Elm Fork Ranch - Grass Fed Beef
Welcome to Elm Fork Ranch!
Elm Fork Ranch, located in northern Denton County, Texas is comprised of 130 acres of river bottom and grassland. Purchased in 1993, Ken and Jan Dickson have evolved their farming activities concentrating on healthy land and healthy animals. In addition to Elm Fork Ranch, the Dickson's own 256 acres in Jack County, Texas, where cattle can graze on native grasses untouched by conventional ranching methods.
The Dickson's keep about 15 head of Limousin cows, raising about 13 - 15 calves each year. The herd is "closed" meaning we raise our own replacement cows, and do not buy from unknown sources through the markets. Cattle on Elm Fork Ranch are provided a stress-free life that translates into healthier cattle and beef! We raise our own herbicide-free hay to supplement winter forage. Our cattle are not given any growth hormones or antibiotics.
Grass Fed Beef Basics
Key differences between conventional and pasture-based animal production
Traditionally, cattle are raised on pasture for the first months of their lives. The vast majority are transported to distant feedlots where they are raised in confinement and switched to a grain-based diet. As a cost-saving measure, their diet may also contain unsavory ingredients such as chicken manure, stale candy, and potato chips. To speed their growth and minimize the health problems that come from their stressful living conditions, the animals are treated with hormones, feed additives, and low-level antibiotics.
By contrast, animals raised on grass-based farms have dramatically different lives. Unlike feedlot animals, they remain on pasture from birth to market.. Their diet is their original diet -- mother's milk, fresh pasture and stored grasses such as hay or grass silage. They live such stress-free lives that they are supremely healthy and rarely require the use of pharmaceutical drugs. As in nature, their rate of growth is determined by their genetics and the quality of the forage, not hormonal implants or growth-promoting additives. For all these reasons and more, our products are healthy, wholesome, and natural in every sense of the word.
Contact Elm Fork Ranch
Elm Fork Ranch
Ken and Jan Dickson
8065 Zackery Road
Aubrey, TX 76227
940-382-9528 or
940-391-3779
