WELCOME TO RIVER DAVES PLACE

Havasu's Fort Rock Farms, the story of a fat guy and his wife.

wash11

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A fat guy tired of being fat tries every fad diet and exercise program available and fails miserably. After playing that game for a couple years, same fat guy gives real food a chance at the urging of his skinny doctor and a 560 cholesterol level. During this journey, fat guy realizes that finding real food in Havasu is damn near impossible so regularly travels to farms/ranches and farmers markets to buy what he needs. Fat guy really likes the people he’s meeting and admires the life they live and asks fat guys wife if she’d be interested in starting a farm. Fat guys wife is cool as shit and says, “absolutely.” This excites fat guy in his pants. Too bad fat guy can’t see this excitement without bending over. Fat guy is determined to fix this.



The story behind the “why” really is that simple. How a fat, Coors Light guzzling river rat turned aspiring first generation farmer came to feed 500+ families annually while holding on to the offseason dream of eventual cab-over camper living on the Parker Strip with an old Hallett flatty buoyed offshore, not so simple.



A lot of you have met my wife, Amy. She’s one in a million, and I intend to grow very old with her, which meant getting my shit together physically. After seven years of practicing what I preach and eating what I sell, I’ve made it. Am I the chiseled picture of perfection? Nope. Saggy skin, some stretch marks, and a good 10-12lbs of cushion on the love handles to keep Amy happy- that’s me. But, I’m down 60lbs and have kept it off for a few years now, and my blood work comes back perfect every six months. My cardio is great; muscle mass is decent for my age too. I can outwork most 25 year old’s, wear my granddaughter out and (mom, cover your eyes) bang my wife good enough to make her walk like a baby giraffe several times per week.



To me, “I’m there” means a balance of staying active and eating clean but also having a couple nights per month with frozen Patron shots, too many Coors Lights, and about 7 million pounds of chips and salsa. The following morning is typically started with a “fuck me,” then a decent meal and sweat my way through the days chores, and then I’m back on track till the next round of bad choices.



Hopefully, this thread will entertain you late 40 somethings that feel the pains I used to feel and give me an opportunity for shameless plugs for our farm business.
IMG_0366.jpg


From 261 down to 185
IMG_0888.jpg


Me and the wife who refuses to wear clothes in the summer. I started doing push ups and light workouts with a set of adjustable dumbbells' a couple years ago and put on about 15lbs of muscle. The nearest gym is an 80 mile round trip so I do what I can (it ain't much) but add in loading my own hay and 5000-6000lbs monthly in 50lb sacks of feed while upping my protein intake with eggs, ground beef and extra steaks. I've held 200-205 longer than I can remember

IMG_9580.JPG


Fast forward to today, our most popular weekly offerings for home delivery. (Home delivery way before Covid made it cool!)

After raising thousands of Cornish cross meat chickens on grass pasture, we have it down to near perfection. Raising and processing them like we do produces a flavor and tenderness not found anywhere else. Horror stories of unsanitary conditions and illnesses are eliminated.

$25.00 Whole birds, frozen and ready to cook, delivered to your door.

$15.00 Cornish game hens, frozen and ready to cook, delivered to your door.
31.jpg

IMG_8984.JPG

IMG_0897.jpg


$16.50 Grass-fed ground beef in 2lb packages. We grind an entire steer, leaving all the prime cuts in for a flavor and texture you can’t find anywhere else. Brisket, sirloins, chuck, tri-tip, rib-eye, T-bone, porterhouse- it’s all left in there, dry-aged for tenderness and flavor before being ground.

79854239_2459864977666813_6344755384502190080_o.jpg


Specialties like beef and chicken liver and heart, beef tongue, oxtail are typically in stock as well.

Raw food diet for your dogs? Beef bones, heart, liver, kidney, sweetbread, and chicken organs are always ready for $5.00lb.

$25.00 for Amy’s super popular do it yourself beef bone broth kit. 5 meaty pounds of bones plus organic spices and Amy’s simple recipe, and you’re getting a blast of healthy collagen to repair the damage you did to yourself over summer!
1.JPG

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Not weekly, of course, but year-round we custom raise beef by the ¼ ½ and whole. We try to have the wait times down to just a couple months now. $100 per ¼ deposit gets you going. We have a ton of happy references and repeat customers right here on RDP.
IMG_7317.JPG

A smaller 1/4 we kept for ourselves in a 14cu ft standup.
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IMG_E0682.JPG

steer3.JPG


We also raise honeybees and sell about 6 gallons of honey each year.
IMG_6948.JPG

104.jpg



We’ll go into detail in future posts regarding what and how we raise things along with the mechanical process of how all this works. Lots of learning, changes, and ridiculous failures getting to this point and I'll talk about them all.

Hit the website at fortrockfarms.com to sign up for the email or message me here and I’ll add your address manually. Like our Facebook page as well since we seem to update that more than anything. I’m available for questions or orders anytime at 928-486-4043 or Amy 928-208-0611.

Delivery is typically Tuesday but we try to do one weekend delivery per month for out of town customers. About half our RDP customers have Amy just load their fridge or freezers during the week so the farm goodies are there for them when they show up for the weekend.

We’d love it if any of our existing customers chimed in on this thread as well. Always love seeing your meal pics.
 
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wash11

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You ever thought of turkeys? It's hard to find a good fresh turkey for Thanksgiving these days.
There's not much we haven't considered at this point and a bunch of stuff we've jumped into with mild success. Turkey's are pretty fragile and don't do well at our high elevation and high desert temperature swings. It's doable but we are constantly trying to walk the line of enjoying what we do with enough profit left over for date night after the bills are paid.
All that said, we've worked hard to dial in year round cash flow and can't seem to make Turkeys pencil out in our plans. And, fuck me they are loud.
 

Carlson-jet

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I wish I was closer.
I REALLY enjoy your posts as they are very inspiring.
I love how you have turned AZ dirt into a thriving healthy bountiful lifestyle. There really are no words.
Thanks for sharing the adventure.
 

DILLIGAF

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Well done! All that hard work has really paid off. Most impressive thing to me is you got your kids on board as well.

my favorite was the pork products. Unbelievable taste and tender X10

i have bought 1/2s in beef and pork in the past along with chickens as well and been extremely happy.

i would definitely stock up but now my freezer is extremely small and no space.

i would suggest if anybody is thinking maybe to just do it. You will be happy with the products for sure.

now...when is that damn book coming out?

best wishes for continued success or your journey.
 

Gramps

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ever think about delivering to the southern Utah area?
 

WYRD

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I have enjoyed reading your story on glamis dunes. You are living a life so many of us dream about but don't have the stones to actually walk away from evey day life and pull it off. Congrats to you and your family for following your passion, I hope you have great success and keep on sharing your story here.
 

WildWilly

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I'll add in the same story many have...once you try it you won't go back. I'm about ready to get on the list for my second half, just recently got our first batch of honey that is off the charts good, and looking forward to doing pork when its back. My wife does the bone broth packs and love them as well. if you are a true beef lover, it will change your views on what the average person gets over the counter in stores, unmatched for sure.
 

BHC Vic

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I need to place an order real soon here. It’s been too long
 

Danger Dave

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We did 2 1/2's of Beef and 2 1/2's of Pork from Joel and Amy, plus assorted Chickens and eggs. Everything was great, and that got us on the small farmer program for good. We've sinced moved to far away for it to make sense but have found another small rancher up in in South Eastern Oregon that does a similar program. It makes it nice to have full freezers of quality products during this time of Covid nonsense. I'd recommend Fort Rock Farms to anyone in there delivery area, and to everyone in Southern California. A 1/2 Beef lasted about a year for my wife and I on average, the 1/2 pork about the same, the bacon goes pretty quick though :).
 

Singleton

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My wife grew up on a farm. She will never go back.
However after the 1/4 cow we ordered from her family friends, we will do this. Once the freezer is empty or almost empty
 

poncho

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A fat guy tired of being fat tries every fad diet and exercise program available and fails miserably. After playing that game for a couple years, same fat guy gives real food a chance at the urging of his skinny doctor and a 560 cholesterol level. During this journey, fat guy realizes that finding real food in Havasu is damn near impossible so regularly travels to farms/ranches and farmers markets to buy what he needs. Fat guy really likes the people he’s meeting and admires the life they live and asks fat guys wife if she’d be interested in starting a farm. Fat guys wife is cool as shit and says, “absolutely.” This excites fat guy in his pants. Too bad fat guy can’t see this excitement without bending over. Fat guy is determined to fix this.



The story behind the “why” really is that simple. How a fat, Coors Light guzzling river rat turned aspiring first generation farmer came to feed 500+ families annually while holding on to the offseason dream of eventual cab-over camper living on the Parker Strip with an old Hallett flatty buoyed offshore, not so simple.



A lot of you have met my wife, Amy. She’s one in a million, and I intend to grow very old with her, which meant getting my shit together physically. After seven years of practicing what I preach and eating what I sell, I’ve made it. Am I the chiseled picture of perfection? Nope. Saggy skin, some stretch marks, and a good 10-12lbs of cushion on the love handles to keep Amy happy- that’s me. But, I’m down 60lbs and have kept it off for a few years now, and my blood work comes back perfect every six months. My cardio is great; muscle mass is decent for my age too. I can outwork most 25 year old’s, wear my granddaughter out and (mom, cover your eyes) bang my wife good enough to make her walk like a baby giraffe several times per week.



To me, “I’m there” means a balance of staying active and eating clean but also having a couple nights per month with frozen Patron shots, too many Coors Lights, and about 7 million pounds of chips and salsa. The following morning is typically started with a “fuck me,” then a decent meal and sweat my way through the days chores, and then I’m back on track till the next round of bad choices.



Hopefully, this thread will entertain you late 40 somethings that feel the pains I used to feel and give me an opportunity for shameless plugs for our farm business.
View attachment 933084

From 261 down to 185
View attachment 933085

Me and the wife who refuses to wear clothes in the summer. I started doing push ups and light workouts with a set of adjustable dumbbells' a couple years ago and put on about 15lbs of muscle. The nearest gym is an 80 mile round trip so I do what I can (it ain't much) but add in loading my own hay and 5000-6000lbs monthly in 50lb sacks of feed while upping my protein intake with eggs, ground beef and extra steaks. I've held 200-205 longer than I can remember

View attachment 933087

Fast forward to today, our most popular weekly offerings for home delivery. (Home delivery way before Covid made it cool!)

After raising thousands of Cornish cross meat chickens on grass pasture, we have it down to near perfection. Raising and processing them like we do produces a flavor and tenderness not found anywhere else. Horror stories of unsanitary conditions and illnesses are eliminated.

$25.00 Whole birds, frozen and ready to cook, delivered to your door.

$15.00 Cornish game hens, frozen and ready to cook, delivered to your door.
View attachment 933088
View attachment 933089
View attachment 933090

$16.50 Grass-fed ground beef in 2lb packages. We grind an entire steer, leaving all the prime cuts in for a flavor and texture you can’t find anywhere else. Brisket, sirloins, chuck, tri-tip, rib-eye, T-bone, porterhouse- it’s all left in there, dry-aged for tenderness and flavor before being ground.

View attachment 933091

Specialties like beef and chicken liver and heart, beef tongue, oxtail are typically in stock as well.

Raw food diet for your dogs? Beef bones, heart, liver, kidney, sweetbread, and chicken organs are always ready for $5.00lb.

$25.00 for Amy’s super popular do it yourself beef bone broth kit. 5 meaty pounds of bones plus organic spices and Amy’s simple recipe, and you’re getting a blast of healthy collagen to repair the damage you did to yourself over summer!
View attachment 933092
View attachment 933094
View attachment 933095

Not weekly, of course, but year-round we custom raise beef by the ¼ ½ and whole. We try to have the wait times down to just a couple months now. $100 per ¼ deposit gets you going. We have a ton of happy references and repeat customers right here on RDP.
View attachment 933096
A smaller 1/4 we kept for ourselves in a 14cu ft standup.
View attachment 933097
View attachment 933098
View attachment 933099

We also raise honeybees and sell about 6 gallons of honey each year.
View attachment 933100
View attachment 933103


We’ll go into detail in future posts regarding what and how we raise things along with the mechanical process of how all this works. Lots of learning, changes, and ridiculous failures getting to this point and I'll talk about them all.

Hit the website at fortrockfarms.com to sign up for the email or message me here and I’ll add your address manually. Like our Facebook page as well since we seem to update that more than anything. I’m available for questions or orders anytime at 928-486-4043 or Amy 928-208-0611.

Delivery is typically Tuesday but we try to do one weekend delivery per month for out of town customers. About half our RDP customers have Amy just load their fridge or freezers during the week so the farm goodies are there for them when they show up for the weekend.

We’d love it if any of our existing customers chimed in on this thread as well. Always love seeing your meal pics.

I grew up doing beef cattle, by high school we had moved on but my Grandfather continued with a hundred or so head every year. I miss the flavor of natural beef, always funny when friends came for dinner and would say this steak tastes weird, I would tell them that's how it's supposed to taste.

Do you ever do packs like Omaha Steaks and ship out of state?....Thanks.
 

shan

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Nice story, you're living your dream, and I'm jealous. If I could buy a freezer, Id be all in. Apparently, the Covid hoarders have made it impossible. I raised steers for FFA when I was a kid, and one year I had one that tried to kill me every time we came in contact. So, I raised him like all the rest, my sister exercised him everyday with her horse, and somehow we got him in the horse trailer to deliver him to the butcher. Best beef ever.
 
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Sleek-Jet

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Don't know where you are, but freezers are back in stock around here (Midwest).
 

rivermobster

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Jezus Joel...

I'd probably walk right buy on on the street and not recognize you. Gawd damm bro, you look GREAT!!!

So happy for you and Amy that you pulled your dream life off. Congrats!!!
 

stokerwhore

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just got sucked into reading youR entire blog/website. OUTFUCKINSTANDING!
 

CLdrinker

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Dam Joel you look great. Congrats.

Have you though about doing pork at all? Probably he’ll on pigs in the summer heat.
But some home grown bacon would catch my attention.

I will wave as I pass your exit November 6th,14th and 20th. I’m making a few runs to Colorado.
 

Dana757

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You both look fantastic and following your story has been very inspiring!
 

DILLIGAF

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Dam Joel you look great. Congrats.

Have you though about doing pork at all? Probably he’ll on pigs in the summer heat.
But some home grown bacon would catch my attention.

I will wave as I pass your exit November 6th,14th and 20th. I’m making a few runs to Colorado.

absolutely does pork and bacon.
 

wash11

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Well done! All that hard work has really paid off. Most impressive thing to me is you got your kids on board as well.

my favorite was the pork products. Unbelievable taste and tender X10

i have bought 1/2s in beef and pork in the past along with chickens as well and been extremely happy.

i would definitely stock up but now my freezer is extremely small and no space.

i would suggest if anybody is thinking maybe to just do it. You will be happy with the products for sure.

now...when is that damn book coming out?

best wishes for continued success or your journey.
Thanks Tom! Hope you are enjoying your new adventure on the road!
 

wash11

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My wife grew up on a farm. She will never go back.
However after the 1/4 cow we ordered from her family friends, we will do this. Once the freezer is empty or almost empty
Hit me anytime. We will get that freezer restocked!
 

wash11

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I grew up doing beef cattle, by high school we had moved on but my Grandfather continued with a hundred or so head every year. I miss the flavor of natural beef, always funny when friends came for dinner and would say this steak tastes weird, I would tell them that's how it's supposed to taste.

Do you ever do packs like Omaha Steaks and ship out of state?....Thanks.

We sell out of the 1/4's and 1/2's so we've not had any product left for individual packaging for shipping. Honestly, being 100% solar powered, our current program of picking up from the butcher and delivering the same day is the best fit. We just don't have the freezer space to do it any other way.
 

wash11

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just got sucked into reading youR entire blog/website. OUTFUCKINSTANDING!
I wish I had time to update the website. That story is a few years behind at least. The whole story is here:
 

Dport

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Love the dark honey, and is the best for you. Enjoyed reading about your journey to health. Keep up the good work!
 

wash11

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Dam Joel you look great. Congrats.

Have you though about doing pork at all? Probably he’ll on pigs in the summer heat.
But some home grown bacon would catch my attention.

I will wave as I pass your exit November 6th,14th and 20th. I’m making a few runs to Colorado.

We have actually done a bunch of pigs in the past and really liked it. We took last year off from piggies to finish the house and solar then covid hit which screwed us up for this year in weird ways, so no pigs two seasons straight.
When the Smithfield plant shut down due to covid there were thousands of pigs needing homes/butchers. The market was flooded with factory farmed animals priced as low as $100 for a 300lb butcher ready pig so the breeders we usually buy our weener pigs from just stopped farrowing for fear of sitting on a bunch of critters they couldn't sell. We had chicken and beef to carry us through so we looked the other way in hopes next year gets back to normal. Our bacon is over the top good btw!
 

stokerwhore

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I wish I had time to update the website. That story is a few years behind at least. The whole story is here:
i will have to check that out. the only let down of the story was when i got to post 46 and realized i couldn't scroll down any further to keep reading. Here's to getting back to normally with the operation and getting the pig thing straightened out. :cool:
 

FishSniper

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Got a 1/4 from Joel in the spring and the quality of the meat is excellent. Plan on getting some game hens soon to throw on the smoker.
 

HubbaHubbaLife

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Good to see you back posting Joel... was worrying that summer knocked ya down.... thanks for keeping us apprised.
 

pronstar

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My wife and I still talk about Joel’s meat [emoji4][emoji90]
(Seriously)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

Howardflat

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Me, my sister and a friend stopped by Joel and Amy's a while ago while looking at property in AZ. He showed us around his farm and all the things he has done over the years and it was awesome. Learned a lot and enjoyed the Farm. Great people and full of info.
 

Tooms22

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I got a 1/4 steer from Joel in March. It has been awesome. Steaks, ground, roasts, short rib, etc. I'm down to the last 6-10 pounds.

I think my next 1/4 should be ready in the next month 👍
 

wash11

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Good to see you back posting Joel... was worrying that summer knocked ya down.... thanks for keeping us apprised.
It's been the looooooongest season ever but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope to find time to relax and put up some posts this winter.
 

wash11

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I got a 1/4 steer from Joel in March. It has been awesome. Steaks, ground, roasts, short rib, etc. I'm down to the last 6-10 pounds.

I think my next 1/4 should be ready in the next month 👍
Yup, see you mid November!
 

wash11

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Me, my sister and a friend stopped by Joel and Amy's a while ago while looking at property in AZ. He showed us around his farm and all the things he has done over the years and it was awesome. Learned a lot and enjoyed the Farm. Great people and full of info.
Was great meeting you guys!
 

HubbaHubbaLife

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It's been the looooooongest season ever but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope to find time to relax and put up some posts this winter.
Please do.... You're our hero here on RDP .... no pressure though. Fully impressed.
 

C-2

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Awesome post, enjoyed reading it and congrats on everything!
 

RichL

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Looks good. Wish we didn't live so far away. Would love to try a quarter.
 

wash11

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We’ve been doing bulk beef longer than any other product. The lessons have been expensive and sometimes painful but, overall, a great experience.

Lease a plot of land full of natural grasses and good spring water, stock it with yearlings, and let them spend their days wandering from water hole to water hole, grazing along the way. To keep that stress free life, leave them alone until close to your butcher date because cowboys for hire are always on time and you’ll be able to find your steers as needed, and they’ll happily push back to the corrals for slaughter. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it?

Overall, the bovine species is quite polite, making sure that each critter gets enough grass and water so they can all grow out consistently while only picking the native feed that will make them taste great. With keen eyesight and uncanny agility, they can easily outrun and outmaneuver predators and will never ever blow into a tree on a dead run and stick a branch 14” into their fucking chest 37 days short of the butcher date.

Thought you guys might like some fiction cuz that’s all that story was. Pretty much the opposite of what I wrote is almost guaranteed, but we fought the good fight too long as we didn’t want to give up the romance. Our work was rewarded with some pretty good beef, raised as good as a guy could do while trying to mimic nature as much as possible. Problem is, “pretty good” has never been a great fit for me.

I needed better flavor and more consistent yields from these expensive animals. Hundreds of hours of research and lots of time at some of the oldest ranches in Arizona laid the foundation for what we do today. I’ve even spent my fair share of time at different feedlots to understand gains and consistency. Now, add in that we butcher most of our steers at 20 months old, which means it takes at least eight months to see the results of changes made in the program on the cut floor and another couple of months to start getting customer feedback.

In all the years we’ve done this, our best guess is we’ve cash flowed $300,000 in steers, feed programs, and infrastructure to get to where we are now. I wish I could say that all that cash had a decent rate of return. I guess we all have to pay for education, one way or another. It’s worth noting that 300g is a fraction of what most outfits have invested, so I’m not crying a bit.

Fast forward to today. We still don’t use any growth hormones and will never butcher anything that’s had antibiotics, and we absolutely give these guys a great life. In many ways, it’s even more stress-free than before. There’s no more running from predators and no more scrub oak diets to give them that extra “flavor.”

Now, the process is much more controlled. Our feed program was designed by a nutritionist and has made all the difference in our consistency along with better yields. We have pasture grass that we push them through but control the time they graze it off to keep our grasses healthy but lets them go out and do what’s natural instead of just being penned up. We also no longer have to worry about stress and adrenaline at butcher time since they are as calm as a sleeping baby when it happens.

We are finishing fewer on grass these days as our customers prefer grain finished when given the choice and outside of our ground beef program will likely switch to strictly grain finished for 2021 unless someone specifies it and is good with a large deposit and a 10 month wait time.

We've made so many improvements over the years, they are hard to count. If you bought beef from us 5 years ago- we're in a different league now. Don't get me wrong, that stuff was great too but we've been eating this stuff daily all along and have been able to track noticeable improvements.

Young steers rotated out on winter rye for the day.
steer.JPG


We used to be kind of snobby and would only finish Black Angus but at the urging of an old timer that has forgotten more than I'll ever know about beef, these Black Baldies have exceeded our expectation. We've also finished out some red angus cross's and have been very happy with them.
IMG_E0803.JPG


Gives an idea of how big these are when finished (they get butchered this coming Sunday). The top rail of the pen is 5'.
IMG_E0722.JPG


The beef is a year round thing, we don't get a break like we do with the chickens.
steer1.JPG


Gus sleeps in the pens with them when the coyotes sound off. This is also why he's not allowed in the house.
IMG_E0914.JPG


We always put two together so they compete for food and have a buddy. These pens we built are safe to work, easy to use and comfortable for the critters. The Juniper wood chips we make are used for bedding and to soak up excess ammonia from urine and manure. After slaughter day we scoop it all out and it's ready to add another load of wood chips and begin the compost process to be spread back on the grasses.
IMG_E0669.JPG
 

SKIDMARC

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I've always enjoyed your threads. I need to get some of your beef next season. And just to clarify I'm talking about the cows. LOL
 

HubbaHubbaLife

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We’ve been doing bulk beef longer than any other product. The lessons have been expensive and sometimes painful but, overall, a great experience.

Lease a plot of land full of natural grasses and good spring water, stock it with yearlings, and let them spend their days wandering from water hole to water hole, grazing along the way. To keep that stress free life, leave them alone until close to your butcher date because cowboys for hire are always on time and you’ll be able to find your steers as needed, and they’ll happily push back to the corrals for slaughter. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it?

Overall, the bovine species is quite polite, making sure that each critter gets enough grass and water so they can all grow out consistently while only picking the native feed that will make them taste great. With keen eyesight and uncanny agility, they can easily outrun and outmaneuver predators and will never ever blow into a tree on a dead run and stick a branch 14” into their fucking chest 37 days short of the butcher date.

Thought you guys might like some fiction cuz that’s all that story was. Pretty much the opposite of what I wrote is almost guaranteed, but we fought the good fight too long as we didn’t want to give up the romance. Our work was rewarded with some pretty good beef, raised as good as a guy could do while trying to mimic nature as much as possible. Problem is, “pretty good” has never been a great fit for me.

I needed better flavor and more consistent yields from these expensive animals. Hundreds of hours of research and lots of time at some of the oldest ranches in Arizona laid the foundation for what we do today. I’ve even spent my fair share of time at different feedlots to understand gains and consistency. Now, add in that we butcher most of our steers at 20 months old, which means it takes at least eight months to see the results of changes made in the program on the cut floor and another couple of months to start getting customer feedback.

In all the years we’ve done this, our best guess is we’ve cash flowed $300,000 in steers, feed programs, and infrastructure to get to where we are now. I wish I could say that all that cash had a decent rate of return. I guess we all have to pay for education, one way or another. It’s worth noting that 300g is a fraction of what most outfits have invested, so I’m not crying a bit.

Fast forward to today. We still don’t use any growth hormones and will never butcher anything that’s had antibiotics, and we absolutely give these guys a great life. In many ways, it’s even more stress-free than before. There’s no more running from predators and no more scrub oak diets to give them that extra “flavor.”

Now, the process is much more controlled. Our feed program was designed by a nutritionist and has made all the difference in our consistency along with better yields. We have pasture grass that we push them through but control the time they graze it off to keep our grasses healthy but lets them go out and do what’s natural instead of just being penned up. We also no longer have to worry about stress and adrenaline at butcher time since they are as calm as a sleeping baby when it happens.

We are finishing fewer on grass these days as our customers prefer grain finished when given the choice and outside of our ground beef program will likely switch to strictly grain finished for 2021 unless someone specifies it and is good with a large deposit and a 10 month wait time.

We've made so many improvements over the years, they are hard to count. If you bought beef from us 5 years ago- we're in a different league now. Don't get me wrong, that stuff was great too but we've been eating this stuff daily all along and have been able to track noticeable improvements.

Young steers rotated out on winter rye for the day.
View attachment 933747

We used to be kind of snobby and would only finish Black Angus but at the urging of an old timer that has forgotten more than I'll ever know about beef, these Black Baldies have exceeded our expectation. We've also finished out some red angus cross's and have been very happy with them.
View attachment 933723

Gives an idea of how big these are when finished (they get butchered this coming Sunday). The top rail of the pen is 5'.
View attachment 933728

The beef is a year round thing, we don't get a break like we do with the chickens.
View attachment 933732

Gus sleeps in the pens with them when the coyotes sound off. This is also why he's not allowed in the house.
View attachment 933734

We always put two together so they compete for food and have a buddy. These pens we built are safe to work, easy to use and comfortable for the critters. The Juniper wood chips we make are used for bedding and to soak up excess ammonia from urine and manure. After slaughter day we scoop it all out and it's ready to add another load of wood chips and begin the compost process to be spread back on the grasses.
View attachment 933740
So I've got some ranch friends in the Pan Handle on thousand acre farms and they lease out to cattlemen.... they say its tough when the family gets attached to a calf every now and then. I'm wondering how your lady and the kids have adjusted to such now that your family has been raising cattle a while.... dang they are TALL
 

Carlson-jet

Not Giving A Fuck Is An Art
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We’ve been doing bulk beef longer than any other product. The lessons have been expensive and sometimes painful but, overall, a great experience.

Lease a plot of land full of natural grasses and good spring water, stock it with yearlings, and let them spend their days wandering from water hole to water hole, grazing along the way. To keep that stress free life, leave them alone until close to your butcher date because cowboys for hire are always on time and you’ll be able to find your steers as needed, and they’ll happily push back to the corrals for slaughter. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it?

Overall, the bovine species is quite polite, making sure that each critter gets enough grass and water so they can all grow out consistently while only picking the native feed that will make them taste great. With keen eyesight and uncanny agility, they can easily outrun and outmaneuver predators and will never ever blow into a tree on a dead run and stick a branch 14” into their fucking chest 37 days short of the butcher date.

Thought you guys might like some fiction cuz that’s all that story was. Pretty much the opposite of what I wrote is almost guaranteed, but we fought the good fight too long as we didn’t want to give up the romance. Our work was rewarded with some pretty good beef, raised as good as a guy could do while trying to mimic nature as much as possible. Problem is, “pretty good” has never been a great fit for me.

I needed better flavor and more consistent yields from these expensive animals. Hundreds of hours of research and lots of time at some of the oldest ranches in Arizona laid the foundation for what we do today. I’ve even spent my fair share of time at different feedlots to understand gains and consistency. Now, add in that we butcher most of our steers at 20 months old, which means it takes at least eight months to see the results of changes made in the program on the cut floor and another couple of months to start getting customer feedback.

In all the years we’ve done this, our best guess is we’ve cash flowed $300,000 in steers, feed programs, and infrastructure to get to where we are now. I wish I could say that all that cash had a decent rate of return. I guess we all have to pay for education, one way or another. It’s worth noting that 300g is a fraction of what most outfits have invested, so I’m not crying a bit.

Fast forward to today. We still don’t use any growth hormones and will never butcher anything that’s had antibiotics, and we absolutely give these guys a great life. In many ways, it’s even more stress-free than before. There’s no more running from predators and no more scrub oak diets to give them that extra “flavor.”

Now, the process is much more controlled. Our feed program was designed by a nutritionist and has made all the difference in our consistency along with better yields. We have pasture grass that we push them through but control the time they graze it off to keep our grasses healthy but lets them go out and do what’s natural instead of just being penned up. We also no longer have to worry about stress and adrenaline at butcher time since they are as calm as a sleeping baby when it happens.

We are finishing fewer on grass these days as our customers prefer grain finished when given the choice and outside of our ground beef program will likely switch to strictly grain finished for 2021 unless someone specifies it and is good with a large deposit and a 10 month wait time.

We've made so many improvements over the years, they are hard to count. If you bought beef from us 5 years ago- we're in a different league now. Don't get me wrong, that stuff was great too but we've been eating this stuff daily all along and have been able to track noticeable improvements.

Young steers rotated out on winter rye for the day.
View attachment 933747

We used to be kind of snobby and would only finish Black Angus but at the urging of an old timer that has forgotten more than I'll ever know about beef, these Black Baldies have exceeded our expectation. We've also finished out some red angus cross's and have been very happy with them.
View attachment 933723

Gives an idea of how big these are when finished (they get butchered this coming Sunday). The top rail of the pen is 5'.
View attachment 933728

The beef is a year round thing, we don't get a break like we do with the chickens.
View attachment 933732

Gus sleeps in the pens with them when the coyotes sound off. This is also why he's not allowed in the house.
View attachment 933734

We always put two together so they compete for food and have a buddy. These pens we built are safe to work, easy to use and comfortable for the critters. The Juniper wood chips we make are used for bedding and to soak up excess ammonia from urine and manure. After slaughter day we scoop it all out and it's ready to add another load of wood chips and begin the compost process to be spread back on the grasses.
View attachment 933740
It's almost like you went back 100 years in time. Crazy thought but knowing the cattle raising, grazing history of AZ. I see a small parallel.
Makes me smile. That is all.
Thanks for sharing.
 

WildWilly

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we got chickens last week and did one beer can style in the pellet grill. I didn't do any extra rubs or seasoning this first time to see just the chicken. Just like the beef...big difference from store bought!
 
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