What’s in the Beef at Deer Run Farm

Deb Spalding Some of us buy our meat by shopping sales at grocery stores and buying what is available at the lowest price. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it does open the door for fatty meats, unhealthy additives, and assembly-line beef that has traveled from far-off lands. The bottom line is this: To protect your body from toxins, it’s important to know where your meat came from and what the animal ate as it was raised. There is a ton of controversy about the short comings of store-bought meat, even in organic retail stores.

That is why the Stewart Family at Deer Run Farm in Emmitsburg recently opened a retail Red Angus meat shop on their farm. Their freezer meat is derived from registered Red Angus beef cattle that they raise on their farm. The cattle are forage-raised on a daily natural grass and fermented grass diet, balanced with a nutritious grain feed later in life. The cattle are not given growth hormones or unnecessary antibiotics. They’ve worked hard to insure that they are offering healthy meat with an incredibly satisfying taste. Their beef is processed at a USDA inspected facility. Freezer packs are individually labeled and dressed in white freezer paper for sale. Ronnie and Annie Stewart, their daughter, Joanna, and son, Josh, established Deer Run Farm in 1996 when they purchased the, then, multi-purpose farm that had been a working farm since the early 1900s. The farm has transitioned through the years from dairy, to housing dairy heifers, to a horse farm, and now to its current use for crop and beef cattle. Their goal had been to purchase beef steers, raise their own feed, and market the freezer meat. They started with multiple breeds of beef steers, but after a family vote, it was decided that Red Angus would be the farm breed. The first four registered Red Angus bred heifers were purchased from the late Truman Zepp of Westminster, Maryland, in the fall of 1996. At that time, Joanna and Josh were active in the 4-H program. They showed many calves at local fairs, as well as pigs and lambs. When Joanna and Josh left the farm for college, the pigs and sheep were sold to lessen the workload on Ronnie and Annie. With only the beef cattle left on the farm, the herd slowly grew to its present size of approximately thirty-six mother cows. “I never imagined that it (the farm) would get this big,” Ronnie expressed. The farm is busy throughout the year since all forage and grain is grown on the farm. The cow herd grazes pasture throughout the warmer months and is fed corn silage and baleage during the winter. The majority of the calves are born in March and April and are weaned from their mothers, then fed for freezer beef or breeding stock. The farm is a full-time job for Ronnie. Annie is a recently-retired teacher who handles farm financials and records. Joanna is a veterinarian, currently residing in New York City, but still actively gives advice for the farm and is busy preg-checking cows when she is home to visit. Josh is a project engineer with a regional general contractor. He helps maintain the crops and cattle throughout the seasons. Josh and Allison Rostad are the business owners of the retail operation on the farm. Allison, Josh’s girlfriend, is from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and works in marketing and graphic design at a print and copy store in Emmitsburg. Allison was introduced to the farm two-and-a-half years ago and is the jack-of-all-trades around the farm, assisting with retail sales, marketing, signage, and sneaking treats and ears of corn to the cows. With a great selection of tasty steaks, roasts, ground beef, bologna and jerky, stop by Deer Run Farm at 15131 Sixes Road in Emmitsburg or by the Emmitsburg and Thurmont farmer’s markets to purchase Deer Run Farm’s freezer beef. “Our goal is to provide a top quality product where the consumer actually knows where it came from and what it was fed,” said Josh. You may also order by emailing [email protected] or by calling 301-639-1182. You can find more information about this product at www.DeerRunFarmMD.com. The farm store is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from 3:00-8:00 p.m.; Sundays, from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., and by appointment. Order now for delicious beef from happy cows. Allison Rostad, Josh Stewart, Annie Stewart, Nike, Ronnie Stewart, and Harley are shown at their new farm store.