Longhorn Beef, Mangalica Pork & Piedmontese Beef at Amaranth
By: Brendan Klatt
The Buhler family of Buhler Beef from Nanton, Alberta.
“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.”
I am really loving learning more about local farms and different breeds of cows. It is one of my passions to connect with small family farms, in particular, those that are doing interesting things. We just listed Buhler Beef (Longhorn beef), F4 Ranches (Mangalica pork), and we’re working with Peony Farms (Piedmontese beef). I am also expanding out our Primal Blends (ground meat mixed with a small amount of organs) and have really enjoyed partnering with many different farmers and companies (ex: elk, bison, wild boar, venison, etc…) I have loved all the Longhorn beef products Clint at Buhler Beef has given me, me and Kyra just tried the Peony Farms 10% Primal Blend last night in tacos and loved it (we had to add extra fat in because it was so lean!)
The Cameron family of Peony Farm from Lacombe, Alberta.
Buhler Beef longhorn cattle.
F4 Ranches Mangalica pigs.
Recently I met with Clint, who left the Calgary Police Service to work on his ranch in Nanton, Alberta full time a couple years ago. He raises Longhorn cattle. Originally brought by the Spanish to North America, they are very resilient and can easily survive in our harsh climate. They are not used in big commercial farms because they grow very slowly. Clint has his cows out on pasture eating grass, but he supplements them with barley to give them that "Alberta beef" flavor. For anyone that has tried Wagyu, Clint's Longhorn is very close in taste! The Longhorn steaks, ground and roast have been at our Southland and Enjoy Centre stores for a month now and have been doing great, we just ordered them in for our customers at Arbour Lake.
Longhorn cattle resting.
Mangalica pigs have really curly fur!
F4 Ranches is a fourth generation family farm run by Cody Bews at their ranch west of High River. Their pork is a combination of Berkshire, wild boar and Mangalica. Mangalica is a pig breed from Hungary and is itself a breed derived from European wild boar. It has a distinct coat of thick curly hair which allows it to be free range all year long in Alberta's climate. It also has a high degree of marbling and a high quality fat layer. The result is a dark red pork that doesn't look like anything you would find in a conventional grocery store. We just listed a new wild boar Primal Blend with 10% organs mixed in. From the same farm, we have regular ground boar and chops. Wild boar is distinct from regular pork and you will notice it's much leaner, darker and has a more gamey taste to it. We source ours from a farm in Alberta that uses European wild boar.
Craig overseeing his Piedmontese cattle at Peony Farms.
Wild boar that we source for our new Primal Blend.
Piedmontese cattle look quite a bit different than your regular cow!
Last but not least, I met Craig from Peony Farms at the Holistic Nutrition conference last year. He raises not just grass-fed beef, but Piedmontese regeneratively raised beef. His goal was to raise the most nutritious beef he could, while also regenerating the land. Piedmontese is a beef breed that is from Italy and is extremely lean, they have a gene that influences their tenderness so their meat does not need to be dry aged or have any special processing. Craig tests the soil and feed on his farm to ensure it is the healthiest it can be. He also tests his animals to make sure they are getting the nutrition they need. Forage finished means they get a variety of plants in their diet, not just grass. For those with histamine issues, Craig’s beef is low histamine because it doesn't need to be aged.
Enjoy Buhler Beef & F4 Ranch Mangalica pork products available at our Arbour Lake, Southland and Enjoy Centre stores. NEW Wild boar Primal Blend available at Arbour Lake, Southland and Enjoy Centre alongside our existing beef, bison, elk, chicken & turkey blends. Beef, elk & bison Primal Blends available also at 130th Ave! Piedmontese Primal Blend coming soon…