The Audubon Society’s bird friendly seal
Audubon Society
Labels that check out “prime” or “grass fed” are most likely to capture your eye in the meat aisle. What about “bird friendly?”
Beginning this winter season, some Minnesota-raised beef will begin including a green and white label from the Audubon Society that says simply that.
The bird preservation group is broadening a ranch certification program it began in the West in 2017 to the Midwest. It intends to develop customer need for bird-friendly ranching practices and, in turn, incentivize ranchers to preserve bird environments.
Matt Maier was among the very first Minnesota farmers to register. He said the preservation ranching program lines up with what he’s already making with his land in Clearwater, Minn.
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Matt Maier, owner of Thousand Hill Lifetime Grazed cattle ranch in Clearwater, Minn., stands in among his pastures. The yards now grow waist-high, thanks to regenerative grazing practices.
Gracie Stockton | MPR News
When a lot surrounding to his boyhood farm increased for sale, Maier said he leapt at the chance to offer his kids the type of youth memories he treasured.
“And what I witnessed when I moved back to the land [was] insects and birds and butterflies and frogs were non-existent. All the things that I wanted them to experience were not there,” Maier said. “So I’m like, OK, I want to do something about this.”
That something is Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed, a ranches that taps 1,000 acres of grazing land — 120 of it Maier’s own — to raise livestock in a manner that mimics strolling bison.
It’s opposite the type of farming he matured knowing, where cows graze in a little location enough time to annihilate the majority of plant life and compact the soil up until it’s unwelcoming to the majority of brand-new development. Now, Maier moves his herds often over a big location.
Grazing Land owned by Thousand Hills Cattle Company near Clearwater, Minn., visualized July 6.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
“I had my dad driving through the pasture that I managed when I was a kid, and he goes, ‘What are you doing? These are plants that I haven’t seen for decades,’” Maier said. “Well, we don’t graze it down to the ground, which is hard for a farmer to get their head around.”
But it’s precisely what the Audubon Society is searching for when it licenses cattle ranches as bird friendly.
Maier’s pastures have lots of pests buzzing, frogs jumping and — most notably to Audubon — birds chirping as you browse the high lawn and cow pies. In the range, lakes and ponds use prime environment for waterfowl. The enhancing topsoil and plant life have actually kept overflow at bay, permitting the water to clean up. An absence of pesticides makes what does encounter the water much safer.
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Dale Gentry, director of preservation for Audubon in Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri, said cattle ranches in the West that have actually made these modifications and been licensed are already seeing the return of bird types that the organization is most worried about.
A landmark study in 2019 approximated that the United States has actually lost 3 billion — almost one in 4 — birds over the last 50 years. Those in quickest decrease are meadow birds, and the single biggest element is environment loss to farming and advancement.
Gentry said the preservation ranching program is a purposeful effort to reverse those numbers. An yearly bird count is needed for ranchers to keep their accreditation.
“Consumers want to know that this isn’t just a stamp on a label,” he said.
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But customers likewise desire a deal, specifically when they’re handling inflation. Though a markup isn’t ensured, the Audubon seal is anticipated to bring a premium cost.
“As far as what the meat costs, we’re still not yet truly reflecting the value that’s in that package,” Maier said. “There’s so much value when you look at what we are doing with our habitat, how we are saving insects, birds and water, the nutrition, all of that. But I understand. If you still can’t afford it, what I would say is reduce the amount of beef that you’re eating, and when you do eat beef, vote with your dollars.”
As for issue about the function beef has on environment modification, Maier said the market has a stating: It’s not the cow, it’s the how.
He said the type of rotational grazing he’s doing keeps more green on the land throughout the year to sequester carbon. And it almost gets rid of the requirement for tilling, which launches carbon into the environment.
As for the methane cows produce through their gastrointestinal procedure, Maier points back to the concept of simulating bison. They belonged to the environment, distributing seeds and fertilizing soil as they moved. His little herd — specifically when compared to the countless cows on agriculture in the United States — benefit the land in the very same method, he said.
He can see it with his own eyes.
“The other day I came over a ridge by a couple of wetlands and I felt like I was in Jurassic Park,” Maier said. “I had three sandhill cranes flying this way, two young bald eagles flying this way and some wild turkeys coming out of a tree, all at the same time. I was like, wow, this is awesome.”
Maier anticipates to finish his accreditation this fall. The Audubon seal on his plans ought to rapidly follow this winter season.
A red-tailed hawk flies over 2 sandhill cranes in a Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed pasture near Clearwater, Minn., on July 6.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
