We use the advantages that nature provides whenever possible. What this looks like for us is having baby animals due in the spring so that the mothers can support their nutrition needs with the nutrient dense spring grass. Simultaneously, offspring can have the advantage of mild spring weather followed by the warm summer to build up bulk in preparation for winter. We are working to develop silvopasture (pastureland within trees) since trees provide shade and shelter for animals while also helping to bring minerals and other nutrients down into the soil to feed to the plants, and ultimately the animals.

Whenever possible, we use animals to help us make changes and improvements to our land. Goats help with invasive species management and hedge control. Pigs help with tilling and reseeding when necessary. Grazing animals managed appropriately keep pastures from becoming overly mature. At times, clipping the pastures with a tractor and mower is needed to keep something really unfavorable (like goldenrod) from taking over or a chainsaw can be a huge help to cut back invasive species that got ahead of the goats. But by minimizing these tools we not only allow animals to meet their own nutrition and behavioral needs, but we minimize the need to burn fuel and run expensive equipment.

Moving animals to new pastures daily serves so many functions. By grazing plants to the appropriate height, we keep them in an efficient growth state which captures the most carbon from the atmosphere. Moving animals across the pastures in this way also increases the organic matter of the soil (feeds the microbes and increases the soils ability to hold water and be drought resistant) and adds fertilizer from manure more evenly across the pasture. And of course, consuming freshly grown pasture daily provide the animals with a nutrient dense diet.

All of these practices described help us to provide the animals with the unique blend of protein, energy, vitamins and minerals needed for them to thrive. We want our animals to live as undisturbed of a life as possible which means that they need to remain healthy, so that we do not need to intervene in their life. We believe firmly that you are what you eat and we want our customers to be consuming healthy meats that came from healthy animals that were consuming healthy fodder from healthy soils.

After putting so much energy and effort into providing animals with a healthy and humane life where they have the freedom to meet their innate needs and desires, it is only natural that we would put the same intention into their death. By slaughtering the animals on farm, our animals avoid the stress and upheaval associated with a trailer ride to a slaughterhouse.