Buffalo or bison?
Carrell Farms raises water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). There are 2 species of domestic water buffalo, the Asiatic water buffalo, commonly called swamp buffalo, and the Riverine water buffalo, commonly called the river buffalo. We raise both. The water buffalos closest cousin is the African Cape Buffalo. Water buffalo are closer kin to antelopes than to cattle or bison.
The American Bison is not a buffalo. It is more closely related to the domestic cow. It will cross with a cow and have viable offspring. True buffalos are more distantly related to the cow and bison and will cross with neither.
What is your definition of grassfed?
A graziers mission is to provide his stock with a continuous, abundant, year-round forage chain. No single grass can provide all of the nutrition all of the time. We use a buffet of warm season grasses, cool season grasses, legumes, and forbs to keep our pastures green for most of the year. Forage-fed may be a better term than grass-fed since depending on the season, various bermudagrass strains, fescue, annual ryegrass, Johnson grass, crabgrass, various clovers and vetches, lespedeza, dock, plantain, and many other plants make for a broad nutritional profile for our livestock.
Do grassfed meats cook differently than grainfed?
When cooking grassfed meats you can use the same recipes and cooking methods as you would for grainfed meats but expect a shorter cooking time. Grassfed meats are high in Omega 3 fatty acids. Grainfed meats are high in Omega 6 fatty acids. Omega 3's have a much lower melting point than Omega 6's so grassfed meats will cook in about 1/3 less time than grainfed.
Do you use mRNA vaccines?
No! In fact we don't use any vaccines with the exception of the Tetanus vaccine on bulls being castrated.