and other unpleasantness that can sometimes come from cows raised in feed-lots.
  • Treatment: Like the article mentions, humane treatment of our animals is one of our responsibilities as a calf-cow operation and we believe it truly makes a difference in the quality of meat you’re getting. Honestly, it’s even simpler than that. Where is the sense in mistreating our cows? What does it get us?
  • Cost: We’ve talked about why cost is a huge factor. It can get complicated, but in reality you’re saving so much by buying in bulk up front, having that meat ready to go at any given time rather than eating out, and not wasting money on questionable quality.

So, in celebration of Beef Month go grill up a beautiful, medium-rare steak slathered in garlic butter and thank a local farmer. Don’t forget to also start making plans for our beef sales later this year! Contact us if interested!

Fire!: The Benefits of Controlled Burning

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There is a surprising enemy of the native grass pastures and that is: Trees! More specifically the Red Cedar, Osage Orange (Hedge Apple), and Locust trees.  Among these, others are lurking such as weeds and parasites. The Tall Grass Prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems and the only way to keep this ecosystem healthy is by using prescribed burns.

At Grant Creek Ranch our goal is to preserve, restore, and enhance this important ecosystem found at our farm. A prescribed burn will kill any new seedlings that try to come up which will aid in keeping the pasture tree-free for the following year. It reduces the need to spray for weeds and may reduce internal parasites which live in the pastures over the winter. Finally, it will enhance grazing by the cattle which we know contributes to all that delicious grass-fed goodness.

So how does it work? Areas that burn the best contain the most grass fuel. These just happen to be the least grazed areas from the past grazing year.  Vice versa, areas that will burn the least are the heavily grazed areas from the past grazing year since there is not as much grass fuel.  After a burn, new grass will quickly grow and the cattle will want to eat the new grass over having to pick through last year’s dead grass to get to the new growth. So the areas that burn the best, the under grazed areas from the year before, will be grazed during the new grazing year while the overgrazed area from the year before will not burn as well and the cattle will not graze this area as heavily because there is not as much new grass.  This effectively rotates the cattle to new areas of the pasture and forces them to graze more efficiently.

Read more about the benefits of burning!