About Us
Goose Meadows Ranch is located in Cañon, a small community west of Antonito along the Conejos River at 8242' elevation. We graze our cattle on riverfront meadows in the summer and along pinon/juniper foothills in the spring and fall. During the winter, we feed hay in addition to allowing them to graze standing forage in the meadow and pastures. Our cows are 100% grass-fed, grass-finished.
We became interested in regenerative agriculture in 2019 after noticing that our property was not as productive as it used to be and rainfall was not as predictable or plentiful. After learning more about regenerative agriculture and holistic management, we began utilizing the principles in 2021. Our goal is to use our cattle to improve our soil biology and diversity while providing our community with quality, local beef that has been grass-fed, grass finished.
Our cows are moved to new pastures regularly which keeps them eating new grass and prevents overgrazing – plus they enjoy going to new areas. Pasture that is managed with holistic adaptive grazing has increased organic matter which holds more water during rain events and stores carbon that has been captured from the air. This in turn increases plant diversity which allows the cows to consume a wide variety of plants. That plant diversity leads to healthier, more content animals. Would you want to eat the same food day after day?
We do not use growth hormones and antibiotics are used minimally and only when necessary to treat a specific illness. Our cows “fertilize” the fields while grazing 😊
Grass-fed, Grass-finished
- Our cows are raised on a wide diversity of grasses and forbs – and more grass. This gives their meat a more complex flavor than conventionally raised beef.
- You will notice that our fat is yellow when cooked versus the white you see from conventionally raised beef. We like to call this yellow fat liquid sunshine and is another indication of their diverse intake..
- The meat will also cook faster – up to 30-50% faster so plan to pay close attention to your cooking times the first several times you cook with grass fed beef.
- Grass-fed Grass-finished beef tends to be leaner and needs to be cooked at lower temperatures, so it doesn’t dry out.
- For more details on the benefits of grass-fed, grass-finished beef check out these resources.
- Tips for cooking: Americangrassfed.org and Goodmeatbreakdown.org .
To learn more about the benefits of adaptive grazing check out these resources.
Soil Carbon Cowboys Carboncowboys.org/ Holisticmanagement.org/
Our beef is for sale!
We offer our beef for sale as either a half or whole steer. A typical half steer will yield approximately 180lbs of meat and require about 7-8 cubic feet of freezer space. A whole steer will yield approximately 360 lbs of meat and require 14-16 cubic feet of freezer space.
The next opportunity will be processing in July, Aug, September 2024.
Cost for a half steer is $1250 + processing fees paid directly to the processor which will be approximately $400.
Cost for a full steer is $2500 + processing fees paid directly to the processor which will be approximately $800.
How it works
You reserve your steer with a non-refundable deposit of $250 for one of our open processing dates. Final payment is due 1 week prior to processing. Contact us for details and to reserve your date.
We have reserved processing time at a local USDA facility or can deliver the steer to a processor of your choice within 50 miles of Antonito, CO.
Prior to processing we will work with you to create your custom cut order. You choose how the meat is cut and packaged – which steaks and roasts you want, how thick they are cut and how many per package, etc.
Freezer size
A consideration when purchasing a whole or half of beef is the amount of freezer space needed. The rule of thumb is 8 cubic feet is needed for a half and 16-17 cubic feet for a whole cow. That will vary depending upon the freezer layout and the type of meet cuts and packaging.
Freezer calculator
Weight of beef: lbs
Minimum size: 4.5 Cubic ft
Contact
We’re happy to answer any questions about purchasing beef from us.