Chances are that at some point in your lives you had an opportunity to visit a farmer market or roadside stand.  In the last eight years, the number of farmers’ markets has increased almost 80% percent, and there are now over 3,000 markets nationwide.  Approximately 20,000 farmers sell their products only at farmer markets.

Farmer markets are making a comeback from New York City to Los Angles.  Virtually every city and town, large and small has access to a farm market that sells locally grown and raised products.  Locally grown is generally defined as having been produced within a certain distance from the market.  These markets are a great way to support the small family farm.

As many grass fed producers who finish their animals on grass we have come to understand the importance of breed selection in the quality of the beef we produce.  Many fellow grass farmers are returning to heritage breeds in beef, poultry and swine as they journey back to the basics in livestock production. 

Beef characteristics such as tenderness, cut out, disposition, birth weight, age at maturation (finished weight) and even loin size all affect the finished product.  At American Grass Fed Beef we have returned to the shorter-legged English types that reach puberty earlier and finish faster on grazing conditions.  Further, we select for those animals that do particularly well in our specific environment, those momma cows that maintain their body weight through the winter and through the lactation period on our hill country.  In many cases this has meant a return to the cattle that are the breed types of pre-WWII (pre-feedlot) era.