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The Farms

It has been 10 years now since we started our farming and boy has it changed. We started with mostly vegetables, raising about 60 varieties of produce from carrots to winter squash…it was a lot of labor hours and when there are just 2 of us, finding others to help (which requires payment and lots of interest) became a challenge. We did do a few beef and some chickens and sold them from the farm.

So here we are now…we did a full circle…now we raise several varieties of potatoes and have expanded beef, pork, chicken, turkey, veal and lamb which we sell direct through our farmers’ markets and restaurants in Madison. We still have to hire a few people to help us but we have been lucky and found a few people that really have the interest and character it takes to work on a farm.

We partnered with another farmer last year, Matthew Walter, from the Darlington area and it has been a very positive addition. We share production labor, land, and knowledge which results in higher quality and consistent meats. You can read more about all of this came to be under Partnership.

This year we will be raising 6000 meat chickens, 160 turkeys, 50-55 beeves, 100 lambs, a few veal and 250 hogs. We are still as busy as ever but we enjoy raising animals much better than raising produce and have fine tuned our end product which has resulted in very high quality meats. We 100% grass feed our lamb and beef - NO GRAIN FINISHING AT ALL. This year we had a tremendous lamb crop and are very exciting about the fall when we can harvest them and supply our customers with this wonderful tasting meat.

Our hogs are raised on pasture and deep bedded hoop houses so they can root around naturally and enjoy fresh air and sunshine. Although we did raise them on pasture soley, we are raising them year round so and need the hoop house buildings to do so. We allow them to mature into larger animals than commercial hogs as we believe that is where the added flavor comes along with the great genetics including Hampshire, Berkshire and Duroc that Matt has worked on for so many years.

This is our 2nd year using a different broiler chicken which we get when they are a day old from Massachusetts. They are a stronger breed with a richer tasting and better textured meat. We don’t have the health issues like we did when using the Cornish rock cross and these birds do a lot more harvesting for themselves and don’t just hang out at the feeders.

This year will be only be doing the white broadbreasted turkeys because the heritage birds are very time consuming, especially when they are pastured raised. They can fly…and can never seem to find they way back to their shelter without us corralling them many times per day. Too much time and patience is spent which became very frustrating. We know that some other farmers cut their wings and/or net their pens so they are not allowed to move to different paddocks, therefore are they truly pastured? Anyway, we are going to try it this year with just the one variety which does offer a fantastic Thanksgiving and Christmas bird.

Veal – rose veal is what the French and Italians refer to it as the calves are left with their mothers to nurse when they like and are on pasture getting the grasses/legumes with high Omegas, Vitamin D, fresh air and sunshine. We just started doing this last year and have had wonderful feedback. It is truly a taste that you won’t forget. Although some people have an issue with the concept, we can’t keep all of the animals, especially jersey bull calves, and have to realize that this is a business as well. We are hoping to be able to offer veal throughout the year starting from May depending on each calving season.

So although we have changed from our starting goals, we have achieved new ones and found our niche while benefiting two farms and making them sustainable. Who knows what the next 10 years will bring but we not expect too many drastic changes. Thank you to all who have supported us in the past and continue to do so…obviously, we could not be doing what we do without your presence.