We believe the best way to provide good care and nutrition to our family is to take pride in providing excellent animal care and nutrition to our cattle. From our ranches and farms to our processing partners, we are involved in every step of the process. There’s nothing fake or alternative about what we’re doing, we simply put quality and excellence first. Our cattle are grass fed, grain finished, and always hormone free. We offer 100% Nebraska born and raised American Wagyu beef.
Our Beef
aMERICAN wAGYU
Our American Wagyu beef, also known as American Kobe Style Beef is a carefully selected hybrid of purebred Wagyu and Black Angus cattle breeds. The word “Wagyu” translates to “Japanese cow”, a breed which is genetically predisposed for their intense fat marbling. Our crossbreed yields meat that has a higher percentage of omega-3 compared to cattle more commonly found in the US. It’s a perfect marriage resulting in the best flavor and tenderness characteristics of both genetics.
HOW WE RAISE OUR BEEF
Our calves are born on pasture and supervised by veteran ranchers.
Calves graze with their mothers until weaning at 4-6 months.
Weaned calves graze on open pasture until 12-14 months.
Our grazing program includes permanent pasture and cover crop grazing.
Yearlings enter the feed yard and eat a diet of forages and steam flaked grains, never animal products.
We use pasture, open lots with shade, and covered barns in our system.
WHY WE VALUE ANIMAL WELFARE
"We raise them for us. that means we owe them some respect."
Background facts
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We agree with Temple Grandin: “We raise them for us. That means we owe them some respect. Nature is cruel, but we don’t have to be.”
- Cows are ruminants, which have evolved an incredible ability to digest complex cellulose that humans are not able to digest and convert that cellulose into high quality protein. Simply put, cows eat food that we can’t.
- Despite what you may have heard from activists, animal protein is both critical for human health and vastly superior to plant protein in bioavailability and nutritional value
- All of our diets are always 100% plants and include forages
What raikes farm does
- We achieve BQA individual certification for all of the animal health and cattle team members and focus on minimizing stress at every interaction
- Our animal health team uses horses to check and move cattle, which is lower stress than motorized vehicles
- We create best possible environmental conditions for the animals including frequent pen cleaning and providing shade & shelter
- Fed very high quality diet of steam flaked grains, forage and vitamins, and clean water is always available
- Our cattle are supervised by full time animal vet and professional nutritionist
WHY WE VALUE ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
Background facts
- Large ruminants such as bison, deer and elk have been grazing on the plains of America for millennia, with populations between 30-60MM animals
- Ruminants are 4 legged fermenters which use special stomach compartments and gut bacteria to break down complex plant matter into nutrients
- The majority of cattle methane emissions are byproducts of this process from specific bacteria in the gut called methanogens which cause cattle to burp as fermentation occurs
- To put it in context, US cattle account for less than 2% of total GHG emission
Did You Know
- Going vegan for a year would have about the same impact as taking 1 less transatlantic flight?
- Also, what comes out the other end – manure – is a highly valuable fertilizer source that our organic farms actually need in order to stay productive
- Manure application and incorporation helps increase the organic matter of soils and provides forms of crop nutrients that are less mobile and volatile than synthetic nutrients
What raikes farm Does
- We use high quality pastures with good management supervision
- Aggressive, frequent cleaning and maintenance of pens and barns
- Our manure and runoff water is spread onto and incorporated immediately into adjacent farms under the supervision of a professional agronomist
- We take great care to ensure that any applied manure is balanced with the needs of the crop
- Where possible, we use cover crops and other techniques to help sequester nutrients, increase soil quality and provide grazing opportunities for cattle
Why We Care About Animal And Human Health
Background facts
Our eyes were really opened when we read Nina Teicholz’s 2015 book, The Big Fat Surprise and we encourage you to read it as well
There are many reasons that high quality meats should be in your diet, but here are just a few:
- Previous nutritional recommendations to avoid red and processed meats were based on weak, low quality evidence and people should continue eating meat: Annals of Internal Medicine, October 2019
- Even fake meat companies have to concede that Beef protein is “complete” and contain all of the essential amino acids your body needs to function, whereas vegetable proteins are not.
- Vegetarians may have higher risk of stroke than meat eaters
- One of many meta analyses studies to conclude that saturated fat is not associated with cardiovascular disease, but industrial oil derived trans fatty acids are!
WHAT RAIKES FARM DOES
- We do not use added hormones
- Because we are humane treatment focused, our team will use medicines under the supervision of our veterinarian
- Minimize stress conditions