Rollins rancher breeding super-lean 'buff beef'

Most everyone in America has a dream.

For men like Rollins resident Ed Jonas, that dream is to make a difference. Little did he know as a young man that breeding what may be the leanest, healthiest beef on the planet would become his means to fulfilling that dream.

When Jonas was young, he aspired to be a doctor, because he wanted to help people, but was discouraged from doing so when his own doctor informed him that people care more about their money than they do about their health. Consequently, he spent more years than he likes to remember in a career that did not enable him to make the difference he always hoped he would make.

In 2001, he purchased a 43-acre ranch just west Rollins and said goodbye to his former life to concentrate on both what he loved and what he lived for.

It was there that Jonas' dream began to take shape, as he envisioned a breed of cattle that would produce meat that tastes delicious and is low in cholesterol, thus alleviating the concerns of so many doctors who discourage beef, especially for patients who are at a higher risk for heart disease.

To understand why this was so important, one must consider that Jonas suffered a severe spinal injury, in 1968, while serving in the armed forces. As a result, he spent the summer of 1969 in a body cast and then had to learn to walk again.

"Getting my health back and getting back into shape was very important to me, because I'd seen what happened to the people who weren't so lucky," Jonas said. "I made a concerted effort to rehabilitate myself and get back into shape and ended up being able to do 100 push-ups a year or two later.

"Every day, I cherish the fact that I can walk. I have highly valued my health and eat well, as if I had been given a second chance. Then, I watched my mom die of colon cancer and my father died two years after that, which made fitness and eating well all the more important to me. I cherish what God gave me and try to take good care of it."

That's why, after discarding a fat-laden chuck roast from his freezer when his sons came to visit him on the ranch, Jonas developed the idea of breeding leaner, healthier meat as a way of helping himself and helping all Americans to enjoy living a healthy lifestyle.

What makes his beef exceptional is has successfully bred a cross between Piedmontese and Scottish Highland cows, which he calls HighMont. The Piedmontese, which has a unique reputation for its lean meat and low cholesterol content, is known for its "double muscling," a quality that allows beef producers to get more meat out of their stock and produce a greater quantity of expensive cuts that are sought after by restaurants. However, what the Piedmontese lacks is the good fat that contributes to good health.

Omega 3 and Omega 6 are both fatty acids that-taken together-actually reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke and lower cholesterol, while helping to reduce symptoms of hypertension and other ailments. What's more, Omega 3 is essential component in protecting human cell membranes and boosting our immune system to protect against any number of illness, while Omega 6 is responsible for making our blood sticky so that it clots when there is an injury.

Thus, Jonas singled out Scottish Highlands, another breed known to yield low-fat, low cholesterol cuts, but also high in Omega 3 and Omega 6, to breed with the Piedmontese. The idea was to produce an even leaner and lower cholesterol meat that would also be high in Omega 3 and Omega 6-what Jonas calls "buff beef."

The Scottish Highlands also feature long, shaggy hair that enables them to stay warm in the winter without developing a thick layer of fat, common to cattle raised in colder climates like Montana. When bred with the Piedmontese, the resulting HighMont is able to stay lean all winter.

After three months of research, Jonas purchased one Scottish Highland bull at a Denver stock show and five Piedmontese cows that he brought in from Saskatchewan, in 2003. Jonas had his first HighMont, which he named Duke, butchered at 22-months of age, weighing 1,080 lbs., and the results were promising.

Warren Analytical Laboratories, in Greeley, Colo., tested 10 different cuts, which showed that the HighMont averaged just over 8 grams of fat, 2.38 grams of saturated fat and only 30 mg of cholesterol per 100 grams (3.5 oz.) of beef. Beef typically averages about 287 calories, 212 fat calories, 23.56 total grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat and 70 mg of cholesterol.

Experts agreed that the 30mg of cholesterol showed a great deal of protential-less than half of what most beef contains. Even so, Jonas and his partner at Blacktail Ranch, Connie Roberts, have been working diligently to bring those numbers down even lower.

When comparing Jonas' beef to other cattle, the HighMont typically boasts a scanty eighth-inch layer of fat, whereas most other cattle have about a half-inch layer of fat. That equates to about one third of the calories contained in typical beef, not to mention a cholesterol level that is significantly lower than chicken (70 mg), turkey (73 mg), salmon (52 mg) and even swordfish (39 mg).

Jonas and Roberts are currently breeding a HighMont bull to Piedmontese cows, in the hope that the result will yield an even leaner beef with less saturated fat. But breeding isn't the only way they are seeking to achieve healthier meat.

Blacktail Mountain Ranch cattle are fed an all-natural, protein-rich diet that Jonas calls "the Atkins diet for cattle." In addition to being grass-fed, Jonas feeds his cattle flax meal, Provena oats and essential minerals to improve both the health benefits and taste of the meat.

"We make everything from scratch, and everything we do is organic," Jonas said. "Connie makes homemade bread and granola. She even makes spaghetti sauce and salsa from tomatoes she grows her her own garden. We feed our chickens organically and produce our own eggs. This is something we believe in."

That makes Jonas' HighMont beef more than just an enterprise. To Jonas and Roberts, it is a passion.

"That's why I produce this beef, because I'm looking out for people's health," he said. "The people that I love eat this beef. We care about our family and our health, and we care about other people's families and their health. People sometimes forget that ranchers feed America, and the ones who care about the quality of what they produce-who are producing organic, all-natural, healthy food-need the support of the American people. People need to support the people who care about their families are trying to help them live longer."

Jonas' herd has now reached 105 animals, but his dream is to have a much larger operation with 500 to 1000 head of cattle. Already, there is a three-month waiting list for the HighMont beef, and-according to numerous beef experts-Jonas is the only one who has it.

He concedes that it is more costly than typical beef-about $6 per pound for hamburger and $16 for ribeye-because of what he feeds his livestock. But that, he adds, is still significantly less expensive than what most producers of lean beef charge, with the added assurance that no antibiotics or hormone-altering chemicals have been used on the cattle and that you can actually taste the quality of their diet.

"It sometimes costs more for good health," he said. "We're willing to pay top-dollar for other things, but what value do we place on our own health? These bodies have to last us a lifetime, and if we can make them last a few years-or ten years or even twenty years-longer because we make a conscious choice to eat healthier, isn't that worth it?"