Our black label ground beef is a perfect option for higher grade meat at a very economical price.

You can feel confident that you are enjoying healthy-pasture raised ground beef and your wallet will thank you too but this meat will only be available for this year so stock up:)

Here’s the story  (straight from the farmer):

“For meat to be sold as organic, it must have been raised to very strict standards. For beef, pork, veal, etc., the animal must have been managed organically from the “last third of gestation.” What that means is the mother animal must have been on certified organic land and managed 100% organically (100% certified organic feed and management) for at least the last third of her pregnancy for her offspring to qualify as certified organic. For poultry, the birds must be managed 100% organically from the second day of life to be eligible to produce organic meat or eggs.

Organic standards require dairy animals to be managed organically for at least a full year to be eligible to produce organic milk. There is a one-time opportunity for a conventional farm to make the transition to organic dairy production. From the start of the one-year transition on, all animals are required to be managed 100% organically.

Our sons purchased a farm adjacent to our home farm in 2014. The farm had a herd of cows on it, and the owners really didn’t want to see them sold individually. Our sons talked to our certifier, Vermont Organic Farmers (VOF), to see if they were eligible to “transition” the cows to organic dairy production. VOF said that, because our sons had never transitioned a conventional herd to organic, that they were eligible to do it once. (Kevin and I transitioned our original herd back in 1984 – our cows have been 100% organic since then!).

The cows from the purchased farm were put on 100% organic feed and management in early May 2014, and were managed 100% organically for a full year before becoming certified to produce organic milk in May 2015. After they became certified, they were brought to our home farm and put with our existing organic dairy herd.

These cows had been raised their entire lives on pastures and hay that qualified as organic, but was not certified. They received a small amount of non-organic grain prior to the start of their transition to organic in May 2014. Because they were “transitioned” cows, they will never qualify to be sold as certified organic meat. Any meat from these cows must not be represented as organic – that is why we have the black, non-organic label.”