SonRise Ranch

Ph    951.719.5649

E-mail    douglas@son-riseranch.com

Mail our Business office at

630 McCawley Street

Oceanside, CA.   92058

Visit our online store

http://www.localharvest.org/store/M34127

Dear SonRise Ranch Supporter,

 

I wish to open this newsletter as I normally do, by first thanking you, on behalf of my family and our valued employees for supporting sustainable and environmentally friendly ranching.  

Our Goal at SonRise is simple... bring you the very best tasting Grass-fed and Free-range products and do so in a manner that is truly honoring to the environment and the animals it supports. 

By supporting our Ranch, you are literally "voting with your dollars" and sending an distinct message to the industrial farming complex.  And believe me, they are starting  to notice!  Your voice is heard, and things are changing.  But, the fight for good food, raised honorably, has a long way to go, and the odds are stacked against the small farmer in America. For this reason, we are deeply indebted to you, our customer.

Whether you are a foodie,environmentalist or just plain love a good grass-fed steak, I would like to take a moment to thank you for your support and encouragement - you make it worth while.

Sincerely,

Douglas Lindamood

SonRise Ranch

- By Douglas Lindamood

Running cattle free range can be good for the environment - most environmentalists would disagree with this statement. In fact most environmentalists would say that cattle on rangeland are bad for the environment.

To be honest, I would have to agree with them.

No, that wasn't a typo. Let me explain...The traditional way of raising cattle, free range with no daily management is truly destructive to the rangeland they occupy. As just one small example, consider this...

Cattle have this funny habit of defecating when they drink. And, to make matters worse

A picture of the brood cows on the Carmel Valley Ranch, near Monterey, CA.  Our cattle are grazed on grass 100% of their life

they drink (an average weight Cow or Steer) between 10 and 15 gallons per day. So that's a lot of manure. Pray tell, where did that manure come from? You guessed it - the grass from the rangeland they occupy.

So, we have a problem. Technically this is called "Nutrient Transfer" and it is defined as the literal transport of minerals, nutrients and other organic material from the rangeland (wide area) to a specific location - in this case right next to the water trough. Or, even worse next to the creek! Let me tell you, right from the lips (or fingers) of a Rancher this is bad for the environment. How do we solve this?

Well, to be blunt - stop being so lazy. You see, in nature, cattle (actually buffalo to be precise) would have roamed freely as an entire herd. Every day, they would move to a new grazing area, due mainly to predator pressure, and in so doing, they would have spread their manure evenly over the rangeland they graze. So, in order to run a truly environmentally friendly cattle operation, you must move the cattle every day. Basically, a Rancher should run his Cattle like God ran the great western Buffalo herds. How do we do that? With electric fence. Each day, the cattle are moved to a new paddock of grass (a subdivision of the larger grazing area) - oh, and their water is moved to a new location too, preferably to an area of the paddock that is in need of nutrients.

This is just one of the many aspects of a well managed grass-fed beef operation. The sum-total of this is two-fold; first, the cattle are very healthy, and secondly, so is the rangeland that supports them.

Cool stuff, no feedlots, no antibiotics (cattle that are on new green grass don't need medicine), and great tasting beef - and if purchase meat from us, you are a part of that! Neat huh? 

  

This weekend (April 9th or 10th), print the coupon below this e-mail off and bring it by any one of our markets (listed below) for $5.00 off a purchase of $50.00 or more.

We are an all natural family farm that produces home grown foods. Our products include USDA approved, by the pound grass-fed beef. We offer humanely treated, antibiotic free pork and truly free-range chicken. We have hogs on pasture and many of our animals (pork and chicken) are fed milk by-products, which result in a deep, rich flavor that generations before us enjoyed. We use IRG (intense rotational grazing) methods to feed our animals the freshest, rapidly growing green grass possible, with minimal impact to the land and surrounding environment. We are deeply committed to the principles of small farming and sustainable agriculture.