Springhaven Farm

It's that time of year when grilling season is getting into full swing. We have plenty of gourmet beef available so get your orders in early. Best recipes for meat can be found at foodnetwork.com and cookingchanneltv.com. A great grill to use for superb outcomes is the Big Green Egg. We use ours for just about everything from steaks, burgers, and even roasts. Everything comes out juicy and tender. For the best roast that is tender and juicy, brown it on all sides in a dutch oven, add onions, beef broth, red wine, bay leaf, thyme, garlic, and salt/pepper. Bring to boil briefly, then place in 275F oven for 4 hours with lid on. You'll have a very tender roast to enjoy at the end of the day! For burgers and steaks, we use a meat thermometer on the grill or an oven probe in the oven. We use a hot grill - 500F. Watch the internal temp and we remove steaks and burgers when internal temps are around 130-135F. Let rest 15 minutes and enjoy the succulent taste of a nice juicy, tender steak or burger. If you've requested a prime rib roast, one of the best methods of cooking we've found is to preheat the oven to 500F. Place a salted and peppered roast in for 5 minutes per pound. Turn oven off, leave door closed, and remove after 3-4 hours. You'll have a perfectly cooked prime rib roast to enjoy that is pink on the inside and crispy on the outside. That is our Christmas and holiday favorite! Don't forget the healthful benefits of bone broth. We routinely use ox tail or beef bones to make bone broth (with meat bits) for ourselves and our pets. It is nourishing and healthy, providing lots of essential Omega 3 fats as well as easily absorbable calcium from the marrow and bone. Bon appetit!

When moving livestock, dominant animals can be fractious with the rest of the stock and having a good stock dog is an invaluable asset. We chose English Shepherds as our partners in this endeavor. They are an upright herding breed that tends to be dominant with the stock. Since they do not get into a predatory crouch and stare like most Border Collies, the stock don't view them quite the same way. They recognize the confidence and dominant stance of the English Shepherd and move out well. Our Milking Devon are horned cattle and can be quite dominant as well. However, our dogs will trot just close enough behind the cows to put pressure on them to move. When one stops and decides to graze on grass instead of moving with the rest of the herd, our dogs will go up to them and do a small half charge of a step or two and give a quick "woof" to get the cow moving again. They don't tend to nip at the heels of the cows unless absolutely necessary. The cows see this as just enough pressure to move on. While we don't really need the dogs most of the time, it can be handy when moving a large group or in getting calves to keep up with the herd as we move from one field to another. They all soon learn the dogs are there simply to keep things moving along and are no threat. It also helps to have smart cows that can recognize our dogs from strays or coyotes. They know that our dogs belong here on the farm and accept them quite well. The dogs are able to walk in and amongst the herd without incident. English Shepherds are very smart, rules-based dogs. They learn the rules of the farm and where stock should be. If a calf is out of the field, the dogs will put the calf back where it belongs. They know which calves belong to which mamas in which fields and they will put stock back without human commands. They've learned the rules and follow them. This is an incredibly valuable trait and has paid off numerous times on our small farm. Another asset to English Shepherds is that they do their job, then break off from the herd and go do something else like nosing around for scents or other things to occupy them. They calm down immediately and don't have the hyperkinetic energy of other herding breeds. In the house, they are couch potatoes, simply being content to be with their people. They can bond quite strongly with people and are generally good with all people, visitors, children, other dogs, and cats (most of the time!). For an easy companion and valuable herding partner when working stock, an English Shepherd is worth their weight in gold!

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Great tasting beef is carefully grown - it doesn't just happen. Many things go into what makes a terrific gourmet steak. The right breed of cattle is key, especially when grass fed and finished. We chose Milking Devon for their superior ability to marble on grass alone. Another key aspect of good tasting beef is animal access to clean water, high quality minerals served cafeteria style so that they can choose what they need when they need it, and having balanced forage in pastures. Too much fescue and the meat is gamey and has off flavors. A clover/alfalfa pasture with other mixed grasses is ideal. An oftentimes overlooked aspect of cattle farming is stress. Animals that are stressed produce copious amounts of cortisol, a stress hormone that will taint the flavor of the beef. Carefully handling animals slowly and quietly, taking advantage of their natural movements and behaviors during handling, and using homeopathic preparations to keep them calm is essential to minimizing their stress. Growing gourmet beef is more than just putting animals in a feed lot and stuffing them full of grain or just plopping a mongrel herd of animals on a pasture and hoping they will grow to produce good-tasting beef. The genetics of the animals plays a key role as well. For those who are interested in the grass-fed and finished market, do your homework. See how the animals are raised and treated, if there are any signs of stress or illness, and how they behave. If they are calm, you are likely to enjoy a good gourmet eating experience. Otherwise, maybe shop elsewhere for beef. We can all vote with our dollar and support local, well-run family farms rather than the industrial system that is fraught with animal abuse and poor sanitation. Your choice! Personally, I love a good steak and Milking Devon is it for us! Bon appetit!