Not all venison is the same. There is a difference between Broken Arrow Ranch venison and other venison you can buy. Some distinctions Broken Arrow Ranch products offer you are:
- Free-Range Not Farmed
- Medication Free
- Humanely Harvested
- Low Fat Content
- Sustainable Resource
- Custom Aging To YourSpecifications
- Attentive Customer Service
- Full Money Back Guarantee
- $5,000,000 in Product Liability Protection
Broken Arrow Ranch venison is the only truly wild venison field harvested and processed under full inspection. These two factors - "truly wild" and "full inspection" - are differences we believe are important to you and worth more.
Free-Range Not Farmed
About 85% of the venison sold in America is imported from deer farms in New Zealand. Farmers there and elsewhere are raising red deer and fallow deer in huge numbers on intensively grazed pastures. Subsisting on a diet of almost exclusively grass, these deer produce venison which is of good quality but which chefs often describe as bland-tasting. The free-ranging deer and antelope harvested by Broken Arrow Ranch are truly wild and free-ranging, living on 1,000,000 combined acres in Texas. The wide variety of natural vegetation in their diet gives the meat a more complex flavor profile.
Chefs who should know tell us they can taste the difference. Chef Mark Miller, in his "Coyote Cafe Cookbook" says:
"Venison supplied by Broken Arrow Ranch does not have an unpleasant over-gamey flavor that many people associate with frozen venison or venison that has not been harvested properly. It has, instead, a satisfactory subtle flavor that includes tones of the wild herbs and bushes that the deer graze on in the open Southwest ranges."
We often describe the difference between our venison and farmed venison as the difference between free-range chickens and pen-raised chickens. We are not implying that farm raised venison is not a good product. We simply believe that our product is better. We think you and your patrons will agree.
Medication Free
Our free-ranging venison has another advantage that is important to today's consumer. Farmed deer are routinely given medication in the form of worming medicines and, when necessary, antibiotics to control disease problems associated with animal farming. Our free-ranging deer are able to maintain separation between small groups and avoid the potential spread of disease among their numbers. Medication is not needed and they have little, if any, exposure to medicated feed. This means the free-ranging venison you get from Broken Arrow Ranch is virtually free of any medicines and antibiotics.
Humanely Harvested
Reducing stress during slaughter is a major factor in controlling meat quality. An animal that senses a threat or unusual situation will react with an increased flow of adrenaline which in turn creates a rapid increase in lactic acid within the muscles. This acidic condition causes the meat to become tough, strongly flavored, and reduces the shelf life of the meat. Farmed deer are slaughtered by loading them into a trailer, taking them to a slaughter house, and running them through an apparatus where they are killed and processed. Even though these deer are domesticated and relatively tame, there is certainly some stress introduced during this process. Our field harvesting technique is to quietly search the ranch for deer and antelope and harvest the animal by a long-range, single shot to the head using a sound-suppressed rifle. The purpose of this unique technique is to ensure the animals are never under any stress and the resulting meat quality is the highest possible.
Extremely Low in Fat
The low fat content of venison is a major reason for consumer interest in venison. While all venison is relatively low in fat, it can vary based on the species, geographical location and season. Animals that evolved in colder climates (i.e. red deer, elk, fallow, and sika) develop a genetic tendency to acquire large quantities of fat to survive winter. Animals that evolved in tropical climates have no seasonal need to develop fat and remain extremely lean throughout the year. Broken Arrow Ranch harvests both cold and warm weather species. Located in Texas, however, we have the advantage of raising primarily tropical species and can harvest them throughout the year with almost no variance in fat content. Our venison from axis deer, blackbuck antelope, and South Texas antelope will almost always have less than 2% fat content. Compare that with other protein options available, especially other red meats. We believe this is a significant difference to nutrition-conscious chefs and patrons.
Sustainable Resource
We work with about 100 Texas ranches as an integral part of their animal population management programs. With few natural predators remaining, ranches can quickly become overpopulated with wild deer and antelope resulting in overgrazing and, eventually, starvation for the entire herd. Our field harvesting methods helps ranchers maintain naturally sustainable deer and antelope populations, which preserves the herd and land as a future resource.
Custom Aging
The chefs we serve have made it clear that they want to know exactly what they are buying when they pay a premium price for a product. The aging of venison is important to tenderness and flavor. We are the only major supplier of venison marking each primal cut with the harvest date and able to supply venison exactly aged to the chef's specifications.
Attentive Customer Service
Our knowledgeable staff is available to assist you with product information, portion cost analysis and menu ideas. We protect you with $5,000,000.00 in product liability insurance. We deliver to your kitchen door. We offer free shipping on orders over 20 pounds. We support our promise with a full money-back guarantee. If you don't agree that our venison is worth the difference, we will charge you nothing for it and thank you for having given it a trial. We haven't had to give away much venison in the many years we have been in business.
All venison is NOT the same
Is a fine Burgundy worth more than "vin ordinaire?" Not everyone buys or drinks fine Burgundy, but the patrons of the establishments we serve expect top quality when they are dining in a fine restaurant. We can provide you the best venison available anywhere in the world.
We know our venison sometimes costs more than other venison available. The focus of our efforts is to produce quality products, not merely large quantities. This does not make production of our products the most cost efficient, but it does make them very good. Other methods of raising and harvesting deer and antelope are less expensive and we know others will always be able to sell their products for less. We would rather explain our prices than make excuses for our quality. Fortunately, since 1983 we have found chefs and establishments throughout the U.S. who agree our venison is worth the difference.
