Hey Slim,

I was riding with a local farmer to a farm kill today. We got a chance to talk about some of these very issues. Where I am, California, it’s a fucking mess to try to source local beef (local anything, but beef is harder imo)

- The beef in the supermarket is from God-knows-where.

- the beef in the specialty butcher shops (which are few and far between) get grass fed and corn fed quarters from the Midwest.

- I knew one butcher shop that managed to get a few quarters from a California farm with USDA slaughter stamp (required for resale). In general, they can’t find it.

- The large landowners in the area do have cattle, but they are sold live. Some of it goes straight to China, I heard. Beef raised on the central coast, grass fed, is fantastic.

That’s why I’m focusing on direct-to-consumer strategies. Individuals can buy whole animals from a local farmer, pay me to harvest it, and a local butcher shop to process it. We need to get more local ranchers on board, and streamline the process.