You can go
directly to the ordering
page to browse our selections or to place your order
for Real Grass Fed Beef.
Q: Are
antibiotics or growth hormones used in the grass-fed
beef cattle?
A: Antibiotic use in our cattle
is limited to clinically sick animals only. We never
use sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotic in our feed.
We never sell an animal that has been treated twice.
All animals
that receive antibiotics are given a shot if they are
clinically ill. That means they are obviously sick and
are running a temperature; cattle are susceptible to
pneumonia and occasionally need to be treated just like
people.
We take very
good care of our animals and will not let them suffer,
so we treat them. This typically happens when the calf
is about 400-500 lb., if it happens at all. The cattle
are then grown on grass until they weigh about 1000
lb. At the rate of 2 pounds of weight gain per day,
the cattle are on our ranch for 7-8 months. Therefore
your beef has not been exposed to antibiotics for periods
far in excess of any withdrawal period.
On
top of this we really don't treat many to begin with due
to our management practices. Our goal is to avoid this
altogether in the near future. Our protocol states that
we can treat sick calves with antibiotics, however if
we do they must have at least two times the recommended
withdrawal period as stated on the label of the product.
Any animal
that is treated twice must be taken out of the program.
We never feed antibiotics to our cattle, we never use
growth hormones or other growth stimulants.
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Q: Where do the grass-fed
cattle come from?
A: The cattle are born and
raised to about 500 lb. in various parts of the country.
Most are born and raised here in Northeast Missouri
and West Central Illinois. The cattle we are selling
currently came from James and Buster Geisendorpher in
Monticello, Missouri.
We know how
James and Buster raise their cattle and we trust them.
We then purchased the calves and grass-fed them on our
own ranch. This way we know the whole history of the
animal.
The cattle
are slaughtered by PM Beef in Windholm, Minnesota. PM
is not a "typical" slaughter facility. We chose them
after an exhaustive search for the "best we could find".
We toured the plant and found it to be exceptional.
PM Beef is
big enough to have all the advanced equipment and technique
but small enough to pay attention to detail. Most of
their business is for case ready retail meat. They typically
buy cattle and process them directly for placement in
your retail grocery case.
This requires
exceptional attention to detail and that is why we chose
them. We also found them to be very good people from
top to bottom. Good, highly skilled people make all
the difference.
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Q: Does the E. Coli
risk decrease with grass-fed beef?
A: Yes. Grass-finished beef has a minimal
risk compared to grain-fed beef due to the difference
in epigastric pH in the two diets. Grain diets create
a much higher level of acidity in the stomach, which
the E.coli bacteria need to survive. Grass-finished
animals live in clean grass pastures where higher levels
of sanitation greatly reduce the risk as well.
Always cook
ground beef until no pink remains. Our beef is the best,
but never take a chance with your family's health by
serving undercooked meat.
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Q: What are the marinated
products marinated in?
A: The marinated products are marinated
in burgundy and pepper.
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Q: How is my meat
packaged?
A: After appropriate aging, meat is
vacuum packed in state of the art cryovac packaging.
This airless environment ensures high quality and long
life in your freezer. Meat will arrive at your door
in its protective wrapping, boxed, and insulated in
our styrofoam shipping containers.
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Q: What is wet
aging?
A: Aging is critical to ensure you
receive a tender product. Wet aging is done in a vacuum
package to improve meat safety and eliminate the product's
exposure to additional pathogens that can occur during
a dry aging process.
The meat
is cut into wholesale cuts and aged for an average of
21 days before portion cutting. Wet aging also enables
the meat to age without losing valuable moisture incurred
during the dry aging process .
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Q: What cooking
preparations are necessary?
A: It is best to thaw meat using the
refrigerator. Using this method, a one pound package
will thaw in approximately 20-24 hours. Microwave ovens
are less friendly than the refrigerator; however, if
used, select the lowest power setting to avoid cooking
the outside while the inside thaws. Check the meat frequently
to monitor microwave thawing.
Cook
ground beef until no pink remains, or until the meat temperature
registers 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Slow-cooking methods
that retain moisture work great on lean, red meat. Braising
is recommended for roasts and low heat is ideal for steaks.
Steaks should be prepared to a minimum of 140 degrees
Fahrenheit (rare) to a maximum of 160 degrees Fahrenheit
(medium) to harvest the best tenderness and flavor.
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Q: How much freezer space
will I need?
A: One cubic foot of freezer space
will hold approximately 30 lbs. to 32 lbs. of beef.
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Q: What is CLA?
A: Please refer to the health benefits section
of our web site for a detailed discussion of this
important nutrient.
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Q: How do you raise
your cattle?
A: Our family of producers
use our Grassfed Organics production protocol to ensure
that the quality of the product you receive is consistent
time after time. Here is what you can count on.
Our cattle's
health and your health are protected in the following
ways:
Our beef
is not irradiated.
We use
no hormonal growth implants. This is a practice often
used in beef production to speed up growth and weight
gain. Faster gain equals shorter time from birth to
finishing. This means more money for the producer.
We won't do this! We will not sacrifice your health
for money.
We use
no feed grade antibiotics.
Low-level antibiotics are
routinely administered to help manage highly concentrated,
grain diets in commercial feedlots. Grass diets eliminate
this concern and risk.
We use
no unnecessary injection antibiotics.
Just like
humans, animals sometimes become ill and need antibiotics.
Should this occur, our producers record and track
the injection. The animal must then meet our protocol
for "double the industry standard" withdrawal time
from the medication, prior to processing.
We feed
no animal byproducts.
Animal
byproducts are used by some feedlots as cost saving
feed ingredients. These are taboo in our grass-finished
system. The only meat safe to consume in England during
the "mad cow" crisis was grass-finished, English beef!
We feed
no feed grains.
It is pretty
simple; we don't fatten our cattle up with grain to
make them weigh heavier faster. Grassfed Organics
cattle eat grass and legumes, their natural diet.
The only potential exception to this is noted below.
We monitor
and manage plant proteins to ensure that cattle have
access to optimum levels for performance.
We do monitor
the protein level in the pastures where our cattle
are grazing. For their good health and for premium
meat quality, protein levels should be at or above
11% on a dry matter intake basis.
Should
levels drop below 11% (which may occur in late summer),
Grassfed Organics producers are allowed to add a low
starch plant protein supplement to the diet while
on pasture.
Our cattle
are raised and finished grazing the very best lush,
green pasture forage in the Midwest. Our pastures
are managed using rotational schedules that ensure
cattle are consistently eating fresh, green forage
daily.
Our Cattle Eat Right So You Can Too!
If you
are ready to order please go to our order
page.
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Q: How do you ship
the beef?
A: Orders received Wednesday afternoon
through 12:00 noon Monday will be shipped on Monday
afternoon. Orders received before 12:00 P.M. on Tuesday
and Wednesday will go out the same day.
Federal Express
will be the principal carrier. Our standard shipping
protocol is to ship priority overnight, which allows
most orders to arrive by 10:30 A.M. in most U.S. cities.
After appropriate
aging, meat is vacuum packed in state of the art cryovac
packaging. This airless environment ensures high quality
and long life in your freezer. Meat will arrive at your
door in its protective wrapping, boxed, and insulated
in our styrofoam shipping containers.
At this time
we are shipping to the Continental
U.S. as well as Hawaii and Alaska only. We cannot ship orderd
to the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada or any other
locations overseas.
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Q: How
do I calculate shipping charges?
A: To calculate shipping charges, you
must begin the ordering process for the beef. This does
not commit you to
the order. You can always go back and make any necessary
changes to your order. If you are ready to order please
go to our order
page.
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Q: How can I pay for
my order?
A: You can pay for your order by using
your credit card with our highly secure 128-bit encrypted
transaction process.
We do not
currently offer payment by check at this time. However
in the future, we may offer this service, but it would
take at least 4 weeks to process the order. If you would
be interested in this service, email us at Info@reiddds.com
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Q: Which credit cards do you accept?
A:
We accept Visa, Mastercard, and Discover.
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Q: Is your beef classified
as kosher?
A:
Currently, our beef is not certified as kosher.
However, we will be switching to the kosher process
in the near future.
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Q: Can I get custom packages of meat?
A: At this time we are only offering
the packages that are listed on our ordering
page. In the future, we may offer custom packages.
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Q: Do you have nutritional requirements on the
label of the beef?
A:
Currently, we do not have not have specific
nutritional requirements on the label of our beef. However
it is USDA examined and approved.
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Q: Could I get a better deal on
shipping?
A:
Well, you could drive to southern Illinois
and pick up the beef which would save you on shipping
costs. Most people just don't have the time and with
gas at $2 per gallon it would be quite expensive to
drive that far for most people.
The
beef is highly perishable and we have to ship using
Federal Express' Overnight service, so we can be certain
your beef products will arrive frozen and completely
safe to eat.
If
you would like to check FedEx's shipping costs for yourself,
you can click here,
or call 1-800-Go-FedEx.
To
calculate shipping costs on FedEx's web page, simply
enter in your zip code, then the zipcode for Quincy,
IL which is 62301.
Enter
in the approximate weight of the item(s) you wish to
order, which you can find by clicking on the images
on ordering
page.
You
will likely find the rate is over 70% more than what
we charge on our site, because of our specially negotiated
rates.
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Q: Where can I get recipes
for grass-fed beef?
A:
Although any traditional beef recipe will
work with grass-fed beef, you can try these great recipes
right here.
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You
can go directly to the ordering
page to browse our selections or to place your order
for Real Grass Fed Beef.
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