What is Pasture Farming?
Pasture-based livestock farming and production differs from recent more common methods in at least two key ways: where the animals live and what they eat.
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, pastured animals can live outdoors for three seasons. Spending most of their time outdoors allows animals to exercise and satisfy basic instincts like cattle roaming in flocks, hogs rooting, and chicken pecking and scratching. They are free to go in and out of shade and shelter like barns and tree lines. The farmers take great care to not stress the animals when we rotate animals from one area to another. Allowing the animals to graze and not burdening them during routine farm chores creates a humane environment for all the livestock.
These livestock animals evolved naturally to eat grass, forage (plant material eaten by grazing livestock), and not much else. Feeding them a diet rich in grains can upset their stomachs and cause them to be ill and stressed. We feed our cattle a little bit of non-GMO grain as a dessert, other than that the cattle graze on grass and eat haylage in the barn (from our fields) in the winter.
Our chickens are rotated onto the pasture that the cattle just left. They eat and graze on all the turned up grass, insects and manure. This leads to cow manure distribution and insect control, They are strengthened and naturally nourished from the flys, larva, beetles, and bugs they find. The chicken are also given supplemental organic, non-GMO, grain feed.
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, pastured animals can live outdoors for three seasons. Spending most of their time outdoors allows animals to exercise and satisfy basic instincts like cattle roaming in flocks, hogs rooting, and chicken pecking and scratching. They are free to go in and out of shade and shelter like barns and tree lines. The farmers take great care to not stress the animals when we rotate animals from one area to another. Allowing the animals to graze and not burdening them during routine farm chores creates a humane environment for all the livestock.
These livestock animals evolved naturally to eat grass, forage (plant material eaten by grazing livestock), and not much else. Feeding them a diet rich in grains can upset their stomachs and cause them to be ill and stressed. We feed our cattle a little bit of non-GMO grain as a dessert, other than that the cattle graze on grass and eat haylage in the barn (from our fields) in the winter.
Our chickens are rotated onto the pasture that the cattle just left. They eat and graze on all the turned up grass, insects and manure. This leads to cow manure distribution and insect control, They are strengthened and naturally nourished from the flys, larva, beetles, and bugs they find. The chicken are also given supplemental organic, non-GMO, grain feed.
What is Natural Meat?
Here’s what we mean when we say we raise natural meats:
1. Our animals live close to how they would if they were on their own — though perhaps a bit more comfortably since we provide shelter, food, and clean water. They go indoors and out on their own. The only time they are confined indoors is when mothers are about to have babies during inclement weather. In those cases, they are exclusively indoors during the week or so before delivery and a few weeks after.
2. Our animals are fed a natural pasture-based diet. They eat grass for at least three seasons and, in winter, as the grass dies back they are fed dried grasses such as hay. We raise our own hay and haylage, and don’t use chemical fertilizers and pesticides in our fields.
3. Our cows are grass fed, meaning they eat grass in the pasture in the growing seasons and hay in the winter.
4. All our animals are raised on pasture and eat some grass, but chickens and pigs are not ruminants and need some grain in their diets. They are never fed GMO grains.
5. We don’t use prophylactic medications. On the rare occasions when it’s called for, we will treat an animal that is ill with antibiotic or other appropriate medications. We don’t think it’s humane to let them suffer or die from a treatable illness. Animals who have received this kind of treatment will NOT be sold as natural meat.
6. We never use farrowing crates.
7. We don’t use cattle prods or machinery to move our animals. Instead, we follow humane livestock handling guidelines created by Temple Grandin to use the animals’ natural routines and tendencies to move them from place to place without stress.
We follow organic principles in our production. We are not certified organic. Becoming certified is a burdensome process, and it adds considerable cost without (we believe) adding additional value to the way we do things and to our products. We are proud of all we do and will be happy to show you around.
1. Our animals live close to how they would if they were on their own — though perhaps a bit more comfortably since we provide shelter, food, and clean water. They go indoors and out on their own. The only time they are confined indoors is when mothers are about to have babies during inclement weather. In those cases, they are exclusively indoors during the week or so before delivery and a few weeks after.
2. Our animals are fed a natural pasture-based diet. They eat grass for at least three seasons and, in winter, as the grass dies back they are fed dried grasses such as hay. We raise our own hay and haylage, and don’t use chemical fertilizers and pesticides in our fields.
3. Our cows are grass fed, meaning they eat grass in the pasture in the growing seasons and hay in the winter.
4. All our animals are raised on pasture and eat some grass, but chickens and pigs are not ruminants and need some grain in their diets. They are never fed GMO grains.
5. We don’t use prophylactic medications. On the rare occasions when it’s called for, we will treat an animal that is ill with antibiotic or other appropriate medications. We don’t think it’s humane to let them suffer or die from a treatable illness. Animals who have received this kind of treatment will NOT be sold as natural meat.
6. We never use farrowing crates.
7. We don’t use cattle prods or machinery to move our animals. Instead, we follow humane livestock handling guidelines created by Temple Grandin to use the animals’ natural routines and tendencies to move them from place to place without stress.
We follow organic principles in our production. We are not certified organic. Becoming certified is a burdensome process, and it adds considerable cost without (we believe) adding additional value to the way we do things and to our products. We are proud of all we do and will be happy to show you around.