Dear Friends and Partners,

Welcome to Alderspring’s weekend edition newsletter! Thank you for partnering in what we do!

Below you can find beef discounts, Glenn’s weekly story, and lots of photos from the ranch this week!

Scroll down for this week’s story:

“Bringing Them All Back Home”

Also see below for a special deal on sixteenths!

This Week’s Store Update & Coupons

NEXT SHIPPING DAY: Monday, July 22!

What’s In Stock

Beef was restocked earlier this week. Unfortunately, many cuts have already sold out, but we still have:

This week’s coupon cuts

Use the code “TWOSIXTEENTHS” to get 5% off any two sixteenths.

Use the code “BONESANDGROUND” to get 10% off organic regular ground beef and organic beef bones.

Click the green button below or the green words above to access these cuts!

Get this week’s cuts + more here!

If you have any questions, observations, or comments, just send Kelsey an email at help[at]alderspring[dot]com.

Photos from the Ranch This Week…

Up on the range mornings comes early. The morning riding crew is up at 4:30am catching horses and preparing for the days ride. They are saddled up and ready to ride out with the herd as the sun rises.

As the temperatures continue to rise down in the valley, up on the range we go higher to get away from the heat. We are now grazing at about 7000 feet elevation. Here the grass is greener than at lower elevations providing abundant forage for the herd.

Our mama cows and their calves recently made the journey from the home ranch to the Tendoy ranch. Before they could go all of this years’ calves needed branded and tagged. Here Melanie prepares to rope a little steer in preparation to brand him.

We use a few different non-chemical methods of weed control, but the one we use the most is good old-fashion elbow grease. This either involves hand pulling weeds or grubbing them with a grub hoe. This week Scott has been on a mission to eradicate henbane (a plant poisonous to livestock and humans) from the Tendoy ranch.

The aftermath of a summer thunderstorm on the ranch: greener grass, frisky calves, and multiple rainbows.

Want to follow along more day-to-day? Find us on Instagram and Facebook.

Quote of the Week

“We have to stop thinking of soil as just a medium for holding plants upright and start recognizing it as a living ecosystem.”

– Allan Savory

This week’s story:

“Bringing them all back home”

Dear Friends

It’s still dark as I write this; its just past 5AM. We just caught our mounts for the day. While sipping some “cowboy coffee” while I tack up (a little like thick mud, but without the grit if you pour it right), I thought I’d capture this note.

I’m on the Wesley/Maddy crew with 5 other riders. We just hit the timber over the past few weeks, and some of it is thick. It’s because we’re gaining elevation constantly, trying to stay in the green grasses of the high country.

For the first time over the summer grazing season I start getting concerned about dropping a stray steer or heifer in the thick trees. It’s not often one comes up missing. Every other year or so we come up one or two or three short. It’s really complicated and broken terrain, and it can be vexing for riders to keep track of everybody in thick downfall, rocky ravines, and pre-dawn dark or the post-dusk grays.

Come with me, dear reader, to a few years back when we did come up a little short. It’s always stressful, and it even takes away my sleep as I worry about wolves, lions, and the other perils of our beeves living alone on the big open.

Click here to read this week’s story: “Bringing Them All Back Home”

And that’s it for this week!

Thanks again for partnering in what we do!

Glenn, Caryl, cowgirls and cowboys at Alderspring.

We’ve been crafting our pastured protein here in Idaho’s Rocky Mountains for nearly 30 years and delivering it direct to our partners for nearly as long. This is wild wellness, delivered from our ranch to your door.

Why is Inventory Low Lately?

Here’s where we’re at on the “low inventory” situation…and why it’s low in the first place! We know many of you have been with us for a long time and rely on us as your source of protein (and we’re so grateful)!

In the last few months, we’ve been hit by a lot of unexpected demand.

When it comes to raising beef, changes in demand can be very difficult to respond to quickly. It takes us 2-3 years to raise an animal to finish. That means we plan our inventory needs about 2 years in advance.

Many companies and producers we know of that sell direct-to-consumer respond to sudden increases in demand by buying outside cattle (often at sale barn auctions) and then selling that beef under their label. This is VERY common.

But this kind of “cow flipping” isn’t something we’re willing to do.

We know the entire history of every beef we sell. That’s important to us, and we know it’s important to you and part of why you trust us to raise your beef.

We’re working right now to gradually increase our available inventory to hopefully provide more beef! But at a certain point, we actually can’t expand further without compromising our standards.

We know that the reason many of you order from us is because we’re small scale. We butcher our cattle at a small processor that only does about 80 head of cattle per week (compared to thousands at a big facility). This also limits our capacity to expand, because they, too, are functioning at capacity right now. We also raise only as many cattle as our pastures can support without degrading our soils. And we’re still small enough that Glenn personally looks at every single steak before he puts it in your box to ship to you. These factors are why you order from us! But it also means occasional inventory limitations.