Our Animals on Pasture
Our animals play a key role in our whole farm system. We both started farming feeling that a farm is not a “farm” without animals! They provide essential fertility for our fields, build our soils and help increase our biodiversity. On our farm, we raise a small herd of Scottish Highland cattle for grass fed beef, Pastured heritage bred pigs , Pastured Organic Chickens and Turkeys. We feed them, and they feed us and our soils.
Our Practices:
Our mission is to increase the health and soil of our farm, while creating a nutrient dense product to share with you. Animals do this by sequestering carbon, building organic matter and stimulating healthy perennial grasses and forbs to grow on this land. Vegetables take a lot of minerals and nutrients to grow. There needs to be fertility to grow vegetables. And unless you are going to use a chemical fertilizer (not allowed in organic farming), you need animal manures and cover crops. We do buy in some manure, but we are working towards creating our own with rotating our animals on fallow land and creating compost (vegetable and manure). By rotating our animals on pasture, we are not only managing our land in a way that helps the soil, but it is also good for our animals. They always have fresh forage, grasses and for the non-ruminants they have fresh grass, grubs, and things to peck and eat away at. They stay clean and healthy with a diverse diet, clean environment and lots of healthy microbes.
The Meat:
Not that we need another reason to raise healthy animals on our farm besides building our soil and keeping our animals healthier and happier, but the meat quality is noticeably tastier and better for you when you intensively graze and pasture your animals. The Omega 3:6 ratio and CLA’s in our meats are higher due to a more diverse diet than your conventional corn fed animal. We do not have to give our animals antibiotics because their guts are healthy and therefore they do not get sick. We do not have to worm our animals due to them being rotated so frequently on our healthy pastures and having a strong and healthy immune system. Our meats have more flavor, no filler and no pesticide, hormone or antibiotic residue, something you cannot say about store bought meats- even organic meats.
BEEF
Our 100% Grass Fed, Grass Finished Scottish Highland beef cows are winter hardy, excellent mothers and have sweet temperaments. They are slow growing animals that eat shrubs, prickly ash and buckthorn like goats and have an excellent flavor! We intensively graze our cows, meaning we move them every 2-4 days onto fresh pasture, making sure not to overgraze.
Highland beef is known for being lower in fat and cholesterol than other beef while still being very tender and marbled. These pastured animals have a higher ratio of heart-healthy Omega 3:6 ratio as well as more conjugated linoleic acid, a type of fat may reduce heart disease and cancer risks.
Scottish Highland beef has a higher protein and iron content than other beef and is the beef of choice for the Queen of England!
PORK
Our hogs are fed organic non-GMO, corn and soy-free barley and pea mix and fed lots and lots of vegetables and pastured on cover crops. We do not have to give our pigs antibiotics, dewormer or hormones, thus making for a very clean and healthy meat. Our pigs are raised 100% on pasture and rotated frequently on cover crops and fallow vegetable fields. Due to their healthy lifestyle and diverse diet, our pork has higher Omega 3:6 ratios and is higher in CLA’s.
CHICKEN
Our chickens are raised on Certified Organic pasture and moved daily in order to maximize their intake of grubs, roots and grasses as well as spread out the manure they produce to increase fertility on our fields. It’s a win-win! Our birds are not fed any corn or soy and are fed an Organic barley and pea ration. Our chickens grow a little slower due to their free-range life and no corn intake so they are butchered at about 11 weeks. Our chickens are about 4-5 lbs at butcher. We sell cut-ups in our online store as well as whole birds, feet and backs.
TURKEY
Our turkeys are raised on pasture, moved twice daily to maximize their pasture and fed a Certified Organic grain ration. They are lovely to work with and the kids help with chores daily! We would love to raise your Thanksgiving turkey! Pre-Sale sign ups will begin in June in our online store!