Farmer's Market Secrets

Farmer’s Market Secrets

Farmer’s Markets are great, but they aren’t all created equal.  Tonight, I had an opportunity to listen to Michele Aavang of Willow Lea Stock Farm talk for about an hour about all things beef. Michele and her husband care for 60 (mother) cows and raise their calves to finish weight. They sell their beef direct to the consumer through the Woodstock (Illinois) Market.

I presume that many of us go to the farmer’s market to support a farmer directly by cutting out the middle-man of our retail food chain, or to simply get the freshest produce possible.  In Michele’s talk, the biggest surprise to me was that not all the vendors at the farmer’s market are necessarily actually farmers. If a market is a “producers market,” like the Woodstock Market, the market committee verifies that each vendor is, in fact, the producer of the products they are selling. If the market is not a producers market, vendors may be distributors. For example, if you see a vendor selling bananas at an Illinois farmer’s market, you can be sure that is a distributor; and you could just as easily have purchased that product at the super-market. Bananas are a pretty easy one to figure out, but it could also be out-of-season vegetables or fruit  and even meat.

So, how do you know? Ask questions and talk to the farmer. Ask where is their farm located? If the vendor is a distributor, obviously they won’t have a farm. Also, each farmer’s market committee will have a different definition of “local.” If buying local is important to you, distance may matter and you can find out directly.  If you’re buying meat, ask where is their feed from? A good answer, according to Michele, would be grass/hay and grain (corn, possibly soybeans) along with added vitamins and nutrients. A not-so-good answer would be (Michelle has actually heard this one) left-overs from a local bakery. That’s just not a nutrient rich diet, obviously. Ask what is the age of their animals? The older the animal, the tougher the meat becomes and flavor changes.

If you are wondering about the “grass-fed” label, this is how Michele explained it to us. First of all, if the label says “100% grass-fed,” then that is all the animal ate. In northern climates, 100% grass-fed isn't attainable, because our grasses go dormant in winter months. Animals in the north can be labeled “grass-fed” and this means they were likely in a pasture April – October; and then from Oct – April, they were fed hay. Michele cited Nebraska and northern Texas, along with New Zealand and Australia, as having prairie grasses that are high in protein and the animals have access all winter long. Grass-fed beef is higher in CLA’s (conjugated linoleic acid) and Omega-3’s, but it is not well-marbled, takes longer to raise the animal to market weight (3-1/2 to 4 years), and the taste is different (usually perceived as a negative) than super-market meat.

If beef is not labeled "grass-fed," they should be eating grass, hay, corn, sileage, and soybeans mixed with added vitamins and nutrients. Each farmer works with a nutritionist to determine what the dietary needs are.

Michele also did some myth-busting for us. She talked about corn, GMO corn, growth hormones, and antibiotics. She also explained why the price of beef is so high.

She has never heard of anyone feeding only corn to their cattle; she said there has to be a mix of a long fiber (like grass or hay) in the mix to maintain the health of the animals. She told us corn does not make cattle sick, despite what we may have seen or read on the internet. Grains help make meat taste better and it increases the (USDA) grading.

She told us she raises non-GMO corn to feed to her cattle because that is what her customers request. She also raises GM corn to sell on the commodities market. She does not believe GM corn is unhealthy for us or the animals. If you want non-GMO meat, look for the USDA certified organic label.

She does not use growth hormones on her cattle, but said of those hormones, they are absorbed into the animal’s body and any trace remaining would be so minuscule it should not be a concern to us.

Of antibiotics, she said that beef farmers are not over-using antibiotics. They will use them on sick animals, but the farmers follow standard withdrawal periods for antibiotics before sending them for processing. In feedlot operations, a new load of arriving cattle may be given a low-dose to prevent illness. Again, if you want hormone-free or antibiotic free meat, look for the USDA certified organic label.

She said one of the reasons the price of beef is high is because of the drought in 2012. Many southwestern farms had to sell off their herds because there wasn't enough feed available. Cows don’t give birth until two years of age, and then a calf isn't ready for market until somewhere around 14-16 months of age. So, to build up the livestock again simply takes time.