Every day’s work is done with the aim of providing consumers with delicious beef that meets stringent safety standards.
When you get right down to it, our cows need the same things that humans do.
We get them vaccinated when they’re babies to prevent them from getting sick. We give them plenty of grass to eat so that they grow up big and strong.
Sometimes they get a cold! When they do, we take their temperature and give them what they need to get better.
The only real difference between cows and humans is that humans can’t digest grass because of the cellulose in it.
Cows are herbivores, so we make sure to give them grass with plenty of nutrients.
Grass is fed to cows in two main forms: hay (dried grass) and silage (fermented grass).
We usually use hay. We give the cows fresh hay 2-3 times a day and make sure they get the right combination of hay and formula feed.
Formula feed is a processed combination of ingredients such as corn and bran.
Beef cows like ours eat up to around 10kg of formula feed every day.
We ferment brewer’s grain from a nearby beer factory, using lactic fermentation.
Brewer’s grain is a by-product of the barley that beer is brewed from. It’s almost 80% water, so it only lasts a day in summer before it spoils. We avoid this issue by getting it delivered frequently and keeping it in big bulk bags (also called flexible intermediate bulk containers, or FIBCs).
We clean the water troughs and barn floor regularly and make sure fresh air circulates in the barn, so that our babies can live stress-free lives.