Your beef shouldn't come with a question mark.

This Is Exactly Why Knowing Your Beef Matters

If you have followed the news lately, you've probably seen the headlines about bringing more foreign beef into the United States in an effort to bring down beef prices.

As a family that has been raising cattle for generations, I'll be honest: this one is disappointing.

Not because we don't understand that families are paying more for beef. We do. We understand that groceries are expensive, and we understand why people want to see those prices come down.

What we don't understand is how bringing hundreds of millions of pounds of foreign beef into the country for 90 days is supposed to solve a cattle shortage that has taken years to develop.

It doesn't create one more American cow.

It doesn't put one more calf on an American farm.

And it certainly doesn't rebuild the American cattle herd.

The latest proclamation allows an additional 300,000 metric tons of lean beef trimmings to enter the country at the lower tariff rate over a 90-day period. That's a lot of beef coming into the market at exactly the time American cattle producers are trying to make decisions about rebuilding their herds.

Cattle aren't made in a factory.

This is something that gets lost when people talk about the cattle industry like it is just another supply chain.

You can't decide today that America needs more cattle and have them ready for the dinner table in a few months.

A cow carries a calf for roughly nine months. That calf then needs to be raised for well over a year before it is ready for harvest.

And rebuilding a cow herd takes even longer.

When a farmer decides to keep a heifer instead of selling her, that is an investment. We feed her. We raise her. We breed her. We wait for her to have her first calf. We hope she becomes a productive cow that stays in the herd for years.

That's how you rebuild cattle numbers.

You don't do it in 90 days.

In fact, agricultural economists are already pointing out that the timing of this import increase could make rebuilding more difficult. The American Farm Bureau notes that the 90-day window falls directly over the fall calf-selling season, when a large portion of the nation's calves are marketed and cattle producers are making decisions about whether to retain females for herd expansion.

That matters to farms like ours.

Because when the market tells a cattle producer that it is finally time to rebuild, the last thing that producer needs is another source of cheaper beef competing with the cattle he or she is trying to raise.

And what does this mean for you?

This is where we think there is a real opportunity for our customers.

If all of the questions surrounding imported beef have you wondering where your beef actually comes from, you don't have to wonder when you buy directly from us.

Our cattle are raised right here on our family farm.

We know the cattle.

We know where they were born.

We know what they were fed.

We know how they were cared for.

And we know exactly where your beef comes from.

There is no guessing.

There is no trying to decipher a complicated supply chain.

There is no wondering whether the animal was raised in another country and simply became part of a product sold here in the United States.

You are buying beef from the same family that raised the cattle.

That's something we are proud of.

And it's something that has become increasingly important to us as the beef industry gets more complicated.

Your beef doesn't have to come with a question mark.

One of the biggest problems facing consumers is that they don't always have a clear picture of where their beef comes from.

Federal rules no longer require country-of-origin labeling for beef and ground beef under the old mandatory COOL program. USDA specifically states that muscle cuts and ground beef are no longer subject to mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirements.

That doesn't mean imported beef is unsafe.

It doesn't mean foreign farmers don't take pride in what they produce.

But it does mean that knowing where your food comes from takes a little more effort.

Unless you know your farmer.

That's the advantage of buying directly from a family farm.

We don't have to tell you that our beef is American.

We can tell you exactly where it came from.

And here's the part we don't want people to overlook.

Our beef is an incredible value right now.

We aren't a grocery store trying to compete with an anonymous package of ground beef.

We're a small family farm selling beef directly to the people who want to know where their food comes from.

And when you compare the quality of our beef to what you're paying for comparable beef at the grocery store or a restaurant, we think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Our 28-day dry-aged steaks are the perfect example.

Ribeyes. New York strips. Filets. Picanha. Ground beef. Roasts. Stew meat. All raised from cattle that we know and cared for ourselves.

You're not paying for a fancy restaurant, a distributor, a warehouse, or five different companies taking a piece of the transaction.

You're buying from the farm.

And right now, with all of the uncertainty surrounding beef imports, cattle supplies and grocery store prices, we think that's a pretty good place to buy your beef.

We aren't asking you to take our word for it.

We're asking you to know your farmer.

Ask where your beef came from.

Ask where the cattle were raised.

Ask what you're actually getting for the price you're paying.

That's what we have always believed in at Accent Angus Farm.

Our family has been raising cattle for generations. We aren't trying to become the biggest cattle operation in the country.

We're trying to raise really good cattle, take care of our land, produce beef we're proud to put our name on, and hopefully give the next generation in this picture the opportunity to do the same thing someday.

That's why these recent announcements are disappointing to us.

Not because we are afraid of competition.

We believe our beef can compete with anything on the market.

We're disappointed because the answer to America's cattle shortage should be encouraging American cattle producers to raise more cattle—not making it harder for them to do so.

And we're disappointed because American families deserve to know where their food comes from.

Fortunately, you don't have to wonder when you buy from us.

You know your beef came from our farm.

And if you've been thinking about filling your freezer, now is a pretty good time to do it.

Know your farmer. Know your beef. Buy directly from the farm.

Shop Accent Angus Farm and taste the difference for yourself.