Welcome to Our World!
March 3, 2023...Why Inspected Meats?
All of the meats at Will-Dor Ranch go through a rigorous inspection process for food safety reasons. Health is vitally important. Many illnesses can result because of poor food handling like Salmonella poisoning, E Coli, Lysteria, or even Botulism. All of these, if severe, can result in death.
Animals from Will-Dor Ranch are slaughtered and processed at provincially inspected facilities. This means the facility itself has been constructed according to provincial and federal regulations and is inspected regularly. It also means that the animals are inspected upon arrival (to make sure they are in good health), during slaughter (to make sure there are no indicators of disease), and while being cut (to make sure the meat itself is in good condition for human consumption).
We value your health and the health of our animals and strive to provide our customers with premium products they can trust.
April 10, 2023...What's been happening?
It's been a really busy time for us... calving... baby calves.. wondering and some worrying of course... we probably had the shortest calving season ever in our history of calving cows. We've got a small herd, only 20 head, but they calved out in two and a half weeks. The old bull certainly did his job in a hurry last summer. Guess he's a keeper...LOL.
Now the looking after... bedding, shelter, fresh water and hay for the cows, but it's not long and the calves are eating hay and soon alfalfa pellets, and drinking water too. Calves are fed in such a way at an early age to produce some of the best beef you will ever eat. In fact many have said that after eating beef from Will-Dor Ranch they cannot eat beef from any other source. Thank you to our customers who continue to support.
Soon laying hens will be coming home and we'll be busy getting them settle in as well.
Spring, always a busy time here at Will-Dor Ranch!
June 3, 2023... and no May...
Here we are into June... May very much slipped by with the fires and evacuation notices, the smoke and the worry. Some of that has dissipated but the threat is still very much there with two out of control fires north and south of us. We hope for the best and are thankful for everyone fighting to keep us safe.
Now on to June! A busy season coming for Will-Dor Ranch. We will be attending some of the markets in Jasper on Wednesdays. Be sure to check the calendar. And we will continue with drops and Edson and biweekly trips to Hinton. Always best to pre-order to ensure you get the product you would like.
We are now going to a new processing plant. All of our meats continue to be inspected. Look for the 'Inspection Stamp' on any meat you purchase from a farmer. And, we have all new sausage... we have been working our way through... All Beef Garlic Sausage, All Beef Plain, Cheese & Jalapeno, Onion, Cheese Smokies (and let me tell you they have cheese, real cheese and real onions too), All Beef Dinner Brats, All Beef Pepperoni and New Hot Dogs (Beef & Pork). And of course we have our jerky. Everything is made from our home grown, Grass Fed & Finished Angus Beef.
Don't forget the Pork, Chicken and Eggs too. Hope to see you soon!
July 9, 2023.. Better Late than Never...LOL...
Been trying to play catch up since the fires... happy with our new inspected facility where we are getting our beef processed. They are making some awesome sausage, most are still all beef, and they are my go to on these hot days.
There's much controversy about 'inspected'. We have a Food Handling Permit which informs the local Health Authority that we handle food. They inspect our facility, make sure it's clean, correct temperatures in fridges and freezers, mostly maintenance kinds of things.
Then there's the inspection at the plant where the meat is processed. Animals are booked for slaughter on a certain day. On that day a provincial inspector from the Meat Inspection Branch comes to check to make sure our animals are healthy and fit for human consumption. Then when they are killed the innards are inspected. And when the meat is cut it is inspected again. During the process the meat is given a blue stamp by the inspector saying that indeed it has been inspected. The plant we deal with also stamps the packages. It has their plant number on.
When buying meat from an ag producer be sure to look for the blue stamp on the meat. There are no exceptions or special rules for anyone if they are selling by the piece. If there is no stamp, the meat has not been inspected.
March 2, 2024... Oh boy, been a while...
After a long stint in December and January of being ill, I am finally back at it again. And we have finally gotten the much needed snow we were all hoping for.
Calving is just around the corner, always a busy time. Not too many head this year. Getting older and down sizing, hard thing to do, but do it we must. Also not as many beef to butcher this year. Prices of beef are skyrocketing and we could not justify the price we would have to charge our customers to cover the cost of these animals, so off to Japan they are going.
We will continue to market, more and more from the farm, again the cost of driving up and down the road is becoming unfeasible.
Do come visit us wherever we may be! We look forward to seeing you.
Have a great spring!!
April 4, 2024
Well, calving is almost finished. We had a surprising number of cattle not in calf this year, apparently because of the dry weather last year. Maybe it's the cattle's way of shrinking the herd for fear of not having enough feed. Anyway, off to the butcher they go.
Still have 2 cows to calve. No troubles so far, thankfully. All calves are healthy and up on their feet to suck quickly. Exactly what Bill likes to see.
April and the months going forward will have some changes. As mentioned previously, cattle last fall were selling at exceptionally high prices and the cost for feed and its transportaion were also rising. We sold the bulk of our calves last fall, we would have used these calves for meat and marketing, but could not justify the price we would have to charge you, our customers, to cover the high expenses and value of the cattle.
It appears that cattle are even higher this spring. Just read where some heifers (young breeding stock) went through the ring in Fort McLeod for $4500 each. Unbelievable!! And to think they probably will be going for meat instead of breeding. The nation's cattle herd is shrinking. Pretty soon the gov't won't have to worry about their farting and burping....LOL...there won't be enough to make a difference.
Our planned program for this year is to sell the meat we have available and butcher the 4 head that we kept for that purpose. Calves will likely be sold at auction in the fall and with luck will head off to Japan again. Cows will be sold as open in the fall as well and that will be that. The end of an era.
It has been quite the ride, but Bill's ailments are creeping up on him, old injuries are stirring and making it harder to do the work that needs to be done and he is the main cattle guy. I just scare them away when I go out to the corrals...LOL...
Added to the mix is all this on farm slaughter business. We are very afraid that BSE is looming because so many people are dumping the guts wherever and not necessarily on their own land. If there are infected prions in the nervous system and certain organs they can live and infect animals that eat that grass and them for three years. Should Canada have another case of BSE, the world would hault all imports of beef and instead of incredibly high prices, we may go to shooting cattle and burying them because they have no value. Canada, and Alberta export beef and it took 18 years for the world to finally accept our exports after the last BSE.
The meat the on farm slaughterers are selling is uninspected and yet it is finding its way into retail locations and restaurants. It is definitely affecting the business and people who sell inspected product because the cost of uninspected meat can be less. The rule is these animals are to be sold live and can be divided between 4 people, but this is not necessarily what is being practiced.
Rustling has also become a factor. We get calls from the RCMP unit devoted to this on a steady basis. So far so good for us, but with the value of cattle rising and the cost of food also rising, the risk increases.
We will continue to have our delicious eggs. We have another batch of laying hens coming shortly, so tiny eggs...LOL... And we will continue with chicken and chicken parts and pork for the time being.
As for beef products, we will have some products for the remainder of 2024, but then who knows after that. Time will tell. And even though this is sort of the plan, nothing is written in stone.
We invite customers to come to the farm or meet me in Edson during my Friday egg run. We'll continue to try to get to Hinton once a month and the Jasper Farmers' Market maybe. Everything is contingent on Bill and possible surgery on these old injuries. May 29 is the determining date.
We appreciate everyone who has and who continue to support Will-Dor Ranch and Bill & I. You, our customers are the greatest! Change is hard, but change we must, and I know I'll shed a tear or two while things are changing.
We are not closing the doors just yet...but we felt it prudent to keep everyone up to date.
If you you'd like to place an order or have any questions, feel free to contact us via email will-dor@xplornet.com, the 'Contact Us' page here on the website, DM on FB, or call Bill 780-712-9676. We will, as always, do our best to oblige.
THANK YOU!
