Harris raises 650 head of cattle on the green fields of his family’s ranch, White Oak Pastures, which is also the brand name of his company’s 100 percent, certified humane, natural ground beef product.
Expanding his ranch’s grass-fed beef operations means coming full circle for the fifth-generation, self-described “full-time cattleman.”
The Harris family has been raising cattle at White Oak Pastures for the marketplace since 1866 when James Harris established the ranch.
For the first hundred years or so, cattle on the ranch were raised without supplemental hormones or antibiotics. They were handled and harvested in a humane manner, pasture-raised and grass-fed, then slaughtered on site and sold to area markets, Harris said.
Of course, there was no real market for grass-fed beef then – beef was beef. But that all changed as 20th century livestock production models took over.
It started with Harris’ father and continued when Harris went to college and learned the science of raising cattle.
Harris lamented the days when he would feed countless antibiotics to his animals and inject their ears with hormone implants to increase yields. He’s loaded generation after generation of calves into packed 18-wheelers for 30-hour hauls to massive feedlots where they would await slaughter.
“When I raised cattle for the industrial complex, I didn’t like it,” he said.
Then, in the early 90s, Harris began reading about a strange phenomenon starting to creep into consumer’s buying habits.
“I started reading about sophisticated consumers that want to eat food that is healthier, safer, more nutritious and raised in accordance with nature’s way,” he explained. “I always longed to raise cattle the way we used to, but I never thought it would be that way again.”
A couple years later, Harris had made up his mind to begin transitioning all his cattle to a grass-fed regimen and went about it with “irrational exuberance.”
Sustainable Food News: Grass-Fed Beef Producer Pins Hopes of New Processing Plant on Publix
Posted: July 26, 2006 by Certified Humane
Harris raises 650 head of cattle on the green fields of his family’s ranch, White Oak Pastures, which is also the brand name of his company’s 100 percent, certified humane, natural ground beef product.
Expanding his ranch’s grass-fed beef operations means coming full circle for the fifth-generation, self-described “full-time cattleman.”
The Harris family has been raising cattle at White Oak Pastures for the marketplace since 1866 when James Harris established the ranch.
For the first hundred years or so, cattle on the ranch were raised without supplemental hormones or antibiotics. They were handled and harvested in a humane manner, pasture-raised and grass-fed, then slaughtered on site and sold to area markets, Harris said.
Of course, there was no real market for grass-fed beef then – beef was beef. But that all changed as 20th century livestock production models took over.
It started with Harris’ father and continued when Harris went to college and learned the science of raising cattle.
Harris lamented the days when he would feed countless antibiotics to his animals and inject their ears with hormone implants to increase yields. He’s loaded generation after generation of calves into packed 18-wheelers for 30-hour hauls to massive feedlots where they would await slaughter.
“When I raised cattle for the industrial complex, I didn’t like it,” he said.
Then, in the early 90s, Harris began reading about a strange phenomenon starting to creep into consumer’s buying habits.
“I started reading about sophisticated consumers that want to eat food that is healthier, safer, more nutritious and raised in accordance with nature’s way,” he explained. “I always longed to raise cattle the way we used to, but I never thought it would be that way again.”
A couple years later, Harris had made up his mind to begin transitioning all his cattle to a grass-fed regimen and went about it with “irrational exuberance.”
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