New Workshops

We are offering a series of intensive workshops this summer. More info.

Highlights

In the News
Hardwick Beef is featured in New York City's NBC affiliate report on East Village restaurants selling burgers made with Hardwick Beef cattle, fed on New York or Vermont grass. View the report. May 28 was National Hamburger Day, so the report is timely.
Ridge Shinn is quoted on the website for Harvest to Heat: America's Top Chefs and Farmers Cook Together, a book to be published by Taunton Press in 2010. More.
Ridge Shinn is featured in an article in a national magazine. Read the article entitled "How Cows (Grass-Fed Only) Could Save the Planet."
An editorial in the Worcester Telegram praises the Mass. House of Representatives for an amendment to a bill that would ban junk food in schools and get more products from local farms into public schools and colleges; it notes how producers like Ridge Shinn would benefit from the change. Read the editorial.

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Our Brochure

We invite you to download our new Rotokawa Cattle Company brochure.

Ruminations

Here we post more informal notes, comments, and book reviews. Read our blog.

Hardwick Beef

Hardwick Beef, a 100% grass-fed and finished meat company based in Massachusetts, has discovered the quality and quantity of Rotokawa® Devon influence in steers harvested in their 100% grass-fed program. Hardwick Beef is offering a premium on steers or heifers sired by Rotokawa Devon bulls. www.hardwickbeef.com

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  NEW! Intensive Workshops Announced for This Summer! Read more.

Welcome

Our mission at the Rotokawa Cattle Company is to establish local, sustainable economies based on 100% grass-fed beef production that benefits everyone: the animals, the producers, the consumers, and the environment.

Our Bulls


Gentle giant: Rotokawas are known for their even temperament, and Bull 93 seems to enjoy the New England weather throughout the year.

Artificial insemination is an inexpensive way to upgrade your herd without the expense and care of a bull. All of our Rotokawa Devons stamp their progeny with the traits that characterize this herd: hardiness, early maturity, good temperament, and volume of high-quality meat. Read more here.



Spider Graphs


We have developed an important new tool called a spider graph for evaluating and demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of a bull or cow's body conformation. The conformation is a critical indicator of how well the animal will function for the producer. Ridge Shinn notes, "I first saw a graph of this type in France, used to illustrate progeny performance in sheep, and I applied the concept to evaluating cattle."

Click here for a description of Spider Graphs.

Cattle that thrive on 100% grass: No corn, ever.

By now it is clear to most people that we must change what we eat and how we produce food. One way to solve global problems making headlines -- climate change, energy shortage, depleted soil, human health problems such as mad cow and E. coli -- is to end our reliance on petroleum-based agricultural practices, primarily raising corn to feed livestock. By feeding cattle only grass, legumes, and hay -- no corn or any other grain -- we address all these problems.

Only about 10% of the total land area of the world can be cultivated to produce plant food for humans. The remaining agricultural land is covered by grass, shrubs or other plants that only ruminant animals, including cattle, can digest. As world populations increase, according to Oklahoma State University's Department of Animal Science, "... it is likely that we will be forced to depend more and more on ruminant animals to meet the increased demands for food."

Key to this strategy are rugged cattle that will thrive on grass -- even in harsh climates and on marginal land -- and convert energy from the sun into protein for humans. We have identified the Devon breed as ideally adapted to a 100% grass-fed diet.

The goal of the Rotokawa Cattle Company is to establish local, sustainable economies based on 100% grass-fed beef production that benefits the animals, the consumers, and the environment--and makes family farming a viable livelihood once again.

We sell cattle and semen, and offer consultation on 100% grass-fed cattle and high-quality meat. Our sister company, Hardwick Beef, sells 100% grass-fed beef.

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