Grass Fed Beef from Starbar Ranch

Back at the end of November, I heard about a ranch in the area, Starbar Farm & Ranch, that was gauging interest in grass-fed beef.  I have had grass-fed beef before from another local ranch that sells at the farmer’s market, and have been interested since then in getting more.  So, I was very interested, and also got the opportunity to visit the ranch.

First, Starlene and Barbara are both very welcoming and were happy to show us around the ranch.  Next, we got to learn about their feeding system.  For feed, they grow their own alfalfa hay for feed, using no weed killer or pesticide.  Once this alfalfa is cut down, the cattle graze in the field.  Then, they also use a fodder system to grow feed.  The fodder system was really interesting.  They are large trailers with doors on both ends, and each one is temperature regulated and self-watering.  Trays of barley seed are started on one end, then each day a tray is added, pushing the other trays down through the system.  The barley sprouts hydroponically, and goes from the seed to being feed in 6 days.  The barley mats, referred to as biscuits, are able to be fully consumed by the cattle.  You can see a picture of the system and of the biscuits on their Facebook page.

Then, we walked around to see some of the cattle.  Their property is beautiful.  Open views to mountain ranges, and just lots of open country.  The cattle all looked really good and well-cared for, and they don’t receive hormones or antibiotics.  They have red angus, black angus, hereford and belted Galloways at their ranch, and their goal is to get a very lean beef.  Here is a picture of a belted Galloway calf, only 3 weeks old in this picture:

So, after the visit, I had to wait patiently until now to get some of the beef.  I chose to get 2 packages of top sirloin steaks (2 to a package), 5 1-pound packages of ground beef, a flank steak, a 3 pound chuck roast, and 4 packages of rib eye steaks (2 to a package).

This came to $152.19.  To see their list of prices, you can visit their website here.  Hopefully, the weather will stay warm here for a little bit so I can grill the steaks.  The chuck roast and flank steak I’m planning to make the sauce I use for barbacoa to make barbacoa again with the roast, and to marinade the flank steak and grill it.  I’ll try to give an update after we have it!

Tags: grass fed beef, local farms, Starbar Ranch