After months of reworking our family farming adventure called GrassKickin Farms, farmer-Shane and his incredible wife, sweet-Melissa, along with our crazy teenagers (Madisson, Connor, and Carrson) have grass-fed beef, lamb and eggs to offer on a functioning website.  Faced with the challenges of growing, processing, and  distributing multiple farm animal species, we got overwhelmed!  Financing the farming process of several different animals that grow at different rates with different needs and challenges with multiple processing facilities became unsustainable.  Changes had to be made, so we first addressed the farming side of things to make tough decisions about what we really wanted to grow and why we believed in the importance of pasture based farming.

As part of the process of determining our why and what, we decided not to continue growing poultry, except for our laying hens.  We also decided to step back from the pig growing for now, but we may revisit those piggies in the future…we love bacon too!  In both cases, the animals growth is highly dependent on commercial feed, albeit organic or non-gmo, it is still tied to commodity pricing and hard to pencil in small batches.  Our authenticity is important and it is farmer-Shane’s opinion that finishing animals on just grass is truly the healthiest and most natural way grow meat.  It is not natural for chicken broilers, turkeys, or pigs be supplied with enough grain to grow up to harvest weight in as little as eight weeks for broilers or only five months for pigs.  I am sure there is more to discuss on this topic in the future.  For reasons of efficiency in processing and distribution, it will be much easier for us to be more focused on fewer types of meat and how to simplify our process while keeping the high quality grass-fed health benefits.

When we looked closer at how to offer our grass-fed goodness, we kept going back to simple and easy to supply.  So, we created a simple grass-fed bundle that can be stored in most kitchen freezers without needing a separate freezer.  We use 1 lb USDA packaging for all of the grass-fed beef bundles, so all of the roast cuts and many of the steak cuts are pre-cut in 1 lb packages for portion control, more efficient distribution and easier preparation for our customers.  We will still offer the prime steaks, organ meats, and marrow bones as side orders.  To make ordering easier, customers will be able to order from our website.  To make distribution more efficient we will have bi-monthly pickup days at the farm, drop locations, and shipping options.

Oh yeah, we are workin’ on grass-fed beef jerky that is 100% Paleo!  The jerky is made from tender small strips that have delicious infused flavor enhancing  the grass-fed beef flavor instead of covering it up with a heavy marinade.  We are using quality grass-fed cuts and perfecting the subtle but complex flavor that makes it a great yummy healthy whole food snack.

Our goal is simple; to grow super healthy grass-fed meat that our customers can get consistently and eat easily as part of their weekly routine.  Go grass-fed!