Happy cows don’t just live in California. They live right here in Arizona. Does anyone remember those commercials from the early 2000’s? Do they still make those commercials? Someone let me know if they do .You are probably wondering why I am talking about cows. Where are you going with this Alana? I thought you are The Fancy Navajo. There is nothing fancy about farming. Well I beg to differ, a few weeks ago, I was invited by the Arizona Farm Bureau to take a tour of 3 Arizona farms in Buckeye, AZ: a feed yard, dairy farm, and a certified-organic produce farm. I had so much fun! If you follow me on Instagram then you may have caught my Instagram Stories of the event.
I admit, prior to this tour, I had no idea farms existed in central AZ. Who would have the audacity to farm or ranch here? It’s so hot and dry! Why not just farm in cooler climates? But as a lover of food, this tour was of great interest to me. I love cooking, creating recipes, and trying new restaurants. I often take food for granted. It’s so convenient to buy food these days, and it’s rare that I question where all my food comes from. You hear buzz words like farm to table, organic, grass fed, it all sounds so fancy. And if you have watched any food documentaries lately on Netflix, then you might have started to question the food industry entirely. Is it really that horrid?
After this tour, I learned so much about AZ agriculture. I am happy to report that the farms I visited were clean, well maintained, technologically advanced, and included lots of happy cows! Farming has become smarter and more efficient over the years, which is plus for a sustainable farming. The people behind the farms are also very passionate about what they do and have a rich history in Arizona agriculture.
That’s pretty incredible and made me think about the area I grew up in northern New Mexico. During harvest seasons, families sell their delicious produce on the side of the road. I always look forward to this in the fall. My family even had a backyard garden when I was 15 and it was so rewarding as we harvested our produce. A lot of time and care went into maintaining our garden. One of the best meals I have ever had was from our family garden. It was a corn, squash, zucchini, and ground beef stir fry with homemade Navajo tortillas, all made by my mom. It was sooo good! I forgot about this way of life and I am so happy these memories were rekindled on this AZ farm tour.
The first farm we visited was Heiden Land & Cattle which is a family owned cattle feed yard which has operated in Arizona for 78 years. I wasn’t quite sure what a feed yard was until this tour. This is where cows grow and live before they are sent off for processing, which is just a fancy and more humane word for ummm you know… Prior to processing, cows have a healthier diet than I do and have their own nutritionists. They are fed what I like to call cow corn flakes, which are crushed corn kernels that helps cows digest the corn better. They also eat a variety of other grass and grains.
The cows also have plenty of room to graze before they are sent for processing. Cows are rotated in and out the farm like clockwork. They come in as calves and leave for processing once they have cleared all of their health screenings and weight requirements. You hear a lot about antibiotics in meat. However, these cows are not sent for processioning until all the antibiotics are cleared which is about 240 days. This is great to know the next time I’m buying a nice cut of meat at my local grocery store. The cows here were so friendly and one even tried to play with my hair.
The next farm we visited was Kerr Family Dairy, which is a dairy farm. If you are a milking cow, then you want to live on Kerr Family Farm. Milking cows are commonly Holsteins and Jersey cows. I am glad I learned that, I can stop calling them white and black milk cows. These cows live a life of luxury and I’m kind of jealous of how well they are kept. They chew on their cud, sit in the shade (in the hotter months they have air-conditioning), go for milking, and then repeat.
This exactly what the farmer wants. Because a stressed cow is an unhappy cow and won’t produce as much milk, which is not good for the farmer. The farmers at Kerr want to make sure their cows are as happy and healthy as possible. Quality is definitely better than quantity in this case. Kerr Farms does not process its milk, but before it is sent for processing it has to pass quality tests and if its off by a few percentages, it cannot be used. So, a lot of care goes into making sure all of the milk is produced to industry standards.
The milking process is also more efficient these days. The carbon foot print of your glass of milk is 2/3rd’s of what it was back in the 1940’s! How awesome is that. The cows are elegantly coordinated as the get in formation and are milked. No longer are the days of milking by hand. The utters are cleaned with iodine and little suction cups are placed on the utters and voila! The suction cups can sense when the cow is finished and they pop off once they are done. It’s really neat to watch. They also had the cutest calves. I wanted to steal one, but I don’t think the hubby would have approved.
The last farm we visited was Duncan Family Farm, which is an organic-certified produce farm. To be honest, I rarely buy organic produce and if I do, it is by sheer coincidence. After visiting Duncan Family Farms, I have a better appreciation for certified-organic foods and understand why it costs so much. The amount of care that goes into the maintaining certified-organic standards is astounding. I actually went on a tour of Duncan Family farms a week prior to the AZ Farm Bureau Tour and I am happy I had the opportunity to tour it again!
The first tour, I was introduced to their leafy greens and I was shocked when I learned that Arizona grows 82% of the leafy greens consumed in the US during the Winter!!! What?!? That fancy spinach or kale salad you had last week was most likely grown right here in AZ. How awesome is that. Not only does Duncan family farms grow a variety of leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard, spring mix, etc. They also farm a variety of herbs like basil and mint which I got to see on my second visit. A lot of care is done to make sure that everything grown here maintains that organic certified standard. The farm can break down each crop, each row, almost every leaf and tell you what soil and water was used! It’s amazing!
Did you know that if a bird defecates on a portion of the crop, that crop is no longer harvested? To counteract this problem, they have a falcon that roams the grounds to keep nuisance birds away. Duncan Family Farms also cuts and ships their produce directly from their farm. As soon as the produce is picked, it is sent to their cooling facility which reduces the temperature of the produce so that it has a longer shelf life in the stores. Then off it goes to the distributor. I didn’t get to see this part in action, but I did get to see how they harvest their spinach!
A huge thank you to the Arizona Farm Bureau for putting this trip together. I learned so much. It was quite the adventure getting there, and I had flash backs of taking a school field trip as we all loaded up in a white van and headed west. But this was no school field trip as I don’t remember getting a swag bag of goodies prior to the trip, that included a bottle of wine, dates, honey, and other AZ products. Now that’s a great way to start a trip!! Also, everyone on the tour was so friendly and included some very influential women, business owners, and fellow bloggers. We basically owned that little white van as we went farm to farm with our AZ Farm Bureau hosts who kept us entertained with AZ agriculture tidbits along the way.
If you are curious about learning more about AZ agriculture, please visit the Arizona Farm Bureau website as well as their blog, Fill Your Plate which is a great resources to find out where the nearest farmers market is in your area.
- Arizona Farm Bureau Website: https://www.azfb.org/
- Arizona Farm Bureau Blog: http://fillyourplate.org/
You can find me here on TheFancyNavajo.com, Instagram, and Facebook. Check out my last blog post on Bubbies Mochi Ice Cream here.
