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St. Brigid's Beef
UPDATE: 5/18/08 St. Brigid's
reports that they now have fresh Spring grass-fed veal available. A new arrangement at the farm has allowed the veal calves
to be raised together with surrogate moms and to range with the cows in the pasture. Good for the calves, good for the cows,
who are past milking age for the dairy. If you're interested in their pastured veal or beef, here's the contact information: St. Brigid's Farm 12246 Locust
Grove Rd. Kennedyville, MD 21645 Phone 410-648-5753
Email: rcfry@baybroadband.net The Article: 11/07 Pristine.
I haven’t been able to get that word out of my head. I’ve seen a few farms, but this is … pristine.
White barn glinting in the sun. Immaculate grounds. A gleaming dairy room. Spotless animals making their way in for the afternoon
milking. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s a perfect blue-sky fall day.
This is St. Brigid’s farm outside of Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. And today, we are here, frankly, to come face to face with our dinner.
Originally — and primarily — a dairy farm, St. Brigid’s milks 70 bloomingly healthy
Jerseys, with 70 replacement heifers in the wings. But animals being what they are, co-owners Judy Gifford and Bob Fry have
been faced with the challenge of a certain number of steers every year.
At the same time, they also had the sense to sniff out a growing interest in local, grass-fed, humanely raised meats (versus the common alternative that most people don’t want to think about too much).
So a few years ago, the St. Brigid’s team began to explore a new niche market: Local beef and veal
from pastured cattle. Humanely-raised cattle that actually get to walk around in the sun, enjoy the grass, and kick up their
heels, literally, before we see them as steaks and top round. Hmm. Is that a big deal? Or this year’s marketing
angle? Where locavores
meet carnivores. We first encountered
the St. Brigid’s concept on the plate. Earlier this year, Glenn May and Jason Hopwood, co-owners of the Kennedyville
Inn, hosted an all-Maryland dinner. Maryland wines, Maryland desserts, and Maryland veal from St. Brigid’s Farm, literally
a few miles from the restaurant. Bob and Judy were there to share in the farm-to-table feasting. (Their veal also makes appearances
at Brooks Tavern and Luisa’s in Chestertown.)
For chef May, St. Brigid’s is very important “….on a lot of levels. You look at the
scares, the e.coli. You don’t know what you’re eating. On the other hand, I know these people. They’re responsible,
the animals are raised ethically, I think the beef is healthier, we’re promoting local agriculture and diversity. The
challenge is to put the puzzle together so St. Brigid’s is happy, the butcher’s happy, the customers are happy,
I’m happy. Everybody has to get their worth.” The business
is only a few years old, but today in addition to its dairy operation, St. Brigid’s now offers frozen beef and veal
to restaurants and directly to consumers. And yes, the meat is different in several ways.
St. Brigid’s steers live two years from birth to plate. It’s a world away from their feedlot-raised
brethren. The vast majority of beef cattle today are kept in lots for their last few months, fed corn to bustin’, then
slaughtered at the ripe age of fifteen months or so. St. Brigid’s beef lives out on the farm for a couple years. They’re
grass-fed, fussed over, and in the winter receive “grass hay plus a protein/vitamin/mineral supplement.” How about the veal? Well,
let’s face it. There’s nothing easy about the idea of veal. Veal comes from calves. Calves with big, brown eyes
and long lashes. They have short lives. But if you like veal this is as close to guilt-free as you can get.
Born in the winter, the calves are fed on milk for their first two months, then live free to range on spring grass for the next two months. At the weight of 250 to 300 pounds, usually in April, they meet their demise. Again, it is a far cry from “factory-farm” veal.
For the restaurants, local veal is a challenge from an operational standpoint. Chefs, buying whole or
half calves, need to plan accordingly to avoid waste. Interestingly, the Kennedyville Inn guys, having put in their order,
accompanied Bob to the slaughterhouse, working with the meatcutter to divide up the beef in a way that made sense for the
restaurant, which involved different cuts than home cooks buy. But for you and me, the typical cuts of veal chops, cubes,
even sweetbreads and stock bones are available. It’s all about what you care about. Bob, a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine), likes the health science behind the concept of St. Brigid’s. He
talks comfortably about Omega-3s from grasses versus Omega-6s from corn. He talks about linoleic acids and CLAs. The
leaness issue. The nutrition of grassfed animals. Whether to use antibotics to treat illness. Organic versus natural.
Judy, apparently tireless, runs the farm. She knows the cows and the heifers. “334 is Poppy. 462 is Prancer. 435 is Jam.” She knows the steers. She handles the milkings and the dairy business and adds nonchalantly that the farm has received a quality award every month from the dairy cooperative. She’s not all that into the meat side, leaving that to Bob.
The bottom line for carnivores. Do you care about where your beef comes from? Do you care about how it’s raised? Do you want it to live a few
months roaming on grass? Or do you want a steak that’s USDA grain-fed prime? It’s up to you. The animals at St.
Brigid’s are almost 100% grassfed. No hormones are used. The beef is natural, not organic (although “close to
organic”). Bob “reserves the right to treat sick animals with antibiotics,” but only then are they used.
While the meat simply doesn’t have the marbling you’re trained to look for, it is leaner and flavorful. It’s
your choice.
The beef, from Jerseys, is dry-aged 18 to 21 days before freezing. Meat is sold on the farm by cut. We took home two Delmonico steaks. A a half-pound each, and $14.00 a lb., it’s more than your average supermarket, but slightly less than the gourmet markets. Peppered and cooked on the grill, they were…simply excellent. Tender and flavorful. Was this a true test? No. The corn-fed, prime beef guys would have asked us for a side-by-side comparison, and someday we’ll do that, when we’ve got the bucks. Perhaps then we’ll see a difference that would sway us our opinion.
But for now, two perfectly delicious steaks from a pristine farm of contented cattle, grazing out on the
grass as we pulled away? Pretty damned hard to beat. Information for Foodies. Right now, St. Brigid’s Farm has frozen beef and frozen veal for sale, available at the farm. A short list of
what’s available:
The
farm is located outside of Chestertown, Maryland on the Eastern Shore, near Kennedyville. Call ahead and bring the cooler
for some great meats through the holidays and the winter. P.S., Make yourself popular and take orders for your friends, too.
St. Brigid's Farm 12246 Locust Grove Rd. Kennedyville, MD 21645 Phone
410-648-5753 Email: rcfry@baybroadband.net
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