Gangly sandhill cranes lounged across the fence from Red Angus bulls as Jim Phillips drove his pickup past. The bulls in turn loafed in a Blackfoot Valley backdrop breathtaking even on a still-frozen and brown April day.
In a land with ranching roots that date back to the 1860s, Phillips is manager of an operation that rides the wave, indeed plows the furrows, of America's infatuation with “natural beef” - a somewhat slippery term that has come to signify a niche haven in the whirl of mad cow and E. coli that bedevil the beef industry.
The 23,000-acre ranch Phillips runs is among the largest of 200 to 250 suppliers to Meyer Natural Angus http://www.meyernaturalangus.com/ of Loveland, Colo., a company that will command well over half the natural beef market in the United States this year.
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian
Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2008/04/13/news/top/news01.txt