Welcome to the Ranch!

Beef often gets a bad rap from doctors.  Patients have been told time and time again to cut back on their consumption of red meat.  People relate heart disease and cholesterol to beef as well.  Chicken farmers certainly appreciate this phenomena because chicken is then seen as one of the few healthy alternatives to beef.

My husband grew up in a home with three women.  His dad passed away when he was young; therefore, he was surrounded by his mother and two older sisters.  When I met him, he was relieved that I liked beef and knew how to prepare it.  He told me that all they ever ate at his home was chicken.  After all, chicken as everyone knows is much better for you or so his family thought.

This is just an example to illustrate the need to educate yourself.  It is difficult to question your doctor.  They have spent years learning about health and your body.  Who are you to question their expertise?

The cookbook that will change the way you eat.

Well, I question everything.  I read and research for myself.  I am certainly drawn to information in which there seems to be no incentive except for finding the truth.  This is one of the reasons that I appreciate Sally Fallon.  She is the President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and author of the cookbook, Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats.

I wrote a Review of Nourishing Traditions for Texas Homesteader.  If you are interested in learning more about her book, please check it out.  Ms. Fallon has written an interesting article entitled, “It’s the Beef.”  It is a lengthy article full of information, but I wanted to give you a taste by including a small section in this article.

Is Beef Good For You?

What a shame we have demonized red meat because this is one modern food, enjoyed by almost everybody, that is rich in nutrients. Red meat provides complete protein, including sulphur-containing proteins like cysteine. Beef is a wonderful source of taurine and carnitine, needed for healthy eyes and a healthy heart. Beef also provides another key nutrient for the cardiovascular system—coenzyme Q10.

Beef is an excellent source of minerals like magnesium and zinc—you need zinc for clear thinking and a healthy sex life. The fuzzy-headedness that vegetarians mistake for heightened consciousness is really the fog of zinc deficiency. Vitamin B₆ is abundant in meat, especially rare meat. Red meat is one of the best sources of vitamin B₁₂, which is vital to a healthy nervous system and healthy blood. Vegetarians are especially prone to vitamin B₁₂ deficiency. One of the first signs of vitamin B₁₂ deficiency is a tendency to irrational anger-—so much for vegetarian claims that we will have a more peaceful, harmonious world if we all just stop eating meat.

As much as I would like world peace, I do not want to give up the health benefits of grass fed beef.  How boring would that be at dinner time?

I try to post health and diet information on this site as it pertains to beef and/or grass fed beef.  If learning more about health and nutrition interests you, read more on the Weston A. Price Foundation, buy the book Nourishing Traditions, or enroll in the Real Food for Rookies cooking class.

The latter is a new course held by Kelli the Kitchen Kop.  For years she has studied Sally Fallon’s book and methods in addition to being a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation.  She is offering a 12-week cooking course about real food.  To see the class schedule, click here.  Class #4 is all about “Choosing the Right Meats.”

You can take the course on your own time and at your own convenience.  Registration is on-going until September 15th.  Then the first class begins on the 16th.

Whatever you decide to do, educate yourself about the real foods, especially about beef.  You don’t want to miss eating such a versatile and flavorful option for your dinner plate.  You can then say with confidence, “Beef, It’s what’s for dinner.”

I field many emails and phone calls each week.  I am happy to receive them and work hard to answer the questions posed to me.  Many people are looking for other grass fed meats in addition to beef.  We get inquiries on chicken, pork, and lamb, too.  Some people also want to know what produce is available.  We also get questions about our goat milk.

Both my dad and my immediate family raise our own vegetable garden.  We enjoy seasonal produce throughout the year.  I am currently preparing my soil for our fall garden.  A long growing season is one of the great things about living in this temperate climate.

Our gardens are good producers.  We eat all we can, put up some more, and give the rest away.  But, we do not sell it to the public.  We farm the land for ourselves.

My family raises hogs once a year.  We milk dairy goats.  We raise chickens and enjoy fresh free-range eggs.  We also raise rabbits and we had a sheep until it recently grew old and died.  We also raise ducks.

All of our animals are for our own consumption.  My husband might make sausage and give it away to family and friends, but it is not for sale.  We might give away a surplus of eggs and occasionally we accept a tip for the eggs, but we do not have enough to go into the egg business.

Twice a day we milk our goat.  She gives more than we can consume in a day.  We freeze some for future use.  We make ice cream and yogurt.  I make and do sell goat milk soap.  But, we are not licensed by the state of Texas to sell raw goat milk nor do we want to seek that route.

If goat milk is what you are interested, I can refer you to a great dairy in the area.  Swede Farm is a family-owned and operated goat dairy that sells pasteurized and raw goat milk and related products.  Tell Tim and Leeanne Carlson that I sent you.

Currently Cross Creek Cattle Company is only in the grass fed beef business.  We are working towards opening a store here on the ranch in which customers can purchase cuts of beef in addition to ordering 1/4, 1/2, and whole portions.  This is our next step.

From there we will see what the needs of our customers are.  We are not ruling out the expansion of our ranch into other meats.  If and when we decide to expand in the future, you will be the first to know.  Until then, let us supply your family with flavorful, healthy grass fed beef.  Call or write today to get on our waiting list.

Some of our Beefmaster cattle.

Over a decade ago, Cross Creek Cattle Company  decided to raise the Beefmaster breed.  Beefmasters are a combination of the Shorthorn, Brahman, and Hereford breeds.  There are “Six Essentials” of the breed.  Beefmasters are known for their disposition, fertility, weight, conformation, milk production, and hardiness.

My dad calls them “fertile and functional”, especially in our climate.  Being able to withstand the heat in the summer and tolerate the cold in the winter is an important characteristic of Beefmasters.

Since this is a family-owned and operated ranch, many different generations help out on the ranch.  From the grandparents to the grandchildren, we all work together to work the cattle.  Therefore, the safety of our family is the most important to us.

I personally have five children ranging in age from 14 to 2.  We live on the ranch.  We enjoy roaming the pastures on walks and bike rides.  We ride horses all over the property.  In doing so, we also mingle with the cattle while they are being rotated from pasture to pasture.

The Beefmaster breed is known for having a great disposition.  It is the number one essential characteristic.  They are naturally docile.  I do not worry about my children amongst the herd.  I do not fear for them when they are helping work the cattle.

Has anything bad ever happened to us in the pasture with the herd?  No.  The cattle are not phased by our presence.  When my husband brings hay in the winter or refills their free-choice minerals, they come greet him.  Even the bull does not make us uneasy.

Have we ever had an accident while working cattle?  Yes, but only a few in all the years we have raised them.  This is the most dangerous time around cattle.  You are moving them.  They are stirred up.  You are pushing them down a narrow alleyway or in a squeeze chute.  They outweigh you about 5 times.  Something is bound to happen every once in a while.

Without the great disposition of the Beefmaster breed, many more accidents would occur.  We would not feel comfortable with our children helping and working by our side.  Working cattle would be much more dangerous, limited to only older, stronger, and experienced cowboys.

If you are looking into different breeds of cattle for your ranch, we recommend Beefmasters, especially if you are planning to involve your family in the venture.  To learn more about the breed, go to Beefmaster Breeders United.  Being a family operated ranch is very important to us at Cross Creek Cattle Company.  Raising the next generation of ranchers is near and dear to our hearts.

If you are a seasoned rancher or just beginning your ranching adventure, Texas A&M University holds a three-day short course for you.  It is almost always the first week of August, which I realize is late for you this year, but mark your calendars for next August.  This event is held on campus in College Station, Texas.

It is a great event in the ranching community that draws people from all over the world.  Dr. Jason Cleere, who grew up in the same area as we live, heads the whole course.  TAMU is known world-wide for its premiere agriculture and animal science programs and research.  At this short course, the university combines its knowledge and discoveries in various seminars with a trade show and social events.

The Beef Cattle Short Course is not only informative, but it is fun.  It is a way to meet and mingle with fellow ranchers and make contacts.  The trade show provides an opportunity to see and hear what is new in the cattle industry.

Last year, the short course actually told ranchers to not get involved with grass fed beef.  They claimed that it was a fad and was hurting the cattle industry.  My husband just rolled his eyes.  Sometimes it takes people a long time to accept change.

This year they put on an entire seminar explaining the differences between organic, all-natural, and grass fed beef.  A woman rancher spoke about her grass fed operation in Texas.  I think the tide has turned.  Perhaps, TAMU is seeing that consumers want an opportunity to purchase beef that is raised naturally on the range.  They want a healthier alternative to traditionally raised beef.  Maybe they realize that grass fed beef is not a fad, but here to stay.

Regardless of TAMU’s stance on grass fed beef, the Beef Cattle Short Course is a valuable tool for the modern-day rancher.  You learn a vast amount of information.  You take home an immense volume that includes all the slides and information from each seminar.  This way you get all the information and do not worry about missing something or choosing the wrong seminar to attend.

My husband said there were about 1300 ranchers in attendance.  If you are interested in attending the 2011 Beef Cattle Short Course, check out course’s website for all the information and the dates.  I will try my best to remind you in an article here on “Welcome to the Ranch.”

For years someone from Cross Creek Cattle Company has attended the short course.  We feel it is a small investment in our future.  We have been ranching for so long in our family, but there is always something new to learn.  The cattle market and industry change, and we like to keep abreast of the climate to better serve our ranch and, of course, our grass fed customers.  We highly recommend the three-day course for anyone interested in ranching.