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Why Organic Beef? Certified Organic livestock must come from fully verifiable production systems that collect information on the history of every animal in the program, including its breeding history, veterinarian care, and feed, which is always Non-GMO. Organic beef is certified to have been produced without toxic contaminants applied to the pastures that will pass on to you; herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers are toxic contaminants that other production systems are allowed to use. Organic beef also certifies that the animal is free of all restricted chemical medicines; antibiotics, growth hormones, endectocides and other standard use cattle chemical treatments. USDA Certified Organic beef means cleaner food for you and your family.
Make sure to watch the video at the bottom of the page.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN ORGANIC FARMING & AGRIBUSINESS
First, all organic farming begins with the soil, its minerals, organic matter, micro-organisms, insects, plants, animals and how the farmer interacts with nature. In the beginning, all farming was organic. It was a culture and animal husbandry was an integral part of all farming practices as was regenerative and sustainable land practices. It’s how farms survived!
Animal welfare is synonymous with organic animal husbandry. Organic livestock must be raised in a way that accommodates their health and natural behavior. Organic management reduces stress, reducing the incidence of disease and supporting animal welfare. Organic livestock is raised without the toxins of herbicides, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and other chemical standard medical treatments used in non-organic cattle production. Those toxins are passed on to you!
Thousand Hills Cattle Ranch exceeds the USDA organic minimum standards. Our cattle are raised on clean healthy pastures with free access to shade, shelter and clean drinking water year-round. Our cattle are allowed to express more of their natural behavior and are provided better welfare than livestock on conventional farms.
We have your family in mind. We are Georgia Grown for Georgia families and promise to grow the happiest cattle and produce the cleanest beef in Georgia.
CERTIFICATION CHART
NOTE* There are good farmers that produce quality products and don’t carry these certifications. Know your farmer, know your food. Do your own research, all the certifications entities listed have their by-laws and certifications standards online.
If this image is hard to read, please open this PDF copy.
As you can see by the chart, the USDA Organic Certification ensures the highest standards and most trustworthy certification on the list. Organic certified farms are held to a higher standard, and thus our beef is held to a higher standard. We truly care about how this practice benefits our land, our animals, our meat, our family, and your family.
The Animal Welfare Institute published a paper on “Consumer Perceptions of farm animal welfare” and it is clear a large segment of consumers are concerned for animal welfare, and that is a good thing. But there has to be a focus on the foods we eat, a focus on human health. Consumers see labels and are comfortable that the farm animal was treated with animal welfare in mind, but what about your family’s health and welfare?
The American Grassfed Certification, Animal Welfare Approved, Certified Humane, and Global Animal Partnership all focus on animal well-being and less on human health. These certifications ignore the fact that the animals are exposed to hazardous herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers both in their supplement food and on the pastures where they graze and live.
These chemicals pass on to you! The Beef Quality Assurance logo is a program of the National Cattlemen's Association recently created however doesn’t seem to measure up to other standards.
All these logos/certifications are born through market demand for animal welfare transparency, however, the Programs themselves are not as transparent as people believe them to be. Look over the chart and feel free to ask me any questions… you will look at labels differently.
ORGANIC FOR ALL VIDEO
The results observed reductions of 13 pesticides and compounds representing “Organophosphates”, “Neonicotinoids”, and “Pyrethroids” all pesticides and the herbicide 2,4-D. all extremely popular in the agriculture community. (We do not own rights to this video. This video is published by Friends of the Earth Action on YouTube.)
HERBICIDES TO LOOK OUT FOR
If you want to look up a herbicide that kills heavy duty weeds look up Grazon. This is sprayed on hay fields, animals eat it, their manure is used to fertilize vegetable gardens, and the vegetables die… and we eat beef that eats the hay that has this herbicide sprayed on it… and we wonder why we have a rise in cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes etc.…
Please read the article: “What Are the Dangers of Grazon Herbicide?”