APPLES TO APPLES IS BEST WHEN BUYING LOCAL

My daughters and I just returned from a pilgrimage to the annual New Hampshire Farm and Forest Expo. It was a wonderful experience full of farming lectures and commercial displays. I mostly attended the lectures on food safety and farmer's market strategies. I was most impressed with the newly launched Virtual Farmer's Market site. I predict this will prove to be a very powerful and successful tool to align the consumer and local producer year round. Everyday the site is welcoming yet more and more local farmers of all sorts. With basic skills even the most novice e shopper can navigate the site with ease. Many questions were asked by the audience at the Expo in regards to pricing.This seems to be one of the most difficult topics when shopping for local farm grown items. The producers ask, "what is a fair price?" The consumer asks "what should I pay?"

You should expect to pay the price of what the goods are worth. Well, that sounds less than profound until you really unravel the world of local produce and meats. The producer should be able to track all inputs on spread sheets (or napkins) and estimate what the break even price is. Once this is determined the margin is added and the final price is calculated. From this point the producer must ask the question, does the quality of my product really merit that price or does it still need some work? My beef raising experience started out as an accident. We processed some skinny Holstein steers. The butcher laughed and My mother complained how tough they were. None of my friends who bought them complained but the chainsaw in the kitchen was a dead give away. I raised a free lamb for each person as a peace offering and everyone to this day is a loyal customer. The rub to the story, I charged very little for my beef experiment and everyone cut me a break. Since that time we sell only premium black Angus cross cattle fed to choice professionally. And guess what, you pay a premium. And guess what, its 100% guaranteed!We're always happy to eat our mistakes. The key to producer pricing is honesty. If it needs work, sell it for what it is at a fair price and try to break even. The consumer will judge the product on how it was sold. Be humble and sell what you have for the price its worth.

Now as a buyer, its buyer beware. You must compare apples to apples. If one product is not guaranteed and one is you have to ask yourself why that is. If someone just started and they are the highest in the market, how can that be? Just because its the most expensive does not mean its the best. In fact the larger we get we enjoy the benefits of "economies of scale". This allows us to sell at one of the lowest prices in the market. We offer a buyers check list on our website. I encourage buyers to price me against the competition, but have the check list of what you should ask so you don't get taken. Everything is not the same. In the beef market for instance there are "premiums" you should expect to be charged for if they can be proven. Beef premiums are charged for: local, all natural, no antibiotics, no hormones, no animal byproducts, organic,grass fed, black Angus, and so forth. If they say its all natural, they should be able to prove it, if not don't pay it! On the other hand, it is unfair to expect that much quality to be reduced to standard grocery store prices. Our product is on par with and is priced against other national premium brands. As far as produce there are premiums charged for such things as "certified organic", heirloom vegetables and fruits. Eggs are a great one. I actually am amazed when my bride has me go shopping how expensive the grocery store eggs are and how many options that little cholesterol bomb has to offer. I find the farmer's market eggs a steal for the quality the offer. Shopping with a checklist for eggs can be challenging...They can be organic, free range, cage free pastured and rich in omega 3 fatty acids. I generally glaze over at the farmers market when all that comes up and hope for rain!

Humane Cattle Handling-No fork lifts allowed

By now anybody not living under a rock has read about or viewed the clip on Utube capturing the heinous treatment of the downer cow at the California packing plant. It is beyond unfortunate that events such as this occur in the year 2008. So the question that is on everyone's mind as they bite into their next cheese burger... Is this standard operational procedure or they a just a few bad apples? The beef industry is suffering from issues such as Mad Cow disease, E. Coli scares, and images of "factory farms". So what is it really like on the inside?

Cattle handling by individuals in the system has never been better. You might say in the context of the above, that's odd. The current thinking on cattle handing has come a long way from yelling, whistling, and prodding to the behavioral information put forth by Temple Grandin in her book Animals In Translation. Handling and moving cattle has come to be understood as a behavioral issue not a physical one. Cattle handling systems at all levels should be designed to capitalize on cattle behavior not rope em' cowboy techniques. When we move cattle its body english not forklifts. Visual stimulation with flags on sticks replace electric prods. Calm quiet employees moving cattle in a safe controlled fashion should be the norm.

The industry has learned that from early on cattle have to be calm quiet and not stressed. This leads to good quality meat on the plate. From the time they are calves to the end of the road this applies. In fact, difficult to handle and wild cattle should be culled early on as they have been found to have tough meat not to mention a safety issue.

So how does a farm go about learning the best cattle management practices? Many farms across the nation have become Beef Quality Assurance farms. This is a course that teaches the farmer to manage their cattle with the highest quality standards in the industry. Rock Farm is certified by Purdue University and we apply these standards to our cattle.

Correct humane cattle handling does not stop at the farm gate. Livestock truckers can become certified in best practices for trucking cattle also. Remember poor handling that produce stressed and bruised cattle only equals money hard earned out the window. Which of course no one wants to see happen.

And Finally at the packing plant safe unloading once again focusing on correctly designed loading docks, alleys and pens is a must.

Treatment of downer animals should be no less than any other in the system. Once an animal is deemed a downer proper procedure should be pursued in a swift and humane fashion. Protocols should be in place to manage this issue at all levels of production. It goes without saying that these animals should never enter the food chain. The U.S. continues to have the highest quality and safest food supply in the world.

Hopefully these rouge employees will be brought to justice and a few bad apples don't spoil the rest of the bunch.