Healthy diet = Better beef

The Kuntz Family Farm is located a little over six miles up Miami Foley Road. In addition to a healthier diet, all our Black Angus Cross are born and raised on our farm in a natural, low-stress environment. They are calm and docile, and each one is handled daily and treated with care. By eliminating stress, abuse, unnatural diets, and unnecessary antibiotics and hormones, we avoid many of the issues that plague factory-farmed, grain-fed cattle. We give our cattle the best living conditions; you get the best beef.

About Karen Kuntz

Karen Kuntz has proudly called Oregon her home for all of her life. She was born and raised in the small community of Sand Lake, 15 miles southwest of Tillamook between Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda. As a child, her early memories include caring for, feeding, and milking cows on her family’s dairy farm, which produced milk for the Tillamook Creamery Association.

After graduating from Nestucca High School, she worked for the Mount Hebo Air Force Station and the United States Forest Service at Hebo, Oregon. Her marriage to Leo Kuntz in 1986 began a new career: managing her husband’s commercial fishing and marine construction business. This ultimately led her back to working with animals, the work she loved doing as a child. Starting with a small farm in the late 1980s, she and her husband gradually purchased adjoining lands to create the 150-acre Kuntz Family Farm. During this period of expansion, they improved the bloodlines and genetics of their livestock to develop the acclaimed Foley Peak Angus beef that consumers enjoy today.

Karen is well-versed in all aspects of raising beef cattle. In the early 2000s, she worked part time for the Oregon Department of Agriculture as a brand inspector. Brand inspectors protect Oregon’s livestock farmers against fraud by verifying legal ownership of livestock before beef is sold. This prevents the sale of lost, strayed, missing, or stolen cattle by unscrupulous dealers. This important work helped her forge close relationships with cattle farmers on the Oregon Coast that continue to this day.

In addition to ensuring that Foley Peak Angus produces the most tender and flavorful grass-fed beef, Karen frequently consults with other operators to help them upgrade their herds. Her long-term vision is to position Oregon Coast cattle as the best – and healthiest – beef available. Having grown up and lived on the Oregon Coast, Karen is also strongly committed to responsible stewardship of the environment. “This area is not just my home, it’s my life,” Karen says. “The farming community is a vital part of the local economy, and I want to see that economy grow and prosper in ways that complement our diversity of wildlife: feather, fur, and fin.”

Not surprisingly, Karen and her husband are avid outdoor recreationists. In their spare time, they enjoy horseback riding, clam digging, beekeeping, and hiking with their three dogs.

Better for you and the environment

Raising animals on pasture has many benefits. According to studies by the University of Wisconsin (see link on our home page), healthy pastures reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, increase plant diversity, and provide high-quality wildlife habitat.

A pasture-based diet also impacts the meat flavor. Grass feeding changes the fatty acid content of meats, which are often described as more intensely flavored. Because our animals are raised and processed locally, they do not suffer the stresses of a long journey to the meat-packing plant. Stress causes cattle to release hormones that alter their meat and cause it to be less tender.

Studies have shown that, in addition to higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids, grass-fed meat contains more of vitamins A and E, as well as conjugated lineolic acids (CLA), all of which contribute to lower cholesterol, healthier blood pressure, and a decreased risk of diabetes and cancer.