Raising Black Angus Beef for Conscientious Consumers: It's a Family Affair
(from an article by Mxolisi T. Sowell appearing in the “Visions & Victories” newsletter, May 2010)
The first time I saw Harry Marshall, Sr. driving that Springview Farms pickup truck,
I thought he might have been a foreman or superintendent for someone’s agricultural enterprise. And I was right . . . sort of. This thrice-retired senior (U.S. Army colonel, civil service personnel administrator, real estate broker) is co-owner and operator of Springview Farms, which specializes in the raising of clean, lean, tasty, natural Black Angus beef for consumers who are concerned about dietary and environmental healthiness.
His partner is also named Harry. It’s his son – Dr. Harry Marshall, Jr., M.D. – who is known in the family as “Mike” (because his mother wanted to eliminate the confusion of having two Harry’s in the household). Dr. Marshall is a trauma room surgeon and university professor. Additionally, as a dedicated member of the U.S. Army Reserves, he is called on to take his medical and professorial skills to various locales around the world. In his “spare time” he is the driving force for the Springview Farms enterprise. Of his schedule, Harry Jr. says, “It gets crazy sometimes, but it’s rewarding.”
Springview Farms can be viewed as an evolutionary development in the more than 100-year tradition of farming in the Marshall family, which has included the raising of a variety of farm products -- tobacco, beef, pork and chicken and more -- for the survival and well-being of the Marshall family as well as for the central Virginia consumer market.
The Springview evolution, with its “All Natural” approach to producing top-quality Black Angus beef, is driven by the transformation of Mike’s boyhood dreams of a professional sports career, which his teen-age physical prowess promised, to the realities of the medical career that his school boy interests and strengths in science and medicine gave foundation (along with the less than subtle influence/intervention of his visionary parents).
As a physician-farmer, Dr. Marshall is keenly aware and concerned about the health factors in U.S. food production and delivery practices. Springview Farms Black Angus beef production is rooted in that awareness and concern. It serves to continue the Marshall family tradition of food production for family and community with locally-grown beef which is free of hormones and antibiotics, and certifiably tasty to the Nth degree, through farming practices that do not pollute the land and environment.
The Black Angus stock is pampered and prepared for their destiny on the Springview Farms acres, located off route 307 in Jetersville (Amelia County), VA, where Harry Sr. rises early to attend to their daily nutritional needs. He says, jokingly, that their diet of specially selected grasses and grains is better than his own diet. When the time is right, the stock is sent for processing at a USDA certified plant, where an on-site veterinarian oversees the operation.
Springview Farms currently has a small but growing clientele who get first-class, personal service from Harry Sr. The processed beef is stored in Springview’s walk-in freezer, located on Toggle Road in near-by Farmville, where the Marshall’s plan to have their first retail outlet in the near future, and feature a variety of organically-grown food products by local producers. For the present time, if you are interested in placing an order with Springview Farms, you can call Harry Sr. at 434-390-7661.
