Steveston Stock and Seed Farm

Passers-by often express their curiosity about our beautiful Belted Galloway animals. A relatively rare breed in North America, “Belties” originated in the hills of Galloway in south-western Scotland. Their long outer hair and a soft undercoat  shed the rain  and keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They are hardy, long living, regular breeders noted for the amount of rich milk they produce, therefore rearing good calves. Due to their thick coat, they have reduced outer body fat and lean tender meat.

Here are a few reasons why we think you might consider our beef over other alternatives.

It’s better for your health.

Grass-fed beef has 50% less saturated fat than beef from cattle finished on about 35 pounds of grain daily in feedlots. The saturated fats raise the cholesterol in human blood, causing heart attacks and strokes. Two polyunsaturated fats, omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids are essential for human cells and cannot be manufactured by the human body. However, the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 should be lower than 10:1 since excess omega 6 can produce certain cancers, cardiovascular disease, allergies, depression, obesity and auto-immune disorders. Grain is high in omega 6 fatty acids. Grass is high in omega 3 fatty acids. The ratio in grain-fed feedlot beef is more than 14:1. Both grass-fed beef and Galloway beef have an exceptionally healthy ratio of less than 3:1. Omega 3 fatty acids reduce bad cholesterol and lower the risks of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Both grass-fed beef and Galloway beef are as desirable as chicken or wild salmon in a healthy diet.

It’s better for the health of the human race.

In industrial feedlots, animals routinely receive antibiotics with their feed. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 70% of the total antibiotic consumption of the United States is for non-therapeutic animal agriculture use. They say that “the routine feeding of antibiotics to farm animals that are not sick promotes development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be transferred to people, making it harder to treat bacterial infections in humans.” Simply put, industrial feedlots are breeding grounds for antibiotic-resistant pathogens that are likely to harm us sooner or later. Opting out of the industrial food chain is one way to reduce the likelihood of that outcome.

It’s better for the animals.

Our Galloway cattle lead happy, healthy lives, with ample opportunity to express their “cow-ness”, enjoying grazing naturally and bonding with their baby calves. We know all our cows by name and treat them with respect. Life on the Steveston Stock and Seed Farm is a far stretch from life in the cramped quarters of an industrial feedlot where most “grocery store” beef is produced.

It’s better for your peace of mind

When you buy our Galloway beef, what you see is what you get. Our animals are raised in plain view of the public, who enjoy watching the cows and calves stroll across the dyke to their marsh pastures. Not everyone cares to meet their meat, but if you do, you can. Transparency and openness to public scrutiny are the highest “standards” to which any food system can be held. These standards, though once commonplace, are completely absent in the industrial food system. Put simply, when you can see how your food is produced, you can make better choices about what you eat.

It’s better for the environment.

If reducing your environmental impact is your primary concern when choosing what to eat, then vegetarianism may be your best bet, but your next best option is locally produced, free range, grass-fed meat. It’s been estimated that it takes over 10 calories of fossil fuels to produce a single calorie of feed lot beef in the grocery store. You can reduce your carbon footprint considerably by buying local grass-fed meat right off the farm.

It’s better for your community.

Buying locally is a great way to contribute to your local economy and get involved in and support your community and neighbours.

It’s better than organic.

To claim that our beef is better than organic may at first glance seem like a strong statement that is difficult to back up. However, the fact is that most organic beef on the market today is actually industrial organic grain fed beef. The term “organic” guarantees nothing about how the animals are treated, whether they are pastured or kept in feed lots, whether they are fed grass or grain, how much fossil fuel is consumed for production and tranportation of feed and meat, or whose economy the sale of the meat contributes to.  It’s our firm belief that compared to industrial organic beef, our product is better for you, better for the animals, and better for the environment.