since i’ve lived in the south, there has just been one event that made me realize i was indeed in a foreign land:  uga football, first home game of the year.  don’t get me wrong, randolph new jersey was one hell of a place to grow up playing football.  for years and years randolph dominated the iron hills conference, and even sent one player on to become a professional bank robber.

but now add number two, to my short list of cultural dissonance. 

   1. uga football, opening game
   2. ne georgia livestock auction
   3.

although most of our current herd comes from a tightly monitored gene pool, and paper trailed breeding records, some of our steers are of mixed backgrounds—mutts, essentially—usually some sort of angus cross purchased at an auction house, or sale barn.  the angus is the breed of choice for most conventional cattle operations, and in a system that runs with margins thinner than a penny, premiums offered are matched with an unholy homogenization amongst what sort of cattle are produced.

for us, as grass farmers, we are approaching the auction with a much different interest than the conventional system.  this becomes an advantage, as breeds, sizes, ages, and colors of cattle that have fallen out of favor conventionally can become priced more advantageously for us.  furthermore, as the price of cattle declines into winter—the most expensive time to maintain a herd of cattle off pasture—we can continue to scoop up more animals to munch grass straight through the year.  as our pasture begins to rebound from the harsh harsh summer, we can match grass growth with new mouths.  

another plus of the auction process, is that the livestock is assuredly local.  these auction houses dot the landscape, and if somebody was coming from that far away, they would have just sold it at a closer one.  to a certain extent, based on the general norms and trends from the region, you can pretty safely hypothesize on these mystery cow’s histories.  but of course, their appearance, and overall condition, reveal the most.

at the end of the day, there are a host of trade offs between buying from a reputable herd, with known genetics, and buying from the auction.  for me, as someone who strives to farm using strategies that lie outside the conventional norms of american cattleman, the auction process serves as a great reminder of the system at large.  advocates of sustainable agriculture, and organics, and local, etc, must make sure not to live/farm/eat in a bubble.

although buying a few steer, and taking them over to the fields at fowler farms makes me feel good, that we are saving these lucky cows from the atrocities that await their brethren on the other end of that tractor trailer, i must not ignore that allll the rest of them are heading for feedlots.


BONUS BONUS, cha cha cha_____________________________________

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