Bobolink Dairy

[howard88]

An article in the NJ Herald, the daily newspaper in Sussex County (Friday, April 2, 2004) reported Jonathan has added grass fed beef to his farm. The beef is aged for three weeks, flash frozen and vacuum packed. There apparantly was a recent luncheon at Bobolink featuring the cuts of beef. Were any egulleters attendees?

[Rosie]

Yes. I was there. I'm working on a story for "Table Hopping With Rosie."

Beef was very good. I especially liked the strip steak and standing rib roast. And it really wasn't a luncheon but a tasting for the press. The meat was cooked in Jonathan's oven which was also fun to watch. There is a story on Table Hopping this week http://www.njmonthly.com/rosie/rnews.html

about the matzoh making workshop Jonathan is having on April 9.

[Rail Paul]

The floods earlier this year dropped a rich layer of mud on some of the property, creating very lush grass now. The cows loked fine

The veal business is coming along quite well. There are nine female calves, and seven male calves so far this year ( plus one or two on the way). Some of the male calves will likely go to veal soon. Jonathan seemed pleased with the developments. We observed the big Kerry bull snuggling up with a Jersey cow, so the beat goes on

Ducks and sheep are now on the property, duck eggs are available along with the chicken eggs at the farm's store. There aren't any current plans to add the small number of eggs to the greenmarket inventory

Jonathan told tanabutler during our visit that he expects to have the first of this year's Jean-Louis cheese in the greenmarkets and at the farmstore by early July.

[menton1]

I was saddened to hear that Bobolink is now producing veal. Veal is widely considered a CRUEL food. With so many other more humane meat choices available, there is really no need to produce or eat veal. This is not good news and lowers my opinion of Jonathan greatly.

[Jason Perlow]

In the words of South Park's Eric Cartman:

Mmmmm. Veal! They look so delicious! Mmmm. Succulent and juicy.

Episode 605 - Fun With Veal

[Rosie]

Jonathan loves his animals so much and has named all of them. I can assure you that he treats his calves humanely.

[Jason Perlow]

Jonathan loves his animals so much and has named all of them. I can assure you that he treats his calves humanely.

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I personally would expect nothing less of someone that is so dedicated to his craft as Jonathan is.

[menton1]

South Park-- now that's a terrific source of information...

There is a very straightforward, non-radical, mainstream lobbying group known as Farm Sanctuary. They quietly and non-controversially campaign for increased public awareness and stopping animal cruelty. For the few here who have an interest, here is one of the sites: Veal as Cruel Food

[KatieLoeb]

Jonathan loves his animals so much and has named all of them. I can assure you that he treats his calves humanely.

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I personally would expect nothing less of someone that is so dedicated to his craft.

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I would expect nothing less either. While I respect anyone's right to have a "political" issue with their food and choose not to eat a certain item (hey - more for me!), there is no evidence whatsoever linking Jonathan or his farm to the sort of inhumane practices that are much more common in industrial level commercial veal production.

[Jason Perlow]

Jonathan loves his animals so much and has named all of them. I can assure you that he treats his calves humanely.

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I personally would expect nothing less of someone that is so dedicated to his craft.

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I would expect nothing less either. While I respect anyone's right to have a "political" issue with their food and choose not to eat a certain item (hey - more for me!), there is no evidence whatsoever linking Jonathan or his farm to the sort of inhumane practices that are much more common in industrial level commercial veal production.

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Yeah, I dont think that raising veal and and animal cruelty are bedfellows by necessity.

[Andrew Fenton]

Jonathan loves his animals so much and has named all of them. I can assure you that he treats his calves humanely.

What Rosie said. A visit to the farm makes it obvious that the animals at Bobolink are treated with respect, care and love.

[menton1]

Jonathan loves his animals so much and has named all of them. I can assure you that he treats his calves humanely.

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Veal calves are 16-20 weeks and done. I actually think naming these might be a bit of overdoing it... A lot of great info here: http://www.noveal.org

[SobaAddict70]

Jonathan loves his animals so much and has named all of them. I can assure you that he treats his calves humanely.

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Veal calves are 16-20 weeks and done. I actually think naming these might be a bit of overdoing it... A lot of great info here: http://www.noveal.org

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With all due respect, whilst this is a perfectly valid line of discussion, I believe the focus of this thread is on Bobolink Dairy and not the morality of raising what many consider to be a "cruel" food.

Perhaps a separate thread would serve this particular thread best.

Soba

[corinne]

Does Bobolink have a website?

[Andrew Fenton]

Does Bobolink have a website?

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Bobolink online:

cowsoutside.com

[menton1]

Jonathan loves his animals so much and has named all of them. I can assure you that he treats his calves humanely.

Yeah, I dont think that raising veal and and animal cruelty are bedfellows by necessity.

A visit to the farm makes it obvious that the animals at Bobolink are treated with respect, care and love.

I am sincerely interested in this. The mainstream "No-Veal" lobbying groups including Farm Sanctuary, Humane Society of the US, and National Humane Education Society say that is is essential that veal calves' movements be severely restricted to prevent muscular development otherwise the meat will be quite tough; they must also be fed a diet that causes anemia so that the meat is "white". If Jonathan has done some groundbreaking here, that is certainly very noteworthy, and more details about his techniques should definitely be forthcoming.

I have also deducted from the complimentary defenses of Bobolink expressed here that those same people would NEVER order veal in a restaurant nor ever purchase veal in a supermarket. It seems that by their statements they agree that "industrial" veal is VERY cruel food.

[Kim WB]

I have also deducted from the complimentary defenses of Bobolink expressed here that those same people would NEVER order veal in a restaurant nor ever purchase veal in a supermarket.  It seems that by their statements they agree that "industrial" veal is VERY cruel food.

Really, I would deduct that these are people that simply don't want you to lump this particular veal supplier in with the rest, and respects your position enough to explain how one farm treats its calves. Because they took the time to explain their first hand knowledge of this dairy does not necessarily mean that they agree with your view...although I won't speak for them.

[Andrew Fenton]

I am sincerely interested in this.  The mainstream "No-Veal" lobbying groups including Farm Sanctuary, Humane Society of the US, and National Humane Education Society say that is is essential that veal calves' movements be severely restricted to prevent muscular development otherwise the meat will be quite tough; they must also be fed a diet that causes anemia so that the meat is "white".  If Jonathan has done some groundbreaking here, that is certainly very noteworthy, and more details about his techniques should definitely be forthcoming. 

Dude, veal is just meat from a baby cow. People have been eating veal for thousands of years now. You don't have to keep a calf in a box to raise an animal that will produce tasty meat; and not everybody has a Joe Pesci-in-Casino-like fetish about pure white veal.

I'm willing to lay some heavy odds that Bobolink doesn't keep its calves in tiny cages and doesn't raise anemic calves either. But if you're concerned, why don't you email or call the dairy and ask? Or go visit?

[Rail Paul]

Collect your winnings, Andrew.

The calves at bobolink were happily walking about in an acre size pen. The two infants were still with their moms in the multi-acre field with the bulls. Jonathan was quite pleased that the drained whey from cheesemaking goes to the calves, it's highly nutritious stuff.

I'd definitely recommend a visit to Bobolink. The owners are proud of their property, and very willing to let visitors check it out. And, buy eggs, bread or cheese, too

[Andrew Fenton]

Collect your winnings, Andrew.

Whoo hoo! I'm-a goin' to Disneyworld!

The calves at bobolink were happily walking about in an acre size pen. The two infants were still with their moms in the multi-acre field with the bulls. Jonathan was quite pleased that the drained whey from cheesemaking goes to the calves, it's highly nutritious stuff.

Yeah, that's the picture I remember from the eG barbecue back in the fall. The calves seemed pretty content, gamboling in the fields and all that. I didn't know at the time that they were being raised for meat. (and, I suppose, neither did they...)

[Curlz]

Let's see if I can post this properly...from the thread about last year's picnic at Bobolink:

Favorite moments/comments:

...Jason yelling "Hello, veal!" as he walked towards the calves

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And this:

Here are my pictures from the event:

Also not for lunch.

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Sorry; had to add a little brevity to the discussion AND show the pic of the calves, who were indeed FREE RANGE!

Have we set a date for this year, btw?

[curdnerd]

Hey, folks, I'm going to weigh in here to correct a few notions.

1. I'm not sure where someone got the idea that we were in the veal business. We do from time to time eat the odd bull-calf, and we do have some steers living the good life while awaiting their fate at 29 months, but we are not planning on eating any of this year's bull-calves: they are all good breeding stock, being fathered by John, our legendary Kerry bull. So sorry, no yummy grass-fed veal this year, these boys can look forward to living for heifer and heifer.

2. There is a world of difference between industrial veal and grass-fed veal. I am not aware of any Humane Society policy towards the abolition of all veal, although they are rightly concerned with the abuses that are integral to industrial veal. We have been visited once by the Humane Society, and just the other day we had a visit from a NJDA vet, who told me that our cows look pretty fat. (He was here on a complaint, from a local who seems to think that cows need to eat grain, and was concerned that our cows "are so hungry that they are eating grass". Oy vey.)

3. The only groups that I know of who are opposed to grass-fed veal are those who, like their fundamentalist bedfellows on the Right, wish to prescribe their particular worldview on society as a whole. To both of these groups, I have similar advice: if you don't like meat, don't eat any.

Although we do not plan on eating any of the boys in 2005, we do have some piglets, just arrived, who are going to be feasting on the whey that our already grass-fat calves are spurning, along with unsold Bobolink breads and acres and acres of burdock, clover, and yes, pigweed.

Oh, BTW, there are a whole slew of photos of our critters, here:

<http://www.cowsoutside.com/index.htm>

Sorry about the poor organization of the photos, but I'm making cheese daily and there's just so many hours in the day.

See you at Union Square some Friday!

Jonathan

[Rosie]

Bravo Jonathan. Thanks for the post.

[rlibkind]

Oh, BTW, there are a whole slew of photos of our critters, here: <http://www.cowsoutside.com/index.htm>

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Thanks for adding the photos to the website, Jonathan. Seeing a two-minute old calf is a wonderment for this city dweller.