Recommended Books for Grass-Finishing Beef Producers

by Steve Campbell, Northwest Bakewell Representative

There are many books that I could discuss and recommend, but here is a place to start, in my opinion! As Gearld Fry stated when we recently visited Folly Farm, our #1 priority is grass-finished beef, with fine textured meat in large quantity on each animal. Using this as a starting point, I think people need to know why they should produce grass-finished beef.

• Pasture Perfect by Jo Robinson. This book tells the health story in an easy-to-read and -comprehend fashion. She educates not only the customers, but also the producers (who need to educate ourselves). Ultimately, what it comes down to is that producers cannot produce effectively if they are in ill health. Pasture Perfect tells the story from a number of different angles: nutrition, animal welfare, environment and farmers. Visit her website at eatwild.com.
• A much larger book, not directly pertaining to beef, but full of human and animal health information is Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price.
• I also highly recommend Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. They both are valuable reading.
• Man Must Measure by Dr. Jan Bonsma: This book tells us how to pick the animals that will thrive on grass, and be a good eating experience. He also explains linear measurement for functionality, how to read the glandular system for health and reproductive efficiency, and a host of other vital information.
• Charles Walters and Gerald Fry's Reproduction and Animal Health: Tells the story kind of from the animal's perspective. He asks the question, How do we have these animals around that are suppose to be healthy for humans to eat if we have to prop them up with synthetic and abnormal feeds, minerals, vaccinations? Without truly healthy cattle, the people consuming them cannot become truly healthy.
• Natural Cattle Care by Pat Colby: A book with a sharper focus on how to keep cattle healthy, naturally. Although she gives us great information on how to treat health problems naturally, she especially emphasizes preventive health measures.
• Robert Pul's Mineral Levels: This book is the Bible on what minerals are required for various species for true health, not just the appearance of lack of disease.
• Management Intensive Grazing by Jim Garish: No matter how good our grass is, we all have room for improvement. Jim will walk you through your pastures, explaining the diversity, or lack thereof, and how the balanced diet, metered out in an orderly fashion will help the finishing animals perform and improve the stand of forage at the same time.

• The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook by Shannon Hayes: Now that we have grown this healthy meat, we need to be able to cook it to show off its flavor. Shannon tells a very good story about why she decided to write her own cookbook. She was tired of gourmet chefs covering up the flavor of her grass-finished beef with all of their fancy sauces, which are virtually required for bland conventional feed lot beef. This is the primer to showing off your beef to prospective customers.
• A much larger book with just as compelling a story is The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

• Holy Cows and Hog Heaven by Joel Salatin: The highest gross profit will come if we direct market our product to the consumer. Joel has written a humorous account of why consumers should buy directly form the producer. Read this one yourself and then share it with as many perspective customers as possible.

In the long term, not all of us can direct-market all of our animals. To receive a premium for our grass-finished beef in the wholesale markets, we need to address the quality aspects of those animals. The greater number of quality programs we are involved in, the higher price we will command in the wholesale marketplace. Adjectives like Nutrient Dense, Organic, Gourmet that we use to describe our products each add their premium to an already healthy eating alternative. Bakewell's own Gourmet Certification Program is a very good example.