Rules for grass-fed, organic cattle

It will also depend who is doing the organic certification. USDA organic is considered a joke by some (compared to stricter certification programs). You can search USDA organic on google for the standards- they might say in there that some non organic feed is okay. Gmo is a whole nother issue. And many crops are becoming a monoculture of gmo.

Ps- have your farmer own the adjoining field to use for hay production. None of the organic concerns and he still has to get the cattle.

Or, the organic movement has spread to his neighbors and he just has to make sure his herd doesnt make it to Farmer Roundup's non organic fields.

Can't find it with Google, but there was a wheeze involving shipping french cows to Scotland for the last three weeks of their life so they could be classed as Aberdeen Angus and fetch a higher price.

Similarly there's an allowed amount of pesticides/stuff you can get away with and still call your food organic.

Give the food/animal standards body for where ever your story is set a call and they'll be able to tell you the regulations.

This wouldn't be a thing at all. Nobody is going to call the cattle police for a few mouthfuls of grain. The bigger problem would be with the neighbor if the cattle went through his fences. Not to mention the prospect of herding them back when they are munching happily in the field. Believe me, I've done it.

Unless his conscience bothers him, no test in the world is going to identify an afternoon jaunt into a non organic corn field, even just a week later. Nor is it going to effect the meat unless it is laced with something really unusual.

I think a lot of people would ignore this slip. The stubble is not going to have anything on it at that point in the cycle. Otherwise s/he might put those animals in a withdrawal period. Organic farms will still use some drugs like veterinary treatments as needed, they just make sure they keep the animal aisde until those drugs will be out if its system.

How have you got him selling his cattle?

Captcha said:

Great answers, guys - thanks!

And Patrick S., the aggravation of dealing with the neighbour, fixing the fence and herding the cattle back home is EXACTLY what I'm going for, so I'm glad you agree that it would be a pain!

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What aggravation in dealing with the neighbor? Most farmers put cattle into stubble fields for grazing. This isn't a problem. If you want the farmer to be aggravated, the cattle need to be in the corn before it is harvested.

There's no aggravation in the fencing. The cattle took down the wire between two posts, maybe between three or four. Put your gloves on, stretch the barbed wire, and wrap some extra barbed wire to connect it. About as much aggravation as taking a leak. And doesn't take much longer.

And these cattle will be used to humans and herding. You're talking small pastures here (less then 10 acres probably). These cattle get moved a lot. You're not talking the huge pastures where the cattle are left for months at a time.

If you want him to have problems with the certification, have him under contract with a high-end beef supplier. Upon sale, he has to certify that the cattle were not fed any non-organic feed. He's reluctant, and explains the situation. Make as complicated or not as you desire.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Captcha said:

I haven't really gotten into the sale aspect - I'm thinking he'd do some farm gate sales, but it's a fair-sized operation so I think he'd need a distributor, too. Maybe a co-op?

I don't suppose you know anything about that, do you?

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I looked into it when I was stuck on that farm. What I found out is that the only way to really make money is to contract with someone like Laura's Beef or one of the other organic beef suppliers, and then you have to be able to have a certain number of calves the right age ready to go at the same time, which means you have to keep the bulls separated from the cows until the timing is right for the drop time you want.

It gets complicated.

And yeah, cattle get out fairly regularly if you don't stay on top of the fences. In my experience, it was the damned Whitefaces that would tear the fences down. I usually sent the dogs out to check if any were out. They'd bring them back in on their own usually, but sometimes I'd have to go supervise, depending on where they'd gotten to. I got pretty good at moving cattle myself, lol. The mature bulls were much easier to deal with than the yearlings or the damned cows. There were a few I was happy to put in the freezer.

Oh, and too, most of the organics also want Angus, which can be less than 100% Angus -- you might want to check, as it probably changes and I may be remembering wrong from the UT Ag seminars, but I'm thinking it was only 50%. Many producers keep Angus bulls (black) and a mix of Angus and other beef strain cows. Usually, at stock barn auctions, predominantly black cattle with some white on the face and a few body markings go for the highest prices, or at least they did when I was involved in it.

Jim's given you excellent information.

It's been a WEIRD life, lol. I am definitely not and never was and never wanted to be a farm girl. And don't want to do it again, ever.

Really depends on the neighbor. Any damage done to a neighbor's property is the responsibility of the owner of the cattle. Getting into just a stubble field wouldn't likely be a big deal, but if they went from the stubble field to tromp on the prize rose garden next door, it would be more of an issue.

Cattle can be hard to deal with even on a small pasture. A forest fire was approaching my farm one time so I wanted to get the cattle loaded. A water bomber kept on passing overhead and got them all fired up. It took us two hours with four people to get them into the truck and these were animals that were used to being loaded.

jclarkdawe said:

What aggravation in dealing with the neighbor? Most farmers put cattle into stubble fields for grazing. This isn't a problem. If you want the farmer to be aggravated, the cattle need to be in the corn before it is harvested.

There's no aggravation in the fencing. The cattle took down the wire between two posts, maybe between three or four. Put your gloves on, stretch the barbed wire, and wrap some extra barbed wire to connect it. About as much aggravation as taking a leak. And doesn't take much longer.

And these cattle will be used to humans and herding. You're talking small pastures here (less then 10 acres probably). These cattle get moved a lot. You're not talking the huge pastures where the cattle are left for months at a time.

If you want him to have problems with the certification, have him under contract with a high-end beef supplier. Upon sale, he has to certify that the cattle were not fed any non-organic feed. He's reluctant, and explains the situation. Make as complicated or not as you desire.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

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Patrick.S said:

Really depends on the neighbor. Any damage done to a neighbor's property is the responsibility of the owner of the cattle. Getting into just a stubble field wouldn't likely be a big deal, but if they went from the stubble field to tromp on the prize rose garden next door, it would be more of an issue.

Cattle can be hard to deal with even on a small pasture. A forest fire was approaching my farm one time so I wanted to get the cattle loaded. A water bomber kept on passing overhead and got them all fired up. It took us two hours with four people to get them into the truck and these were animals that were used to being loaded.

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So true!

There were a couple of guys with the powered paragliders who thought it was fun to buzz the cattle out in the pasture -- which was a terrible nuisance when there were many new calves on the ground, not to mention it was just plain cruel to frighten them like that.

They quit after one of them got into trouble and almost crashed . . . and there were two Fila bitches and Bimmer circling underneath. And they were PISSED, lol.

I was sitting in the jeep just watching

Absolutely a cattle owner is responsible for the damage done by his or her cattle. But you're going to have to work some to get any damage being done to a stubble field. That's why I suggested the corn field before it's cut. Prize rose garden or vegetable garden are also good.

But my favorite was when the cattle went for a stroll through the summer complaint neighbor's property when Mister Big-Wig was having a party with all the city folk in fancy duds and the women in high-heeled sandals. Two hundred white-faced calves, with a good production of manure, just after they'd been branded and separated from their mommies. The cattle cruised through where the cars were parked, spreading cheer on the ground all around, before they crashed the actual party. Rancher friend was lucky when it was shown that the gate was left open by one of the summer complaint's friends.

A stubble field won't cut it, however.

Yes, cattle can freak, and freak over the stupidest things. Obviously that can be introduced into the story, but for normal operations, I won't anticipate a problem with rounding up the cattle. Problems make good stories, but they're not the day-to-day situation.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe