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Country
Natural Beef / Oregon
Country Beef Dear
Country Natural Beef / Oregon Country Beef Customers, With
recent media attention such as the New York Times article “Power Steer” and
the Frontline documentary on PBS “Modern Meat”,
we have received a lot of questions concerning corn fed beef.
Many of our customers responding to these articles want to know what
makes Country Natural Beef / Oregon Country Beef different. Country
Natural Beef / Oregon
Country Beef's philosophy is that our taste and tenderness comes from the
natural environment, not fat.
Our animals are on grass 15-18 months and in the feedlot for an
approximate 90 day finishing period. This feedlot time is important as a common
gathering place to assure a constant weekly supply of cattle finished to a
marbling level (tiny specs of fat in the muscle) of high Select/low Choice.
The
NY Times piece is based on putting 6 month old calves on hot feed for 180 to 210
days. We NEVER use Rumensin or Tylan or any other type of feed antibiotic. Our feedlot ration is cooler (not a high gain, hot ration) and in harmony with the animal's natural system so that we don't need or use those products. At Beef Northwest, the C.N.B. / O.C.B. feedlot ration per John Wilson's (Beef NW) letter on the C.N.B. / O.C.B. web site states that our cattle ration has been reduced during the feedlot period to 30% corn and barley grain as opposed to the 80% as an industry average. Excerpt follows: BNW
has altered the conventional approach to the animal’s energy requirements and
has substituted high-energy food products from potato processing and flour
milling for part of the corn and barley grain needs that are part of a typical
ration. BNW has been able to reduce
grain usage from 80% to approximately 30% of the ration by substituting these
food products. An important part of
the OCB-BNW relationship is aimed at utilizing available feed sources and
creating an environmentally friendly approach to a unique food production and
management system. The use of any
animal by-products, antibiotics, hormonal implants and genetically modified
feeds are banned from use in this feeding program We
hope you’ve found this information useful as we work together for the ongoing
sustainability of our businesses. Thank
you for your continued support of Oregon Country Beef. The
O.C.B. Marketing Team |
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