Lab-to-Table

Colonel’s Blog, Earthdate 12 July 2023…

Hey Y’all!

Good afternoon and happy Wednesday from Air2Ground Farms! We’re under a heat advisory this afternoon for heat index between 105-110. We might get some rain tonight, starting a trend of rain for the next couple of days. We sure hope so. Well…yesterday was my 50th birthday. We “took the day off,” sort-of, and made the 6-hour round trip to have lunch with my parents. Dad cooked amazing ribeyes over pecan wood and mom made squash casserole and keto-cheesecake. It was an awesome meal and we enjoyed the rest time, even during the drive. The animals are all doing well. We separated the flerd this morning, sending the beef cows into a larger pasture, pic is after the move. It is now no big deal to form and separate the flerd. The only issue we had this morning is that one of the ewes (Sheepster’s mom) took her twin lambs and left with the cows. Just her, none of the other sheep. It took us a few minutes to convince her to go back to the flock but she finally decided to go. We separated them by opening the gate and calling the cows. They came and the sheep largely ignored it because we didn’t call them. Sheepster’s mom was hanging out with the cows so when they left, so did she. The dairy cows are amazing. They are producing well and are so well trained that they are typically waiting for us when we go out to milk. Even Stella is getting with the program in that we call her and she comes into the loafing area without coercion. She gets a little GMO-free dairy ration while Betty and Happy get theirs. After everyone finishes their snack, the cows take the time to give Stella a bath on her face. She goes back and forth between Betty and Happy allowing both to give her licks. The other pics today are of the bottle lambs, ducks, beef chickens, beef chicks, and Tozer. The ewe lamb in the big pic is the cutest of the bunch, in our opinion. The ducks are enjoying segregated life. The freezer is about half full of chicken (if you're in Missouri and think you might want some, let us know because they're going fast) and we have 7 weeks before processing the next batch, which are still in the brooder. We will move them out in a few days into the chicken tractor. We’re going to move the tractor into one of our bottom pastures that will allow for daily moves on fresh grass while providing shade all afternoon. I caught Tozer snoozing next to the brooder and he didn’t even look up, he just smiled and wagged.

We often refer to our business as “Farm-to-Table” as an alternative to industrially produced meats at CAFOs. There is now a third option…Lab-to-Table. While we grow our chickens on pastures, where they eat, sleep, scratch, and even crow, the FDA and USDA have both recently approved lab-grown chicken for human consumption and it was served for the first time in a San Francisco restaurant 10 days ago on July 2nd. Labs have been growing animal protein cells since the 1950s so that’s not new, human consumption is the new twist here. The process starts with cells extracted from a chicken or a fertilized egg. Those cells are then put into a large stainless-steel vat called a cultivator which is similar to beer brewing equipment. The cultivator provides a nutrient-rich environment, similar to an embryo as it is forming. The final step is called scaffolding, wherein the cells are “stacked” and formed into the desired shape. The end result is “meat” that is, at the cellular level, indistinguishable from “real” chicken. Some studies show that up to 80% of Americans are willing to try the cultivated meat. Thus, there are over 100 new start-up companies creating lab-grown beef, seafood, lamb, duck, pork, and more. Of course, this is being heralded as the beginning of the end of global warming since we can do away with all of the animal farms which are ostensibly responsible for the destruction of the planet. I suppose this is one step closer to Star Trek’s 24th century Replicator, but I am going to stick to Farm-to-Table, not Lab-to-Table. How about you?

51 Chicken eggs

27 Duck eggs

0 Goose eggs

13 1/4 Gallons of milk

Cheers!

Psycho & Shelley