JD Jones runs Cedar Ridge Farms on 280 acres in Northwest Arkansas. He’s been farming since he was a teenager, less a brief period when he served two tours in Iraq, returning to what he feels is his true calling. JD has 30 – 50 head of beef cattle that graze 180 acres of grassland and 16 – 20 hogs that graze his 100-acre woodlot eating roots, grubs, snakes; whatever they can find. His 400-500 chickens free range the grass, too. Having used Thorvin for the last eight years, JD says the reason he keeps using Thorvin, is because everything else fails to meet his satisfaction. “Thorvin’s probably the only thing I’ll use. You know, I’ll keep some medications on hand in case something happens, but I’ve had to doctor exactly 2 animals in the last 7 years.”
Using Thorvin for more than just his animals, JD also finds it useful in his gardens as well. He top-dresses with a fertilizer spinner and tills it under before planting. JD says the soil on his farm is selenium deficient and notes that nitrogen, “phosphorus and potassium aren’t the only things you need for healthy soil. You gotta have other minerals, too, even the micro-nutrients; carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, iodine, etc.” Kelp delivers these to the soil. Plus, because the cows eat it, they deliver it to the soil everywhere they go. “If you don’t have the mineral in the ground, there’s no mineral in the grass, there’s no mineral in your cow meat and there’s a mineral deficiency in the human being.” JD goes on to say, “I went to a guy who mixes his own minerals with the salt… I decided I’m going back to Thorvin because I had three still-births that year and I’ve never had that happen while using Thorvin for Animals. So, I am back on the true believer side of Thorvin.
I keep my cows on grass. They’re outside with sunshine and fresh air. If you give them the minerals, your vet bills are almost zero. It’s natural and animals respond to minerals. If you’ve got a selenium deficiency, you’re gonna have those still births. If you don’t have the iodine, you’re gonna get pinkeye. With kelp, I’ve never had to treat pinkeye. I’ve had years of absolutely no pinkeye, no still births with Thorvin.” JD says the only down side to Thorvin is the cost, but that if you look at the cost otherwise, it’s really the cheapest way to go because you don’t have the problems associated with mineral deficient soil and there’s no bills from the veterinarian. If you have to call a vet, you might as well write that animal off your books because the profit it represents has already been spent.
JD says you need a sturdy hat-rack to be a farmer. They have so many jobs to do, they’ve got to be an accountant, an agronomist, a herdsman, a businessman, a salesman; at least 15 hats! It has to be a calling, you gotta do it because you love it. There’s just no other way and the learning curve is steep. “If you ain’t making mistakes, you ain’t learning,” he says. “You gotta be able to take the punches, you know what I’m saying?” It’s all worth it, though. He loves it when someone’s face lights up because they finally found healthy food raised 100% naturally. “A doctor once came to my house and told me, ‘JD, I’m gonna start writing prescriptions for your grass-fed beef and your grass-fed chicken.’”
All of JD’s animals get Thorvin for Animals. He mixes 50 pounds of kelp and 50 pounds of ground, mined rock salt from the ancient sea bed. Free choice; so, the animals decide how much they eat, but, depending on the animal and how long they’ve been without, they tend toward 3 to 5 ounces a day. A lot of people think he feeds his cows corn, but he doesn’t! They’re grass fed and grass finished. “You get your cows looking slick, with that oily hide, your bugs go away ‘cause they can’t get into them. It’s with kelp, man. Kelp does it!”
Cedar Ridge Farms is a customer of Mike Burdiss, a dealer for Midwestern Bio Ag.