From left, Calaveras County ranchers Mike Riley, Karen Riley and Calaveras County Farm Advisor Ken Churches rate the taste differences between grass-fed and corn fed meat at a local meat marketing workshop held Monday at the American Legion Hall in Martell. Photo by: Jenifer Gee Amador County Department of Agriculture vector controller Matt Blankenship, left, and county Agricultural Commissioner Mike Boitano, slice meat for the taste-test lunch at a local meat marketing workshop held Monday. Photo by: Jenifer Gee

Grass-fed animals are the way to go, according to local farmers who recently gathered for a local meat marketing workshop held by the Amador Resource Conservation District.

The day-long workshop at the American Legion Hall in Martell included discussion on slaughter and processing, marketing meat locally and a taste test lunch where workshop attendees blind tasted different meats to see if they could tell the difference between locally grown and lot-fed cattle.

"Some people have this view that grass-fed livestock meat is yellow and the meat isn't tender," said Steve Cannon, director of the Amador Resource Conservation District. "We want to try and dispel some of this."

For local meat producers, the information and workshop were important steps to take in ensuring an economic future for those who raise locally grown cattle.

Currently, the majority of cattle sold to restaurants and grocery stores is provided by large feed lots. A close one is located in Stockton, where cattle is fed corn, something they don't naturally eat, Cannon said. Locally grown cattle are purely grass-fed.

The problems local meat producers must face include providing a reliable quantity for restaurants and grocers to depend on and finding a United States Department of Agriculture certified slaughter house and wrap and package plant that is cost efficient.

"We wanted to bring potential customers - primarily grocery stores and restaurant owners - together with ranchers and talk about what the opportunities are and what the impediments are and how we might help to foster a local niche market for grass-fed livestock," Cannon said.

For the marketing meat locally panel discussion, Jackson Rancheria Casino Head Chef Mark Golsie said he would entertain the idea of buying locally, especially the meats the Rancheria orders the most. Those include New York strip, sirloin and 1,800 pounds of hamburger the Rancheria goes through in a week. "If the pricing is higher for local beef that's not necessarily a hurdle," Golsie said.

But Golsie emphasized that all food purchased by the Rancheria has to follow health and safety regulations, and "one of our biggest things is consistency ... the supply has to be there to meet the demand."

During the same discussion, Norman Gunsell, owner of Amy's Kitchen in Calaveras County, described the process he went through to find a place to slaughter about four animals a year so he can sell his locally-grown beef. During the process, which he started about five to six years ago, he found navigated many USDA requirements that "seem to be putting more of a hindrance on us, the small producers," he said. "(The requirements) are all set up for the safety of the consumer but as the years go by, I find the U.S.D.A. is becoming more of an agent of the corporation."

Some of the more recent requirements the USDA has initiated included stricter regulations on slaughter houses.

Swingle Meat Co. in Jackson used to run a certified slaughterhouse, according to Cannon, but eventually closed when the requirements made it too expensive and difficult to upkeep the facility. Now, local ranchers would need to take their cattle to slaughter facilities in Stockton or Dixon among other cities, Cannon said.

Another option that ranchers could consider is a mobile slaughter unit, which is a USDA certified traveling trailer that slaughters cattle but can still be expensive. Whether or not one is in proximity to Amador County is also something to be further researched.

As for now, ranchers hope that local stores and restaurants will start to take notice of local producers and see the benefits of knowing the origin of their food, according to Scott Oneto, farm advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension.

"I think the big thing is there's not only becoming more and more of a demand but an awareness by the public for locally grown agricultural products," Oneto said. "People like to know where their food is coming from."