RUNNING CATTLE: HOME ON THE RANGE

Campo Creek Ranch offers local delivery of all-natural grass-fed beef

By Miram Raftery

June 13, 2013(Campo)—Cattle come running when rancher John Clark arrives.  It looks like a scene out of a  California “happy cows” commercial.  View video. 

These beef cattle are raised in open pastures, not crowded feed lots. They graze in green pastures at Campo Creek Ranch in San Diego’s East County.  They receive no hormones and their diet is all natural – native grass or in some cases, barley. 

“They’re all much healthier to eat,” says Clark, adding that grass-fed cattle re higher in omega-3 fatty acids.  The ranch also offers all-natural chickens, pigs and rabbits – with meat delivered straight to consumers.

Commercial feed lots and factory farms, by contrast, may feed cattle non-natural diet of genetically modified corn, or worse.  Some feedlot operators save money by feeding the cows “by-product feedstuffs.” According to the website Eat Wild, this means “ waste products from the manufacture of human food. In particular, it can mean sterilized city garbage, candy, bubble gum, floor sweepings from plants that manufacture animal food, bakery, potato wastes or a scientific blend of pasta and candy,”  

Without such unnatural additives, grass-fed cattle produce meat that is leaner, with less fat marbling. For those who prefer the flavor of marbled beef, however, some Cattle Creek Ranch cattle are also fed barley mash from breweries. 

Here, the cattle are raised on the open range, rounded p in much the same fashion that has been done for generations.  Vaquero-style techniques are used during an annual roundup and branding (to assure that wandering cattle can be reclaimed).   Border collies help herd cattle on the ranch and leased lands nearby where cattle roam freely.

Even the slaughtering is done on site with a single bullet in what Clark believes is the most humane means possible, avoiding  the trauma of slaughterhouses for the animals raised here.

Raising animals naturally is more challenging, but rewarding because it is the right thing to do, the Clark family believes.  One season, they lost three calves to a mountain lion.

The ranch includes several varieties of cattle: Black Angus, Red Angus, Brahmins, and Charolait.

Meat from the ranch is available for purchase directly by consumers—and you can have your order delivered straight to your door step.  You can buy a whole steer at a discounted price, or opt for a half, quarter, or eighth.  An eighth of a steer costs $500 for 45 pounds or about $11 a pound –which is actually fairly comparable to the price of a ribeye steak at a major grocery store. 

For more information, view a brochure from Campo Creek Ranch, contact john@campocreekranch.com or visit www.john@campocreek.com.