Certified Organic vs. Natural Beef

Natural Beef is more commonly seen in the grocery stores now, but one needs to know that natural does not mean certified organic.  The USDA has defined natural as "No artificial ingredients and minimally processed."  Thanks to this somewhat loose definition, the term 'natural' has been widely abused and can mislead the consumer.

Organic Beef is beef that is raised without ever being treated with antibiotics, growth stimulating hormones or fed any type of animal source protein.  Organic cattle have been fed feed and nutrients that were certified organic since before they were born and meet a multitude of other strict criteria.  Find out more at the USDA web site.

Is all Natural Beef bad? Of course not.  There are several fine producers of Natural Beef - in fact we have a natural beef program.  Although we are transitioning more cattle into the organic program, we currently market a portion of our herd as Naturally Superior Beef which is of the same well-marbled, tender, dry-aged quality but not yet certified organic.  This is our original product and the basis of our certified organic program.

As we certify more of our land, more of our naturally superior cattle will make the transition to certified organic status.  The main difference is one of feed certification.  Our pastures and farm land must be farmed 100% organically for three consecutive years to qualify to be certified organic.

	The Baling Crew takes a break (Summer 2006)

The Superior Touch

A great deal of media attention has been paid to the various cattle borne diseases.  At Prather Ranch we have been proactively managing our herd since its formation, and our beef quality begins with our high degree of product safety.

We take great pride in our ability to create and maintain superior levels of food safety.  To mitigate disease transmission we have maintained a closed herd for decades.  This means that our herd has not been exposed to any outside cattle.

Since 1990 we have implemented strict standardized operating procedures to proactively manage our closed herd and to prevent any transmission of BSE (Mad Cow disease) or other diseases to our cattle.  It is our business to have the most documented, cleanest cattle in the world.

• We have been working closely with the scientific community to provide documented pure quality.
• We conduct regular e-coli tests which are not mandated by the USDA. No detectable levels of e-coli have been found since we opened our plant in 1995.
• We track each animal and document every major event in its life.
• We compile a bi-annual report which is studied.
• Our herd has been under the continuous care of our veterinarian since 1964.
• We utilize artificial insemination to utilize superior genes and broaden the genetic base of our herd.

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