Beef
All of Vogel Farm’s beef is born and raised on our farm located in Kuna, Idaho where we maintain a small herd of mother cows. The beef is raised on a combination of grass, hay and NON GMO corn and is allowed to mature at their rate no ours….All of their feed, from pasture grass to the corn, is raised by us. We limit the Mother cows to 20 head or less per year. Our animals are never fed animal byproducts, antibiotics, hormones or secondary feed. We try to raise our beef as close to their natural environment as possible. We have 20 acres of pasture that they get to wander about freely during most of the year, and smaller fields or corrals during those times they are weaned from their mothers, they are getting close to going to market or due to the weather (during winter) when they are damaging the pasture. We are not a high density feed lot, and try to treat our animals with dignity and respect. We keep the mother herd of cows fresh by saving back calves and introducing them to the herd when we switch bulls.
Since our beef is raised on a combination of grass, corn and hay it will not only be be very flavorful, but is much more tender then 100 percent grass fed. In fact some say our beef is “melt in your mouth” tender. All of our beef is USDA graded and inspected at Meridian Meat and Sausage, vacuum packed and fresh frozen with NO additives. When you buy Vogel Farms beef you always know you are just getting “BEEF” no filers and additives.
We do have Grass fed beef on hand at times from the Joyce Ranch in Idaho. These cows are raised in the same manner as our cows allowed to roam about, not fed any antibiotics or hormones of any type. However these cows are finished on Grass only. A grass fed beef will have a slight “wild” or “strong” taste and be less tender than its counterpart. My rule of thumb on which type you will prefer. If you come from a hunting family or enjoy wild game you will most likely prefer the grass fed. However due to its lean characteristic you have to pay special attention when cooking it. If you were raised in a city and used to eating domestic beef you will prefer the grass and grain finished beef.
The tenderness of the cut depends on where on the cow the cut comes from. Tougher cuts come from the muscles that are used more in the movement of the animal. Cuts such as round, chuck, and sirloin tip will be very flavorful but must be marinated of slow cooked to achieve the maximum tenderness. The tenderest cuts come from the less used muscles such as Tenderloin, T-Bone and Top Sirloin.
We are hoping to build our library of recipes soon and will be posting some of our favorites on my blog.
Our ground beef is very lean, we have it trimmed so that it will not exceed 8 to 10 percent fat. Our general rule is to use enough fat to hold a patty together – but to so much that you are left with a lot of grease in the pan. We do run out of certain cuts of meat time to time because of our low volumes. If you first priority then our Subscriptions might be the right choice for you.
