Life at Stonecrop Farm in the height of the summertime is filled to the brim with activity. This time of year, you can find us feeding and watering animals, tending to our ginger/turmeric plants, helping ensure our pigs are breeding well, processing poultry and restocking freezers for the market or the farm store. One important farm activity that is often overlooked but is so very important to the high quality meat we produce is our pasture rotations.
Many new customers will ask us if our animals are pasture-raised. We love this question because we have the best answer: YES! Unlike many other farms that raise meat indoors in stinky barns or keep their animals in stationary pens outside, we know that in order to ensure our customers get the highest quality meat, our animals need fresh ground to forage for bugs, grass, and clover. They need space to explore, exercise, and use their muscles.
So, the most time intensive activity we do these days on the farm is move animals. For example, our broilers (those tasty chickens you buy for roasting or for grilling parts) get moved onto new pasture every day. The laying hens that produce those bright rich egg yolks are moved at least every week. Our feeder pigs (a herd of over 20 pigs of varying ages) also get moved every week or two. I could go on…
Moving animals is a skill that we have refined over the years. Sometimes the animals move easily like our flock of ducks did earlier this week (see the video below) Other times we have a sly pig that prefers to stay under it’s favorite tree and just won’t move despite our offering of food bribes.
Despite the challenges, we love working with our animals and providing them with the best life possible. This, in turn, enables us to provide YOU with the highest quality meat possible.
Thanks for all that you do to support our business,
All the best,
Jenney & Greg