No antibiotics, additives, or pesticides are used on our animals.

No synthetic fertilizers or pesticides are used on our pastures.

Our beef is 100% grass fed and grass finished.

Our free ranging chickens are raised on pasture in the sunshine.

Our pastured pork is from animals constantly given fresh pasture.

The Grass-Fed Beef Difference

Nearly all the beef sold in the U.S., even in health food stores, comes from animals that have been fed large amounts of grain.  Typically, animals in this country are fattened (“finished”) for the last 6 months of their lives not on grass at all but on corn and agricultural byproducts.

Ruminants like cattle are not designed to eat grain, but rather grass and other plants.  Cattle have a complex digestive system that allows them to eat grass and pasture plants, which grow without complicated processing.  Grain feeding results in cattle with less healthful meat, with high levels of omega 6 fats, and low levels of healthful omega 3 fatty acid.  (Omega 3 oils are what make fish a healthful food.)

100% grass feeding (and grass finishing) produces meat with much higher levels of omega 3 and lower levels of omega 6 fats.  Instead of eating commercial beef that is 10-30% fat with a 10:1 or 20:1 ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fat, grass-fed beef is more typically 2-3% fat, 1/3 or more of which is healthful omega 3.

Furthermore, grass farming is better for the environment.  Grass farming requires much less diesel fuel because animal feeds do not have to be raised, harvested, processed, and shipped, chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides are not required on the farms, and unlike feedlot animals, there is no need to use drugs or antibiotics to keep animals healthy while being fed unhealthful foods in crowded conditions.  Typical U.S. beef farming requires 1 1/2 gallons of fuel to produce one pound of hamburger.  Our animals are born on our farm, live on our pastures for their whole lives without fossil fuel inputs such as fertilizers or feeds, and are processed locally.  We estimate we can produce about 40 lbs. of beef with one gallon of fuel.

Grass farming recreates the way cattle are designed to live and eat, ranging, foraging, and walking over acres of grassland instead of surviving on a crowded concrete lot eating corn, chicken wastes, surplus chewing gum, indeed anything fattening except other cattle (and that was only a recent change to reduce the risk of mad cow disease).

Pork

We raise Tamworth, Berkshire and Mulefoot pigs, heritage breeds that are not used in large-scale pork farming.  Heritage breeds enjoy foraging and pasturing and do not adapt well to the confinement life of commercially raised animals.  They are very social and enjoy human contact.  We frequently see them romping and playing in the grass, an unusual sight even for people familiar with other breeds.  In addition to their suitability to pasture and forage farming, outdoor-raised heritage pork possesses an exceptional flavor and quality that is appreciated by chefs and discerning diners alike.

We raise a small number of animals at a time on pasture supplemented with feed and essential minerals.  They have constant access to shade, shelter, and water.

Chicken

We use many breeds of chickens, for meat, eggs, and as pasture assistants. The most common chicken used for meat is the Cornish Rock cross.  The Cornish Rock is preferred in industry because it is one of the heaviest breeds.  However, unlike in commercial industry, we raise our birds in the sunshine on pasture.  This allows us to grow them slower with less added feed so that the birds are not only healthier and happier, but also produce markedly more flavorful meat.  Cornish Rocks do not roost like most other chickens because of their weight, so our flocks live on grass inside predator-proof shelters with spring water and shade.  These shelters are moved daily to give the birds fresh grass and bugs, and also to spread their droppings across our pasture to fertilize it naturally without causing the nitrogen runoff that occurs with mechanical fertilization.

In the fall we raise a small number of heritage breed turkeys for the Holiday season. Unlike the fast-growing cross breeds used for all commercially-raised turkeys, heritage breeds can  be allowed to roam freely in flocks to forage for food and will fly into trees for safety at night. They are quite social and friendly, and will follow people, and sometimes even our dogs, around the farm.