OUR PROCESS
for making grass silage starts by maintaining the lawns of our neighbors. It is very important to us that our animals are given only the best grass silage. Our lawn service clients are like minded people that want what’s best for the animals as well as what is best for the environment. The lawns we collect grass from to make our silage are pesticide and herbicide free. The grass we collect is taken back to the farm and made into silage. This silage is stored until the winter months and fed out when the animals cannot graze.This new farming method allows us to:
- Provide a symbiotic, local relationship between the community and the farm.
- Use less land, as the lawns of our neighbors become our source for winter feed.
- Use less energy in the form of machines and fuel. After mowers cut the grass, the clippings are hand packed into silage bags and stored for the winter months.
- The Sustainable Steer generates revenue from producing feed (lawn maintenance) as well as selling beef. This allows us to cover the costs of raising animals with fewer animals per acre.
The conventional farm must raise more animals quicker on smaller plots of land to cover the costs of leasing hay fields and the costs of machinery and fuel. To do this, the diet of the steer is altered unnaturally with growth hormones and feed supplements to grow larger animals faster
Our animals are allowed to mature naturally in a stress free environment. We do not give them growth hormones or antibiotics. The meat we sell contains no dyes or additives.
In the conventional farming model, large areas of land, machinery and fuel are used to support the food needs of the community. These farms are usually not located near the communities they are feeding due to the costs of land and labor.
The Traditional Farming Method:
- Typically leases or owns large tracts of land for hay production.
- Owns numerous tractors and implements to make hay. Here is the simplified process outlined:
- Long grass is cut by a tractor towing a cutter and then allowed to dry
- The cut grass is then rolled over by another tractor implement to ensure even drying. The grass then sits and dries some more.
- The tractor then tows a bailer that compresses the grasses into rolls or cube shaped bails.
- Bails of hay are then put on a trailer and brought back to a barn to sit until they are fed out in the winter.
- The conventional does not necessarily need to have any relationship to the community it serves. Often meat is processed and shipped large distances before it reaches the market.
- Farms need to produce more animals to cover the costs of the machinery and land used to produce beef steer. This usually leads to the use of growth hormones, feed supplements, antibiotics and pasture or feedlot overcrowding.
