Our Pasture-raised (Meat) Chickens

Our chicks arrive through the mail 1-2 days after hatching. We raise them in a secure brooder on peat moss until they grow their adult feathers and can withstand the temperature fluctuations of the outdoors. After about three weeks in the brooder, the broilers go out onto pasture, where they will spend the remainder of their lives in one of our two “range coops”–large, mobile greenhouses. We move our range coops to a fresh piece of pasture every day at dawn, when the birds are most active. They chow down on plants, bugs, and any worms they can scratch up. Our chickens receive a fresh, local non-GMO ration to supplement their grazing.  

We are licensed and inspected by the Maryland Department of Agriculture for on-farm poultry processing.  Processing our chickens ourselves on our farm not only eliminates the stress of long distance transportation for the birds, but also allows us to oversee quality from the first to the last.  

Our Free-ranging Laying Hens

In the spring, summer, and fall, we manage our laying hens with portable electric netting that we move  every week, in order to maximize their consumption of pasture. The laying hens and the steers are the only animals we keep all year long. In the coldest months of the year we move our hens into a (parked) range coop, in one of our pastures. We give them a deep bedding of wood chips, to absorb the nutrients of their manure, as well as to allow them to dust bathe and dig as is their instinct.  We think that pasturing and rotating them in the winter would be counterproductive because: 1) the soil biota, which normally incorporate manure, are dormant, 2) there isn’t much in the way of grass or bugs to eat anyway, and 3) it’s cold out there! We feed the hens as much fresh, green matter as we can, but their intake of it is still much less than in the spring, summer, and fall. However, they remain free to express their natural behaviors of running around and scratching for things I can’t see.  

Our Pastured Pigs

We primarily source our feeder pigs from Ernst Farm. Their breeding and management practices have led to pigs better suited to pasture than conventional pigs would be. Additionally, as Ernst grows and mills all of our non-GMO feeds, our piglets are getting their high quality, antibiotic and hormone-free feed from day one. Having been weaned from their mothers, the piglets arrive at our farm, where we first train them to electric fencing.  So schooled, they move out onto our pasture.  We move their paddock every four to seven days so that their natural rooting behavior encourages desirable plant growth, rather than leaving the area stripped barren.  

Our 100% Grass-Fed Steers

We purchase weaned steers from our friends at Spring Pastures Farm, which has been breeding and raising 100% grass-fed Rotokawa Devons for many years.  Over the course of about 12 months, we then raise the steers to a market weight.  We rotate our steers onto fresh grass every few days in the summer and we give them access to stockpiled forage grass and hay in the winter.  They always have access to a free choice mineral blend.  Our processor hangs our beef for a minimum of two weeks, which ensures tenderness and flavor.

Our Thanksgiving Turkeys

Our turkeys spend the first quarter of their lives alongside our chickens in our brooder and then on pasture in one of our mobile range coops. As the chicken season ends, and the turkeys take over the coop, the range coop provides excellent shelter from November's variable weather while still providing them with fresh air and fresh food after each morning’s move.  Turkeys are eager foragers, and they love nothing better than stalking bugs in the grass.  

We process our turkeys fresh the Friday before Thanksgiving, but we advise customers to reserve their turkey in advance, as we allocate the turkeys on a first-come first-served basis.