Local Beef Northern Virginia

Why is local beef from local beef farms important?

Let’s take a look at what it means to be local: it means to live and work in the community that you serve, therefore having a personal as well as a professional investment in it. Being local means understanding the area that you live in and taking the best care of it. Being local means understanding the importance that comes with being a central part of your community.

Why Is Local Beef Important

Local beef is important because it’s natural, healthier, and more ethical. Local beef means small ranches that are family owned and operated along with cattle that are naturally raised and properly cared for.

At factory farms, cattle are unnaturally raised. They’re given hormones to help them grow faster, fed unnatural grains such as corn (which is almost always genetically modified), and then when they get sick from being fed unnatural substances, given unnatural chemicals, and not being allowed outside at all, they’re given antibiotics. This is not healthy beef and this is not the life of a happy cow that was living as nature intended, and it’s definitely not local beef because these are unsustainable practices that result in sick animals. However, because of the way modern farming has gone and the demand for food, this is the cheapest and fastest way to raise an animal for slaughter. That’s why you’re able to buy meat cheaply and in abundance at the supermarket to bring to your table.

The Diet Of Local Northern Virginia Beef

The natural diet of a cow is not corn—cows are grazers and meant to eat natural grasses and hay. This is what makes local beef so great. At Cottonwood Ranch, we exclusively feed our cattle natural grasses and hay along with a supplemental beer mash from local Alexandria, Virginia breweries, which help nourish the cattle when there’s not much grass. Our grass is never treated with any pesticides or chemicals.

Factory farms also differ from local beef farms in the respect that they slaughter the animal at just 20 months of age, sometimes even younger. The proper age for a natural cow that will produce local beef to be slaughtered is two full years. At Cottonwood Ranch, we ensure our local beef is ready for slaughter and we never take any cows that aren’t of age to be slaughtered. Our cattle are transported by our family to a local slaughterhouse, where the cattle are inspected to ensure they’re healthy and then humanely killed. This is not what you’ll find at a commercial slaughterhouse where factory farms take their beef to.

Due to the commercial nature of factory farms, they’re often far away from the slaughterhouses in which the cattle are killed. This means large trucks of the cattle are transported for sometimes hundreds of miles away to be killed. These cattle are usually overcrowded into trucks and aren’t given any food or water or much protection from harsh weather conditions such as freezing or scorching temperatures.

Buying Local Beef Is Simple To Do

The process for purchasing local beef is simple, and you have the opportunity to see where your local beef was raised and lived its life in Front Royal, Virginia. Local beef farms have much to offer that factory farms simply can’t accommodate—personal attention and care for the cattle, healthy, lean meats, a local, natural ranch, and free-range, happy cattle.

Local beef is much more than choosing beef from your local store—that beef came from miles away, was most likely inhumanely treated, and given unnatural chemicals and hormones. At Cottonwood Ranch, we represent local beef farms everywhere by providing you with local beef that tastes amazing and is healthy and natural for your family.

Buying local beef has never been so important as it today. Today, factory farms have become normal and unethical practices are conducted all over the country, all to provide you with cheap beef that’s unnatural, full of weird substances, and lived a sad life. Local beef farms today aim to provide you with beef that was born and raised as it would be in nature—outside with sunshine, clean water, fresh grass, and the care they need and deserve.

Local beef has no substitute—come and try our beef at Cottonwood Ranch. You’ll taste the difference!

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(208) 816-1306