Foxtail Farmstead LLC
Breeders of Scottish Highland Cattle
Pastured Highland Beef, Breeding Stock, and Pasture Ornaments
1927 Cumberland Road
Bedford, PA 15522
ph: 814-624-2410
eberhart
Pastured 100% Highland Beef - Dry Aged
Highland Beef
Highland beef is well marbled, tender and flavorful. There is little outside waste fat since Highlands are insulated by double coat of hair (a downy undercoat and long topcoat)rather than a thick layer of fat.
For many years, the Highland and Highland crosses have graded in the top of their respective classes at the prestigious National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado.
In the British Isles, Highland beef is recognized as the finest available and fetches premium prices. The British Royal family keeps a large herd of Highlands at Balmoral Castle, near Braemar, Scotland, and considers them their beef animal of choice.
Pastured 100% Highland Beef Protocol
Your Highland beef is raised on it's own mother's milk and pasture/hay until weaned at about 6-7 months of age.
During the weaning process we feed hay and a small amount of grain to provide a balanced diet for the young calves.
After weaning, your Highland eats pasture or hay until it is time to finish the beef.
During the finishing process your Highland beef receives full access to pasture or hay. We feed enough local grains (corn and roasted soybeans from local farmers - No secret formula with secret ingredients) during the finishing process to provide them with a balanced diet.
We also provide free choice vitamins and minerals throughout their life.
We feel strongly that beef cattle should be fed a balanced, forage based, diet based on their nutritional needs. Over 90% of your Highland's diet is pasture/hay based.
Our animals receive no antibotics and no growth hormones. We also do not use any pesticides on the pastures or hay fields. Further, we do not give our cattle any unnatural products such as growth enhancers, animal byproducts etc.
A local custom or USDA processor will harvest, dry age your beef, cut, vacuum pack, and flash freeze it for your freezer.
Feel free to "Contact us" anytime regarding our protocol.
Pricing
Split Half - $1.99
Whole - $1.79 Half - $1.89
Price is per pound based on hanging weight.
(Harvesting & processing is charged separately by your processor.)
The weight of the beef you receive in packages will be less than the hanging weight and varies based on the cutting instructions given the processor. The processor trims the cuts, removes bone and any exess fat. If you have questions do not hestitate to ask. We are happy to provide additional information on your beef.
Visit "The Butcher's Block" for more information!
Dry Aging Your Beef
We dry age your beef from 14 to 21 days.
Your beef is dry aged - not wet aged. The entire beef hangs in a climate controlled refrigeration unit.
Evaporation and aging tenderizes the beef and concentrates the flavors. This is what gives you the great flavor of dry aged beef.
Dry aging gives you the great flavor, not only in steaks, but also in your roasts and ground beef.
Other Aging Methods
Wet aged beef is aged by vacuum packing selected portions of the beef (usually steaks).
This method does aid in tenderization. However, it does not remove moisture and concentrate flavors like dry aging.
Commerical processors prefer wet aging and doing it for a lesser time. It is easier, less expensive, and the beef can be sold as aged. Additionally, they can charge beef prices for the moisture that would have been lost during the dry aging process.
More on Aging Beef
One of the great traits of Highland cattle is that they grow slowly. This means they are harvested at an older age.
Since beef cattle develop more flavor as they age, this means added old time beef flavor.
Taste tests done with chefs have shown they prefer the rich robust flavor of older beef.
Finally
We just feel you get the best beef flavor by allowing allowing the cattle to develop a little longer and then dry aging the entire beef. We hope you do too.
Copyright 2009 Foxtail Farmstead. All rights reserved.
1927 Cumberland Road
Bedford, PA 15522
ph: 814-624-2410
eberhart
