I wrote a post for the Epi-Log that will go up later this morning about Marin Sun Farms in California. The cool thing was that they have a meat CSA that helps them do a better job of selling the entire animal and allows them to have consistent sales. But, there was one quote that struck me while I was reading the article in, "The Stockman GrassFarmer" that I didn't touch on in the Epi-Log post.Specifically the qoute was, "He is currently experimenting with harvesting beeves at weaning as 'baby beef' to get their carcass size down to a more customer friendly size".
The first thing that popped into my head is, "that is exactly what a finished Dexter is ... a customer friendly size!" Of course I do understand that he will get to that size much more quickly with baby beef, but Dexter owners can reach the same "perfect carcass size" by finishing their beeves, marketing the meat as meat with a great flavor, and all along mantaining a small buy very useful breed.
Like I said, I understand the differences, but I also see this is as a great way to market Dexter beef for consumers. I continue to become more and more interested in the idea of a meat CSA, even to the point of combining pork and other meat into the monthly packages (I think they may do that at Marin Sun). I'll have to do a little more research into this...
Mixing various meats plus eggs and veggies makes a lot of sense as a CSA package. We don't do the veggies but we've worked well with other farms that just do veggies thus jointly providing the CSA customers with all the makings of meals.
ReplyDeleteWe are offering a meat CSA to compliment the veggie CSA we already run. The meat CSA will include: a split side of pasture raised beef (we'll have angus, White Park, and Charlais this year. Next year we'll have Dexters.), 1/2 a hog from our Red Wattle hogs, 10 pasture raised broilers, and 1/2 a lamb from our flock of Shetlands.
ReplyDeleteWhat we've learned so far: Not everyone loves lamb like we do. We've decided to offer lamb as an add-on option. We'll keep you posted on how it works out.
I, too, am interested in that. Do keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteThe Farmers :: Yes do keep us updated, we would love to hear about it. In fact if you don't mind I'd love to do a little Q&A interview with you on the subject!
ReplyDelete