Not Cloned!

Have you been following the story from England about the uproar caused by meat from the offspring of a cloned cow finding its way onto supermarket shelves? They say the real problem is not that cloned animals are illegal, but rather that they have to be labeled as such and this meat was not. So, in terms of beef, how can the customer know exactly where his meat is coming from and how the animal was raised and fed? Of course if you’re on this website about local, good food, you already know the answer: Buy local and go and visit your grower/farmer/rancher or at least talk to him or her about the practices they use.

We at Movable Beast are one of the local providers of 100% grass fed beef for folks in the Hudson Valley. We don’t clone our animals, we allow them to reproduce as they have been doing over the ages. The problem is that there is a lot to be undone to bring the animals back to what they used to be. For over fifty years cattle breeders in this country have worked to create over sized animals designed to maximize meat yield in a feed lot environment. Two years ago we began breeding our Hereford cows to Gerald, a Devon bull, who came from a herd in New Zealand that had been bred for over 80 years to efficiently convert grass to flesh.

Gerald arrived one bright September day and we followed the truck out to the pasture where our cows were peacefully ruminating. They immediately knew something very interesting was in the truck and got up and began circling around it. As the bull walked out and stood before them, their circling became faster until all 40 of them, including the steers and the one year olds, were racing around him and the truck. As they slowed he calmly stepped out and began smelling various cows with his upper lip curled back to capture a more intense olfactory experience. Finally he decided on one cow that he began to follow with the gentle ardor of an adolescent in love; he was still with her an hour later when we had to leave. He remained with us for 2 months and though we never actually saw him consummate a relationship, all 20 cows bore calves the next spring.

To better understand the difference between cloned and non cloned animals view the illustrations below:

Cloned Animals

Non Cloned Animal (Gerald)

Francesca and Charles Noble of Movable Beast Farm raise 100% grass fed beef in the Rondout Valley of Ulster County. They are currently selling beef by the side and split side. If you are interested in ordering they can be can reached at movablebeastfarm@gmail.com