Life, Death, and Beef: What It Means to Raise an Animal You're Going to Eat

We have this viral video on Instagram.

There's like a 99% chance that if you're reading this you've already seen it.

Jesse is standing in front of the cows, talking about how we'll give you a free chest freezer with your first half or whole Beef Share, and then explaining some of the ways we try to give our cattle a humane and natural life. It's the most viewed thing we've ever made, and it's also the thing that triggers the most pointed questions about what ethical grass fed beef actually means in practice. Here's the honest answer.

The comment we get every single time

One of the comments it gets A LOT is some variation of….

"Oh great, you treat them so well and then you mUrdEr tHem."

Which is just so odd to me.

Yes, for us to eat meat cows have to die. That is table stakes.

More like table STEAKS *rim shot* am I right?

But why would that imply that you wouldn't give them the best life possible along the way?

What ethical grass fed beef actually looks like (from the inside)

We don't hate the cows.

We're not trying to eradicate them.

We love them, respect them, and deeply appreciate the nourishment they provide for us, our families, and our community.

We work long hours, in all kinds of weather, to care for them.

And yes, we kill and eat them.

I can understand how that would cause some dissonance for people. It's a complicated emotion to love an animal and to know you're going to eat it.

One that is very distant from the reality most people experience.

It's uncomfortable to grapple with.

But that's ok. Being human involves complicated, uncomfortable emotions.

Why animal welfare hits people harder than anything else we talk about

And I think most people get that, because the flip side of the dinguses in the comment section is that that video is the most popular one Jesse has ever made.

It was the video that made us go viral last year, and transformed our business and lives.

Which tells me that of all the things we talk about, animal welfare strikes a particular chord with folks.

Because as humans we're able to understand the gravity of killing something so that we can eat and be nourished.

But we're also capable of caring for these animals. Loving them. Doctoring them. Designing handling and management systems that work with their psychology.

And ultimately giving them the swiftest, most humane death possible.

Taking part in that is not for everyone. Which I understand.

But it is our job to steward and care for these animals that give so much to us.

If you want to see the day-to-day version of what that stewardship actually looks like, here's how we raise our cattle and what our cows actually eat across our pastures.

How to opt out of the industrial system (and into ours)

If that matters to you. If you are like the millions of people who watched that video and were overwhelmingly positive and supportive about how we're doing things.

People who want to know that the animal nourishing their family was treated with decency and respect.

Here's how you can opt out of the industrial beef system and support farmers who care deeply about every aspect of these animals' lives, from beginning to the very end. Just choose your share and place a deposit:

• Eighth Beef Share: perfect for starting out, or folks with less freezer space.
• Quarter Beef Share: very popular with couples and families with young kids. Fits in a small (3 cubic ft.) chest freezer.
• Half Beef Share (MOST POPULAR): the best selling family size. Fits in a medium (7 ft) chest freezer and stocks most folks for a year.
• Whole Beef Share: full carnivore diet? House full of hungry teenagers? Entertain all the time? This is for you.

And of course, you can still get a FREE Chest Freezer with your first Half or Whole Beef Share. Pricing detail is in our half cow cost breakdown.

Your Farmer,
Josh

PS: It is pretty cool that, of all the stuff we talk about, animal welfare was the subject of our most popular piece of content of all time. In many ways our little piece of the beef industry is defined by what we DON'T do relative to conventional agriculture (we don't spray, give them drugs, feed them corn, etc.). But we spend our actual time caring for these animals and actively giving them better lives, and it's fun to see how much people value that.