Can you guess what our biggest expense on the farm is?
It turns out, it’s not the mortgage for the land or a loan for some big fancy piece of equipment that needs repaying.
Nope, the biggest expense we have year after year is the grains that we purchase – think little seeds of barley, wheat, and triticale that are ground up and mixed together in just the right combination for the animals to enjoy each day.
If you’re sitting there wondering why we don’t try to cut a few corners and grow the grains ourselves, you’re not alone. We’ve pondered the same question, and the short answer here is two-pronged.
First, we don’t have enough land to grow field crops. We’ve got exactly 56 acres to work with, and we’re already using almost every last inch of it for grazing purposes.
Second, we don’t have the right-sized equipment to grow field crops. Case in point? A combine tractor (this is the machine that farmers use to harvest grain!) is about 4x the size of ours and at least 4x the price, too.
The silver lining with all this, though, is that we’re incredibly lucky to be living and farming in such close proximity to the FLX region, where some of the country’s best organic grain farmers are located, not to mention a fantastic mill that grinds it all up for us.
At the end of the day, buying in all this amazing, clean, organic grain from local NYS farmers is a total WIN! In doing so, we’re investing in the animals’ health, in our health, and most importantly, in your health, too.
There couldn’t be a more worthwhile investment than that!
Your Farmers,
Jenney & Greg
PS – Wahoo! It’s another FRESH pork week, which means we’ve got a great selection of almost every cut at the Farm Store this weekend. Order ahead HERE or swing by on Sunday morning, and we’ll look forward to seeing you soon.