The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowBeka vlees
- Cattle, sheep or goats graze on pasture in the grazing season
- No synthetic pesticides or fertiliser (certified)
Beka is a beef and lamb farm on more than 70 hectares of peat meadow in the Polder Westzaan that sells the meat of its own cows and sheep from a farm shop and webshop.
The cows are crosses of Belgian Blue and Piemontese, bred by the farm's own bull. They graze freely in the polder from spring to autumn, and in autumn and winter they live in straw-bedded deep-litter barns (potstal) eating roughage from the farm's own land; their website calls them grass-fed all year, though calves get organic concentrate alongside their mother's milk and later concentrate and hay, and cows get three to four months of finishing feed before slaughter. Besides steaks and roasts the farm sells liver, tongue, heart, oxtail, marrow bones, broth bones and a soup pack with bone, plus lamb and ready-made beef stews. The farm is certified organic (SKAL); we found it in the register.
The meat is portioned and vacuum-packed by a butcher and frozen. You order online and collect at the farm shop on Friday from 15:00 to 17:30 or Saturday from 9:00 to 14:00, or at another time by arrangement.
The meadows are not mown before 1 June and carry no more than 1.5 cows per hectare, so meadow birds can hatch their eggs and raise their chicks.