While I was hooking up the stock trailer last evening, a cow was having her calf about 30 feet away on the other side of the fence.

It looked a little difficult for her as the calf was breech – his back legs were coming first and his head was coming last.  Usually this spells disaster and you have to assist the cow and pull the calf out.  Or worse – call the vet for a C-Section.

But within 5 minutes, the cow had given birth to a new baby calf.  30 seconds after he was born, he was lifting up his head and taking a look around.

I just updated my theme.  I bought the theses theme for a different website I am working on but I decided to use it here as well.

It has a few new features that I am hoping to be able to implement to make this blog a little nicer over the next few weeks.

What does it take to get a steak onto the shelves at Hoven Farms?  Watch this video to find out.

A question from a reader:

I have a question about grass fed beef.  I have heard that cows who have been grass fed and finished have a “gamey” taste to them.  I recently had a steak from an Edmonton area farm who grass finishes their beef and the steak did have a gamey taste to it.  Does this happen with all grass finished beef?  I want to feed my family organic beef but just am curious whether it is all gamey tasting and if it is something my taste buds have to get used to! J

Thanks for your time.  I enjoy seeing the pictures on your blog and reading about family farm life in Alberta.

Thanks for the question.

How the animals are raised makes a difference in how they taste.  Sometimes there is a slightly stronger taste to the grass finished beef but most people cannot taste the difference.

Due to the types of grass the animal eats, the taste of grass finished beef can be different from farm to farm.  The reason beef in grocery stores has a fairly consistant taste is that the diet for those animals is all the same – lost of barley, some roughage (hay, silage and some places even just you straw).  The barley changes the fat, and this changes the taste.

In the same way, different grasses affects the fat.  An animal that was finished on prime alfalfa hay or pasture will be different from an animal that was finished on slough grass.

A bigger difference in grass finished beef is the leanness and tenderness.  Grass finished beef tends to be a little leaner which can change the tenderness of the meat, depending on how it is cooked.  Make sure you treat your grass finished beef with a little more love and care when cooking it to so that you do no overcook it.  The leaner beef if overcooked can get tough if you are not careful.

The first Taber corn of the year is going to be at the Kingsland Farmers Market starting Wednesday.

The market is offering corn from the Gary Valgarson Farm.  Gary, also known as “Captain Corn”, came by the market and introduced himself to us.  He brought his certificate of authenticity that states his is ‘official’ Taber corn.

If you want some of the first fruits of the corn crop, come by the market and pick some up!

I would also like to recommend a good steak to go along with the corn.

The haze was pretty thick today at 6pm.  It makes you wonder how thick the smoke gets as you move closer to the mountains.

It was a great way to end the day.

I got a lot of work done, had a nice supper, a campfire and then the sunset to end the day.

I’ll take it!

I have made a lifestyle choice….  I am going primal.

Back in January,  I made a joke to Courtney, who was doing the Local Lunch for me at the time.  I said that my new years resolution was to eat only things that I could kill or pick out of the ground.  I called it the Neanderthal Diet.

Little did I know how close I was to the truth.

There is a whole movement of people who follow what they call the Paleo Diet – following a diet that would have suited man from the Paleolithic era.  This primarily includes meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and berries.  The single biggest change from out 21st century diet is no grains and no sugar.

Back in May of 2009, I stepped on the scale and hit an all time high – 222 lbs.  I was shocked and embarrassed.  So I started eating less, denying myself some foods and was able to drop to 200 lbs over the next 12 months.

When I heard about this diet in May, I made the switch.  Within 5 weeks, I lost 10 lbs while I was able to eat the food I really enjoy.  Since July, after a newborn entered our house, my weight has stuck at about 192 lbs.

I looked at the calendar today and realized I only have 78 days until the big  4 0.  Yup, I turn 40 in 78 days on November 3.

I have decided to refocus my efforts on my diet and my health.

I am going public with this so there is no turning back.

My goals:

1.  Exercise everyday – whether it be a walk, weights, or my stretches/yoga routine.

2.  Follow the Primal Blueprint (the roadmap I use for the Paleo Diet).

3.  Lose my gut.  I have lost 30 lbs so far over the past 15 months.  I need to turn the last 10 from fat to muscle.

4.  Get my strength back.  Ever since my mutiple surgeries and accidents, my strength has not been where it should be.  It was only 1 month ago that I noticed that my right arm is finally stronger than my left arm again.  It is really sad what 3 shoulder surgeries can do to a man.

Look out for posts that talk about my food, my exercise, and other things that relates to changing my life in 78 days.

In the meantime, please check out Mark’s Daily Apple, which is from Mark Sisson, the Author of the Primal Blueprint.  There are a couple of great PDF books to download that introduce the Primal Blueprint.  Check it out.

Hoven Farms is a 100 year old Alberta Family Farm that grows certified organic beef. You can try some at the Kingsland Farmers Market.

I’m Tim Hoven, welcome to Hoven Farms.

Hoven farms has been in Alberta for 100 years, as Matthias Hoven and his two songs began raising cattle on this land near Eckville.

I am part of the fourth generation of Hovens to work on this land, and my wife and I are currently raising the fifth generation.

We are a proud alberta family farm. Our devotion to providing great quality alberta organic beef sets us apart.

Hoven farms growing healthy food since 1910.