MM Livestock Co

We have been offering Grass Fed Ranched Bison for a while now. (You can't call em wild if they're behind fences! Besides that the wild ones are protected.) and there are some tricks to preparing it and not having Rubber Bands! 1. Bison is extremely lean and if over cooked is tough. Buy yourself a good meat thermometer and never cook steaks over medium rare. 2. Roasts need moist heat, slow ovens, or braising to be tender. 3. Start Steaks Frozen, this seals in the juices and helps maintain tenderness and only adds a few minutes to the total cooking time. 4. Don't fiddle with it! Put it on and leave it alone until it need to be turned. 5. Let it Rest. Wait 5- 10 minutes after cooking it for the juices to re distribute You'll be much happier for it! And finally, Bison cooks Much faster than beef so keep an eye on those steaks! Here's Donny's almost infamous recipe for Buffalo strip steaks. Paint steaks with Olive oil and sprinkle with Sea Salt, Cracked Black Pepper, a little Granulated Garlic and Cumin. Put on a Hot Grill 4-6 min. Flip and repeat. Use a Meat Thermometer and remove when steaks reach an internal temp of 135f. tent with foil and let rest 5-10 minutes. Carry over will bring the internal temperature of the meat up 7-10 Degrees and the juices will redistribute through the steak. Your steak should be a beautiful medium rare and tender. Enjoy!

We have been truly blessed. My friend Lou Files brought a couple to my place in need of a place to park their motorhome for a few days. They have jumped in with both feet to help take some of the workload off of the rest of us. My hay is in the barn the day it gets here, all the little "fix its" are being tended to, and all my dogs got a bath! With 4 working BC's an Akbash an Aussie and assorted Farm Mutts that was a chore! I've asked them to stay the winter and they have agreed. ( I hope they decide this needs to be there base of operations for their Mission Work) So the next time you visit say Hello to William and Candy, they were brought to us when we need them the most and are fast becoming indespensable members of our Home Farm Family! A big bonus is Will is as big a Dutch Oven junkie as I am so we'll be testing lots of new recipes before the competition season starts next year! We'll pass along some of our favorites. I'll be moving cows next week and will keep you all posted as to how that goes. Take care and Happy Holidays!

This year we played it smart and had our customers pre-order their holiday Turkeys. Mr. Morales suggested that we take our numbers from last year and double them. By mid September we knew we had under estimated how popular they would be. He raised just enough for our pre order and CSA. We do have birds available for Christmas as well as a few Ducks and Geese. Again these are by pre-order only. It takes about 18 weeks for the birds to reach maturity so I apologise in advance if we can't meet the demand.

I apologise for taking so long to post but we've been frantically fighting to save the home place, taking care of all the stock on multiple leases, trying to get hogs moved down from up north, and in the midst of all that we didd an interview with our local ABC affiliate on the merits of cowpooling. The story aired last nite but you can see it on line. I can't think of a better way to show folks what we do here and stop detractors in their tracks. We are still here, Still working hard for our customers and friends, and thanking you all every day for the love and support you all give us. We are planning a thank you party for our supporters after the first of the year so you can see first hand what your purchases are saving for future generations of producers. Thank you all so much. We truly wouldn't be here without you! Meg

We are adding 40 head of Registered Aberdeen Angus Cows to our program. the beauty of this decision is we are keeping it in the family! My Cousin has the last of the cattle that carry the Genetics that my Grandfather was using until his death. We were able to secure bred cows with traceable Genetics that have an uninterrupted family ownership going back 80 + years. These girls are old timey cows topping out at 1200-1400lb. Not the little guys that are dominating todays market. The fact that these new cows have never seen grain and finish out at 18 to 22 months makes them pretty special. Combine that with the gene pool we already have in place and we have unbroken familial genetics that go back 140 years. There aren't very many operations that can back that claim. With our focus being traceability and superior Genetics it wonderful to be able to keep it in the family.

There are some regional differences in cut names as Shanen pointed out. Here on the West Coast we have Ranchera, Further east it's called flap, Out here its an O-Bone, there it's an arm Roast. Ribe-eyes are Spencers, And of course the California Coined Tri- Tip. That's sirloin Butt for you Easterners. Flat Irons are Center Chuck Hanging Tenders are Butchers Filet and the list goes on! No matter what part of the country you are in, those of us that raise Grass Fed meat for your table can and do provide you with Humanely Raised, Safe and delicious meats by any name. So check for a rancher close to you and order up some cowboy steaks, Coulotte, or london broil and tell all your friends to "Come a Hookin!" Meg

Hey gang. I've been getting a lot of calls asking how much you get from a steer. The actual weight will vary from animal to animal but the cuts don't change much. Here is a breakdown for you on the number of each item per steer. This is a Standard cut animal with 1" thick steaks. Special instructions will alter the numbers. 12T-Bone steaks, 14 Porterhouse steaks,12filet, 14 Top Sirloin Steaks, 12Sirloin Tip steaks,15 Top Round Steaks, 22 bottom round steaks, 23rib eye steaks,2 FLANK STEAKS, 2TRI TIP, 7 beef Ribs, 135 ground beef, 6 soup bones, 4rump roasts, 2 brisket, 14 chuck roasts, 4 o-bone roasts, 6 shoulder clod Roasts, 5 ranchera, 1 hanging Tender, 1 liver, 1 tongue, Hope this helps! meg

I just want to thank all of you that have rallied to support us. We are about half way to saving the home place and with your support it looks like we just might make it! Our CSA is really starting to take off and those of you that educated us about cowpooling have been a Godsend! We always offered quarters, sides, and whole animals, you folks that got friends and neighbors to go in with you are amazing. Our customers are very important to us and you are showing us daily how important we are to you. By purchasing larger quantities it's a win win. You pay less for top quality Verifiably safe meat and we hopefully get to keep the place where you can come and see how its done. Thank you all again for supporting us and keep up the good work! Without satisfied customers spreading the word we truly would be lost.

I had a gal join our CSA and she asked a question that needs to be addressed again. She asked how we prove that our meat is "Clean". I asked her to define what she meant by Clean ans she said,"Can you prove what they eat is safe?" Yes We Can! While we are waiting for final approval from Animal Welfare Approved and American Grass fed. We adhere to the USDA Natural Guidlines and our stock is certified under that umbrella. That means: Livestock receive a plant based diet free of animal by-products, genetically modified grains, hormones, and antibiotics. Since our Cattle and Sheep are grass fed they exceed the criteria set by the USDA. The pigs are on a certified Organic diet as well as being pasture raised. Same for the birds. I offered to let her come and review our test results if she liked. We test our water and our Pastures annually for the health of the land and the animals that graze it. She asked about corn and soy. We don't feed either grain to any of our stock because gen-mo disclosure is not mandatory and I'm not taking chances. We pay a bit extra to have our meat graded and tested. Our Food supply has been so severly adulterated that we feel we must be able to prove that our products are safe, free from additives, and grown the way Nature intended it to grow. It may take our animals a little longer to get to your plate but I think is worth the wait.

This is our second week at the new Sunday Farmers Market in Downtown Fallbrook. It's a new market and the folks there are Great! The Market Coordinator is an amazing lady and the vendors are the best! We all help each other! What a concept! If I want a dipping sauce for my samples, The strawberry lady says here you go! if the steak sandwich folks run out of steaks I give em what they need. If Terry wants a sauce for her killer salmon fajitas, baba foods has it! Everyone laughs and enjoys themselves so much! It's a real community Market. The customers are warm and friendly and it's just a great way to close a busy weekend.

Thanks to all of you that have joined our meat only CSA. We still have shares available, and are adding a drop in San Diego, and 2 in Orange County.Current drops are in Murrieta, Temecula, and at the farm. You guys have been asking for us to do this for months and with the way the economy is and our current predicament it seemed like the perfect solution. I am thrilled that those of you that are members already are happy with the set up and yes you can still get individual cuts and packages! Sunday was fun with folks picking up their shares and everyones kids playing with the baby animals. One little girl asked what the big things were in with the horses and when I told her they were cows she was amazed. It was cute and shocking at the same time. People need to know where their food comes from and how it is raised, all of it. I'm glad that we can do our part to make this happen. If you are interested in joining our CSA just call and we'll get you signed up. Thanks again for supporting us!

Branding day went pretty well. We castrated 40 bull calves, branded all 82, took blood samples for testing, vaccinated, etc. I thought it was going to be crazy with all the extra people around but Chris kept everyone where they needed to be and there were no problems. In fact when the turn table broke one of the spectators happened to be a welder and fixed it on the spot. After the work was done and all the demonstrations over, the fellas had kids out in the pens roping hay bales and flinging dried cow chips while the rest of us finished cooking supper. We spit roasted a side of beef, cooked 200 ears of corn, 30 gallons of cowboy beans, baking powder biscuits, 2 wash tubs of salad, and 20 dutch oven Cobblers. The most fun for me was watching people try the fresh bull fries! We cleaned them, soaked them in buttermilk for a bit, gave em a dose of Chuck Wagon seasoning and flour then grilled em up. Good Stuff! We do this every year but this time it was really great to have our customers and folks from the community come out to watch. 200 people came away from the afternoon with a new appreciation fo how hard we work, what it takes to keep an operation like this going and the animals healthy. I'm shamelessly stealing a quote from one of our visitors and adding it to our advertizing.(With his pemission of course) "Grass feeding livestock isn't a production system. It's a RELIGION!" I think he summed it up pretty well! Here's the formula for BJ's Chuckwagon Seasoning. 1 cup grey salt 1/4 c Peppercorns 1/4 c dried garlic (not the granulated stuff) 1/4 c dried onion 1/4 c parika Mix in a food processor just until the peppercorns break up. store in an airtight container. This mix is the base for most of the sauces and rubs we use. you can build on it for hundreds of variations. Enjoy!

Last nite was the Green Feast in San Juan Capistrano, it was a benefit to raise funds for The Ecology Center. What a Place! The vision these folks have is Amazing! Check out their website and you'll get an idea of what they are all about. It was a real honor to donate and participate. There were almost 200 people at 1 table discussing sutainability, giving examples of how each farmer or rancher accomplishes this, and fielding some of the most intelligent questions I have heard in a long time. The food and drink were wonderfully prepared and it was a truly lifestyle affirming nite. I wish every community had a place like this to go and learn about agriculture, sustainable practices, stewardship and the reasons we in this industry do what we do. Evan is one of my heroes and anything they need or decide to do I'm there! It's 22miles from my place as the crow flys, a little farther by road and a vision worth supporting. We are moving forward with our teaching center here and with The Ecology Center as a model and their staff as mentors we are going to really be able to help people learn about their food, where it comes from and how to get it to your plate in the safest, healthiest, and most natural way possible. It shows me that all the work we've done getting and keeping Certifications that prove the quality of our product were not a waste of time. It is a shame that we have to do this but it protects our customers and brings people like those at The Ecolology center in to our world and gives us opportunity to keep making a positive difference.

We're still lambing and the weather has been fierce! we have misters up for the animals but babies can't regulate their body temperature for the first few days of life. Over 80 can be tough on newborns but when it hits 100+ its really dangerous. No laughing but here's what we did. We took a portable swamp cooler and put it in the barn, moved the jug panels inside and voila no stressed lambs! This is working well! The family moves outside after about 5 days and with the misters, trees and shade covers adjust to the heat pretty quickly. Mom teaches the youngsters how to beat the heat. If you go out in the heat of the day you'll find the whole crew napping under the pepper trees or with their faces in front of the misters. I have 1 ewe that thinks she's a hippo and the water tank is a bath tub. It's funny to see but we've had to add 2 more tanks in the field and don't dare leave a float in any of them or we have floods. It means checking tanks more frequently but hey I want to go for a swim in the heat of the day myself. Our girls lamb year round and some of the challenges of out of season lambing are pretty funny, and they definitely keep our visitors entertained. On a more serious note, Gracie the Land shark is really getting the idea of how BC's are supposed to work sheep. She is starting to hold a good pace and not rush her sheep. She is finally getting a solid recall and lie down. She still doesn't get why she has to stay on the sidelines when Tweed moves them through the pens though. It's back to formal training in the next few weeks and we'll see if we have a trial dog in the makin'.

This has been a BUSY week! More lambs and goat kids have been born, 20 lambs and 3 kids. Everyone is doing well. This weeks dutch oven class was based around beef. We did some large roasts over the coals and grilled up some steaks just for fun. Everyone was shocked when I brought the steaks out still frozen. I explained that starting steaks frozen on the grill actually protects the tenderness of the meat. You don't lose any of the good juices that collect in the bag during during defrosting and it only adds about 10 minutes to the total cooking time. I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to steaks and don't use anything but salt pepper and garlic on mine. If you want to marinade that's fine. I just usually don't. They all thought I was nuts until they sat down to eat. 10 converts! If it was only always that easy! This week we did Matimbres, classic roast beef, and dutch oven Wellingtons. As soon as the website is finished we'll start posting recipes, until then you can e-mail me and I'll send em to you. Next week I am at the Green Feast In San Juan Capistrano so class will be Monday nite. Some of the cooking students are getting more interested in other aspects of ranching and livestock care so we're going to allow the general public to attend some of our seminars and are developing a couple of classes for newcomers to country life. As soon as we have the schedule set I'll post it. If there are specific things you all are intereste in let me know and we'll do our best to get someone out here to talk about it. All the slots are filled for Branding Day. I had no idea people wanted to watch calves get branded, doctored and castrated. I'm glad they do though. If more people took the time to learn the how and why of where the meat they are eating comes from they would have a deeper appreciation for their food and the land that produces it. If I can show one person the difference between living with the land instead of just on it, I've done my job. Time to bring the sheep in. talk to you all soon. Meg