News From Rockin J Cattle
July / August ---- 2008

News From The Ranch

Summer has finally arrived!

The hard winter has created lots of opportunities for us. These opportunities have created a larger than normal work load, delaying this edition.

We have two great young individuals helping this summer. We have been busy irrigating, building new fences, and moving our cattle.  Blake and Ian are hoping to grow greens for the farmers market in Steamboat Springs this summer. 
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 Orange Peel Beef 
 
I have not been able to create a new recipe for this issue, as I have been too busy irrigating.  Though I was going to focus on incorporating orange peel into the recipe.  Orange peel as it aids in the digestion of fatty foods. 
 
Orange Peel is also a source of pectin, an indigestible carbohydrate that stimulates the growth of probiotic= bacteria in the large intestine. These bacteria help prevent food-borne pathogens. Orange Peel has also been shown to aid in the prevention of indigestion, lower cholesterol, and help in the digestion of fatty foods.  
 
I will have an update on my website by late July or early August, with a creation of my own.  For now, the orange peel beef recipe comes from cooks.com.
 
The External Costs of Conventional Agriculture

While we all tend to focus on the direct costs of our consumption.  We need to begin focusing upon the hidden costs associated with our actions.  With pollution we try to regulate the amount, still passing those costs on to society as a whole.

Agriculture seems to have little in the way of externalized costs.  Though, looking at the recent flooding in the Midwest, one  begins to see those costs.  As we have moved away from pastoral based agriculture, to conventional methods, we have lost much of the water holding capacity of our soils, causing erosion, and flooding through the central US. 

Studies have shown that native prairie soils can absorb 5 to 7 inches of rainfall per hour. When corn and soybeans are grown on those same soils, the water absorption rate is reduced to just 0.5 to 1.5 inches of rainfall per hour. Sixty-five percent of Iowa's land area is planted to corn and soybeans. The manyfold reduction in the soil's ability to absorb rain on so many acres - in combination with extensive tile drainage to remove water from crop fields as fast as possible - makes corn and soybean cropland clearly the major contributor of flood waters to Iowa rivers during heavy rainfall.

While this year brought flooding to the Midwest, next year may bring drought.  The water holding capacity of the prairie soils, also reduces the effects of drought.  Soil organic matter has declined from 10% of a soils composition, to 1-3% in conventional row cropping.  Every pound of organic matter can hold 3 pounds of water in our soils.  The loss of organic matter within our soils, increases the volatility of food production, and may have worsened the drought in Georgia last year.

Returning to a pastoral based farming system, incorporating rotational grazing systems to mimic how the prairies evolved, in our production of meat and dairy products, we will reduce/eliminate many of the external costs of modern agriculture, which we do not pay for directly, but may be too costly to not look into changing.  Demanding grass finished beef, lamb and pastured chickens is one way to bring about change.

See what the Des Moines Register has to say on the subject...