Livestock

Birds, Bees, Bovines, and Sheep

I've never been much of an "animal person", so it may seem a bit strange that I've committed to a lifestyle that relies so intrinsically upon them. Whether they roam our land or their nutritive products are purchased from neighbors, livestock play an invaluable part on our homestead.  The lamb flock, the hogs, the herd of cattle, the donkey, the guard dogs, the chickens, and the farm dog Lou – I’d miss any one of them if they were absent from the land.  The milk cow and bee colony of our neighbors would be sorely missed if we didn’t have their rich raw milk and heavenly honey in our kitchen.  The fact that animals make good companions and can teach us a great deal goes without saying, but our homestead also depends on them philosophically, ecologically, and financially.  I've grown to appreciate and enjoy this part of our life...though, not-so-secretly, I'm in it for the food!

Our philosophy is simple:

We aspire to raise animals holistically, as nature intended: as natural a habitat as possible (pastures or woods, not barns); frequent moves; lots of rest for the land; bio-diversity; natural feed ingredients; and no routine medicines or wormers.

When I was growing up my family’s menagerie of indoor and outdoor pets meant daily chores and cleaning up after them in the house.  I admit the experience was worthwhile for a young person, but it became far less appealing the older I became.  Fido and Polly simply didn't do it for me.  In my mid-twenties when I began delving into a simpler lifestyle, I knew I wanted to live my life in conjunction with the land.  My decision to focus on the soil-to-table continuum meant that the animals in my surroundings would be the linchpin to balanced soil and a balanced diet.  It just so happened that about the same time I was developing my homestead dreams, I met and fell in love with a man that had a similar plan.  His plan had led him away from the corporate world back to his childhood community and his family’s farmland.  His plan also materialized into a large herd of cattle, several pastured pigs, thousands of meat chickens, and a massive flock of laying hens.  He created a grass-based, regenerative farm business selling retail meat.  

After we married and I became absorbed in the rhythm of the farm, it became more and more obvious to me that these animals were quite different from those in my childhood.  These animals had a complex purpose.  We functioned symbiotically.  They were our means to bolster the local economy and support the local food movement. We relied upon them for building soil, sequestering carbon, keeping weeds at bay, breeding healthy vibrant babies, and providing a gourmet-quality product full of vital nutrition for us and our customers.  Conversely, the livestock relied on us to foster their species' natural abilities and instincts, to provide their basic needs in a means as similar as possible to what nature intended, and to respect them in life and in death with utmost appreciation.  So with some years under my belt on the farm, now I've changed my mind...I am a sort of animal person!

In a difficult but necessary turn of events, we closed our retail farm business in 2012.  During its retail run, Emerald Glen Farm was home to hundreds of hogs, over ten thousand meat chickens, a hundred or more beef cattle, nearly a thousand laying hens, a few dozen heritage turkeys, and a couple hundred hair sheep.  Today, our focus has turned inward to our personal homestead, health, and family.  Cattle and sheep still graze the pastures, chickens and dogs still dot the landscape.  Four years racing up the bell-curve taught us a lot about animal husbandry, environmental impact, and pasture/woods management. While our scale is much smaller without the retail component to accommodate, we use the same principles and valuable lessons to manage the land and livestock holistically.  This new direction has given us the priceless opportunity to hone our homestead skills and work as a multi-generational extended family unit. 

If you're an animal lover, a concerned consumer, or brandishing the drill on your chicken coop as you read, there's a host of factors to consider when it comes to raising animals for food.  I've included a handy list of resources on the "Library Essentials" page.  Because we are what we eat and so are our animals, below are a few basics to keep in mind whether you're raising animals yourself or finding a farmer that suits your needs:

Ruminant Herbivores (Cattle, Sheep, Goats, etc.) are biologically designed to eat grass and weeds, not corn or grains.  Corn and grain chemically alter the rumen resulting in health issues for the animal AND the human higher up the food chain.  In contrast, meat and raw dairy from all-grass ruminants contain healthy levels of good cholesterol, Omega-3 fatty acids, and an extensive list of vitamins and minerals.  Organ meats and broths from these animals contain essential minerals and enzymes that humans cannot absorb from plants or other meat sources.    

Omnivores (Chickens, Turkeys, Hogs, etc.) need a variety in their diet that includes forage, grains, and meat protein (i.e. bugs/grubs/kitchen scraps).  An imbalanced diet without fresh forage or with high levels of corn/grains will result in health issues for the animal AND the human higher up the food chain.  Eggs from rotationally-grazed, pastured hens will contain excellent beta-carotene levels and healthy quantities of vitamins A, D, and E.  Pastured poultry and hog meat readily reflects the health content of the animals' feed, so a vitamin-rich variety of feed will yield the highest quality, nutrient-dense meat.  Again, the bad rap of pork or the cholesterol in eggs is the result of the animals being fed the wrong things and living in the wrong environment.

Carnivores (Dogs & Cats) should eat mostly meat, fats, & bones...fed raw from clean sources is actually best.  On our farm Jack, Jill, and Lou are great at keeping pests and animal intruders away, so we want them functioning at their best! We do what we can to add raw meat and bones to their diet regularly. No matter what the TV commercials portray, it is the nature of dogs and cats to eat meat, not grains and corn. If you check most pet food labels the first ingredient will be corn...not good.  Grain-based diets for these animals have long been linked to cancer, bone and organ disease, and a host of painful allergies.  Sorry, Fido, we've had it all wrong!