By Scott Condon
Aspen Times Weekly
Aspen, CO Colorado
The Tornares’ awakening to the world of grass-fed beef led them to raise Australian lowline angus, a miniature breed known for a mellow disposition and for being extremely efficient to grass feed. Provide them with hay in the winter and grazing pastures in the summer, along with salt licks and minerals, and you have happy cows.
They bought 10 mother cows in 2004. They raise the calves their cows produce and also buy yearlings from other ranchers, mainly their neighbors, Kit and Mike Strang. They also buy a few head from Monroe Summers, who leases the city of Aspen’s Cozy Point Ranch.
Over the years, their herd has grown as sales of their beef have increased and, particularly, with the Skico deal. They have 120 head now, including 20 mother cows. (Two African Watusi, a bull and a cow with tremendous horns that would put a Texas Longhorn to shame, keep the herd company.)
The cows are artificially inseminated at the same time of year, so the Tornares can count on calving in mid-April. The first black calf arrived this spring on April 14.
The calves are ear-tagged shortly after they are born, but otherwise have little human contact. The cattle aren’t pets, but they are treated with a little extra compassion. At most ranches, when a cow doesn’t produce a calf, it is shipped off for slaughter. Ranchers generally figure it’s not worth feeding the cow for another year in hopes that she will produce a calf. It’s purely an economic decision.
“We don’t do that here at Milagro Ranch,” Sarah said. “They get a second chance.”
The cattle at Milagro are ready for processing in 24 to 30 months, Felix said. They will weigh around 1,100 pounds. Regular angus that are given hormones and finished with grain at feedlots are usually ready in 16 to 18 months and weigh 1,400 to 1,500 pounds, he said.
Milagro Ranch processed 25 cattle between November 2009 and March 2010. That jumped to 100 cattle over the same period last winter, thanks in large part to the Skico contract.
The Tornares never use hormones and only use antibiotics when it is a matter of life or death. “Only if we’ve tried everything else and it’s not going to work,” Felix said. If antibiotics are used, that animal isn’t sold as grass-fed beef. It is sent to a standard feedlot.
Milagro Ranch’s operation has also been certified for humanely raised and handled beef by the organization Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC), a nonprofit organization that works to improve the lives of farm animals in food production.
Inspectors from HFAC visited the ranch to judge the quality of the hay the cattle were fed, how often they were out of pens and in pastures, if the fences were safe for the animals, whether or not they were harassed by dogs and a multitude of other factors. The Tornares’ processor also had to be certified humane. Sarah said it would have made no sense for the ranch to strive for the certification if the cattle weren’t humanely handled when they were processed. Their processor, Homestead in Delta, received the HFAC seal of approval….
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20110424/ASPENWEEKLY/110429954/1077&ParentProfile=1058
The Aspen Times
Posted: April 24, 2011 by Certified Humane
By Scott Condon
Aspen Times Weekly
Aspen, CO Colorado
The Tornares’ awakening to the world of grass-fed beef led them to raise Australian lowline angus, a miniature breed known for a mellow disposition and for being extremely efficient to grass feed. Provide them with hay in the winter and grazing pastures in the summer, along with salt licks and minerals, and you have happy cows.
They bought 10 mother cows in 2004. They raise the calves their cows produce and also buy yearlings from other ranchers, mainly their neighbors, Kit and Mike Strang. They also buy a few head from Monroe Summers, who leases the city of Aspen’s Cozy Point Ranch.
Over the years, their herd has grown as sales of their beef have increased and, particularly, with the Skico deal. They have 120 head now, including 20 mother cows. (Two African Watusi, a bull and a cow with tremendous horns that would put a Texas Longhorn to shame, keep the herd company.)
The cows are artificially inseminated at the same time of year, so the Tornares can count on calving in mid-April. The first black calf arrived this spring on April 14.
The calves are ear-tagged shortly after they are born, but otherwise have little human contact. The cattle aren’t pets, but they are treated with a little extra compassion. At most ranches, when a cow doesn’t produce a calf, it is shipped off for slaughter. Ranchers generally figure it’s not worth feeding the cow for another year in hopes that she will produce a calf. It’s purely an economic decision.
“We don’t do that here at Milagro Ranch,” Sarah said. “They get a second chance.”
The cattle at Milagro are ready for processing in 24 to 30 months, Felix said. They will weigh around 1,100 pounds. Regular angus that are given hormones and finished with grain at feedlots are usually ready in 16 to 18 months and weigh 1,400 to 1,500 pounds, he said.
Milagro Ranch processed 25 cattle between November 2009 and March 2010. That jumped to 100 cattle over the same period last winter, thanks in large part to the Skico contract.
The Tornares never use hormones and only use antibiotics when it is a matter of life or death. “Only if we’ve tried everything else and it’s not going to work,” Felix said. If antibiotics are used, that animal isn’t sold as grass-fed beef. It is sent to a standard feedlot.
Milagro Ranch’s operation has also been certified for humanely raised and handled beef by the organization Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC), a nonprofit organization that works to improve the lives of farm animals in food production.
Inspectors from HFAC visited the ranch to judge the quality of the hay the cattle were fed, how often they were out of pens and in pastures, if the fences were safe for the animals, whether or not they were harassed by dogs and a multitude of other factors. The Tornares’ processor also had to be certified humane. Sarah said it would have made no sense for the ranch to strive for the certification if the cattle weren’t humanely handled when they were processed. Their processor, Homestead in Delta, received the HFAC seal of approval….
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20110424/ASPENWEEKLY/110429954/1077&ParentProfile=1058
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