About the Moore family (Matt, Tracy, Kalynn, Christopher and Cord)
Our Vision
We strive to produce healthy, delicious meats for our family, friends, and customers. We aim to return the land to a balanced state in terms of soil fertility, quality forages, animal health and enhanced quality of our lives.
About Green Grass Farms
Green Grass Farms was officially started in January of 2016 in Raymore, MO. After being on active duty for years and having a disabled child, we decided we wanted to simplify and slow down our way of life. In November of 2014 our disabled son was put on a 100% "Real Foods Diet" and that played a huge part in motivating us to look more into what that really meant. What was the difference between farm raised and store bought organic food? What was the real benefit of not using hormones or antibiotics or pesticides? Which is better, grain finished or grass finished meat? Within a month of changing our sons diet we saw huge changes. The two biggest changes we saw were, 1. No more seizures (where he use to have multiple a day) and 2. No more hospitalizations (where he use to be hospitalized monthly). We don't claim to have all the answers, but we would love to share with you what we have learned and what we continue to learn as we embark on this great adventure!!!
Background and Motivation
Green Grass Farms is a diversified, grass-based, beyond organic, direct marketing farm operating through the use of multiple farm locations, hints “Farms” in our name Green Grass Farms. The ultimate vision was motivated by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. They are in the land healing business by using Livestock to heal and restore improperly managed farm land. God made animals to be a provision for our consumption, He also made animals a certain way naturally and I will use animals in a natural form to heal and restore farm land where the land, animal and consumer benefits. The land we farm is and will continue to be properly managed, the result is the animal has healthy, natural, protein rich grass available in abundance, and you the consumer reap the benefits of healthy naturally raised meat and egg’s with an ultimate lowered doctor’s bill.
Beyond Organic Philosophy
Our goal is to provide the most nutritious and delicious meat and produce possible. Although we haven't gone through the steps to be considered "Certified Organic" We try to be as organic as possible. No antibiotics or artificial growth hormones are used. We are currently using non-GMO grain mixures for our chickens and our pigs. Our cows, sheep and goats get an all grass diet. We raise all our lifestock on pasture, allowing them to live a natural and humane life, hence creating a healthier meat. Selling locally also is a big part of our philosophy, supporting the local economy, freshness, and energy efficiency.
Rotational Grazing
Rotational grazing is the practice of moving grazing livestock between pastures (often called paddocks) as needed or on a regular basis. Well managed rotation grazing means that you evaluate the nutritional forage needs of your animals, assess forage quality and quantity and regulate the acreage of access and control which parts of the pasture/range that the animals have access to. We use a temporary electric fence system to manage the size of the paddock.
There are many advantages to rotational grazing, here are just a few:
1. Increased forage production (by 30-70% each year)
2. Increased soil fertility (Spreading manure around the whole pasture)
3. Increased resistance to drought.
4. Less wasting of forage.
5. Healthier land means healthier animals.
Why Buy Farm Raised Grass Fed
It's only recently that we've become aware of the shortcomings of even "organic" and "naturally-raised" grocery store eggs and meat. As Michael Pollan cleverly points out,"We are what what we eat eats." That is, Pollan wants us to wonder: What does our food eat? Store bought meat claims to be "without the use of antibiotics or aritificial growth hormones" or "certified organic," but that doesn't mean that it wasn't standing in a feedlot up to its ankles in its own manure, eating food that cows were never meant to eat and that makes them sick, which is why they get fed all those antibiotics in the first place. Want to learn more, just go watch Food, Inc. on Netflix. You will definitely get an educaiton that might change your decisions on what you buy.
Why not skip the middleman and buy your beef directly from a farmer? Cows that are grass-fed entirely eat nothing but mother’s milk and herbaceous plants, what they were intended to eat. No hormones or antibiotics are used.
Grass-fed beef at the store is pricey. But buying direcly from a farmer will cost less than what you’d pay at the farmers’ market, or even for grain-fed commodity meat at the store.
Grass-fed beef is better for you. For years, consumers have been told that beef is bad, full of unhealthy saturated fats. This may be true of conventionally raised beef, but not all cows are created equal. The health benefits of eating beef (and other meats) are measured partly by where and how the livestock was raised, but more importantly by what it ate. Cows have evolved on mother’s milk and grasses, so they get sick when they’re fed a diet of grains; their tummy troubles are responsible for the evolution of more virulent strains of E. coli. In addition, most grain fed to conventionally raised cattle are treated with pesticides and contaminated with mold growth, which necessitates the use of antibiotics.
Grass-fed beef is not only free of hormones and antibiotics, it’s low in calories and saturated fats. It’s high in health-enhancing fats like CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) and omega-3s and omega-6s, and rich in antioxidants like vitamins E and C and beta-carotene.
Grass-fed beef tastes better and cooks faster. Grazing cattle get plenty of exercise and aren’t fattened with corn and grain, so their meat has less marbling and is extremely low in fat. The fats that are present, however, are more flavorful and beefier-tasting than those found in corn-fed beef. Use salt or mild spices before cooking to allow the seasoning to blend with and enhance the natural flavor of the beef, or a basic marinade to add tenderness.
“Low and slow” are the guidelines for cooking grass-fed beef for optimum moisture, texture, and flavor; the rule of thumb is that it takes 30 percent less cooking time than for ordinary beef. If you prefer your meat well done, cook grass-fed beef at a very low temperature in a sauce to add moisture. Remember that meat continues to cook after being removed from the heat (this is called “carryover cooking”) and should be removed when it is 10 degrees under the desired temperature.