This section of our website is where we go a little more in depth into what we produce.  We want people to understand the products they may be purchasing were handled humanely and processed professionally.  We don't want to spend all the time and effort raising these animals and not follow through with providing a quality consumer product.  Please continue reading to learn more specifics about our products at Flatland Farm, LLC.

Grass fed Beef

Our animals are never fed grain products once they arrive on our farm.  They are 100% grass fed from that point on.  Animals born on our farm are never fed grain.  Many people will feed grain to calves while weaning to minimize the effect of the stress on their growth.  We look at weaning as just another phase in their growth.  We wean in the least stressful way possible - adjacent pens without access for nursing.  We have used alfalfa pellets as a way to help tame an animal that isn't used to people or help with halter training - it is amazing how happy they are to walk along if they get a treat!

Our animals are checked daily, at a minimum, for any health issues, which are rare.  They are used to people walking in amongst them and petting them while out in the pasture.  They often search you out for some attention or to see if you brought a comb to the pasture with you.

We will treat an animal for sickness, and we do have to worm and vaccinate because our animals do travel to cattle shows and other activities where other animals are present.  Our original idea was that we wouldn't have to vaccinate, however, since we are going to be traveling with them it is only good herdsmanship to make sure our animals have an immune system that is able to handle the stress of travel.  Because of the precautions we take there is rarely a need for treating a sick animal.

When it comes time to harvest an animal, this is done humanely.  There is no stress involved.  Not only is this good for the animal while it is alive, it makes for the best quality beef you can find.  We aren't going to treat these animals well their entire life and then have them be stressed the last hour of it.  The meat carcass will hang in the cooler for around 10 days, and this seems to be effective for tenderness.  Not hanging long enough, the meat could be a little tough, and hanging too long may mean meat will be lost because of the amount of trimming that is required.

Scottish Highland cattle are naturally a slower maturing breed.  In addition, being grass fed, they need longer than the commercially accepted 18 months to reach harvesting size.  Our last steer was probably ready at 28-30 months, but we wanted the hide to be in prime condition, so we waited 6 months longer to the middle of winter.  And since it isn't a cross bred animal, or more common breed, they are generally a little more expensive as breeding stock.  So - the end products will be a little higher in cost for people.  But we feel it is worth it because people can come to our farm and see the animals and how they are handled and live day to day.  They have a very good life.

Hides and Skulls

We chose the Scottish Highlands because they gave us an opportunity to harvest additional products from the animal.  The hides and skulls (European mounts) are prepared professionally by people who are concerned with the quality of their work.  Luckily, we have a local taxidermist who has done a lot of this work and was able to have them prepared for further processing.  The hides and skulls are done professionally so people can have them in the house if they want.  We have heard of a lot of people doing the work themselves in a variety of ways and doing it much cheaper than we did, but we were told that these were mainly for outdoor use.  So, although it may have been a bit more expensive, we have a product that people can use any way they want.  And they should last a long time if handled correctly.

Breeding Stock

We sell breeding stock both in the rabbits and Scottish Highlands.  We have sold many rabbits, but are working up to selling breeding cattle.  We have raised only a few calves so far, and will be up to a total of 3 calves this year all in the same year!  We are working towards having 5-6 breeding cows on the place, and should have about that many calves for sale each year.

Rabbit Meat

Our rabbits are all commercial breed rabbits, which means their main purpose is meat production.  Mark has had the Champagne D'Argents the longest and they are probably the best meat production rabbits we have.  The loins on these rabbits is very impressive.  We feed whole oats and alfalfa hay to the rabbits because we didn't want anything going into them that we wouldn't be willing to eat ourselves, and most of the ingredient lists on the pellets were things we couldn't pronounce, much less actually know what they were.  Although it took some time for Mark to select for rabbits that would do well on the new diet, things have really come around.  Because they are fed differently they also take a few weeks longer to reach fryer size.  Instead of 8-10 weeks, ours take 10-14 weeks.

Our rabbits don't get vaccinations, but we do treat them if needed for any ailments.  Although we have found it is much more successful to use culling to prevent spreading illness to other rabbits.

Rabbit meat is very fine textured and easily digested.  It is much like the white meat of a chicken, and most people like it because it will taste like what you season it with.  In outstate MN it isn't a common item on menus or in grocery stores.  When compared to a 79 cent/lb chicken it may seem a bit expensive, but again, knowing how an animal was raised and what it ate is worth a little extra to many people.