We build up the minerals in our soil and the brix (a measure of quality sugars and minerals) of our plants,
by turn-in green mature crops
and leaving livestock manures in the pastures. The organic materials
work their magic on the soil by building the micro-flora and other beneficials, such as earthworms, which allow
healthy plants to grow and thrive.
Healthy plants (from healthy soils) naturally resist pests and disease without the use of chemicals.
So, pest and disease problems are an indicator of an unhealthy plant and unhealthy soil. At Meadow
Haven Farm, we watch for pests and diseases.
By ordering periodic soil testing and continually taking steps to re-mineralize the soil
to its most nutrient-dense state, we are able to create a healthy and happy farm.
We use cover crops extensively: not letting good soil drift away in the winter winds,
and working to promote good microbiology even in
the colder parts of the year.
By raise a variety of crops in our pastures, we are able to provide the
livestock with specific nutrients.
|
|
... a natural environment ...
|
We strive to raise the healthiest animal in the most natural environment,
providing the foods that nature intended them to eat. We believe in treating the animals
humanely and do not brand, de-tail, etc. We look to raise happy animals in the most natural
environment.
The animals we raise have more than mere access to the outside,
they live outside on pasture with access to shelter.
The variety of crops in our pastures provide the
livestock with specific nutrients. We also supplementing with Icelandic kelp,
pure Redmond's salt (a naturally mined salt rich in trace minerals),
diatomaceous earth, and Azomite (a mined natural mineral supplement)
which is highly beneficial to chickens, livestock and cropland.
Cattle
Our calves get Mom’s milk and quickly learn to graze the green growing grasses in our certified organic pastures.
We rotationally graze, which means we move the cattle to new pastures all the time.
And, we work to have stockpiled grasses through the summer, putting up our own hay for winter feed.
Pigs
Of any of our meats, people say they can most taste the flavor difference in the pork
from conventionally raised confinement meats.
We get our “feeder pigs” when they’re about 40-50 pounds, from an organic Amish farmer in the
hinterland of the hilly part of Iowa.
Brought home, they relish the freedom of a pasture lot of about 5-6 acres.
Pigs cannot sweat, so we give them a “wallow” and provide shade and plenty of water.
They are most active in early morning and evening and you can watch them play and run and gallop around the pasture.
Allan says they’re the smartest animals on the farm.
Chickens and Eggs
Our layers are a different kind of chicken than the broilers.
They’re fast, friendly and like light-weight boxers.
Beware the bug who wanders into their steely-eyed sight!
As pullets (young hens just beginning to lay), they lay smaller eggs with the brightest of golden yolks.
As they get older, their eggs get bigger.
Always out on pasture, they roam their large enclosed pen which gets moved to fresh pastures as they need it.
They usually lay in the morning, then spend the rest of their time hunting and grazing.
Friendly, they’ll hop up on your lap if you sit in amidst them.
We’ve had them walking up our leg to sit on our lap if we’re sitting in a chair and look us in the eye.
Our Broilers are shipped to us as day-old chicks through the mail. We run down to the post office to pick them up.
Bringing them back to the farm, they’re rushed to the warmed brooder,
an enclosed space that is warm and cozy and has warm water and feed for them.
Amazingly, they do incredibly well, better than any of us shipped overnight through the mail!
As they grow and begin to feather out, they’re given more space and don’t need the heat lamps so much.
After they fletch out their feathers, they are acclimatized to the outside and
eventually moved to a hut surrounded by “feather netting” a light-weight fence, electrified to keep out predators.
By that time, they’re really putting on weight. They move inside, under the shade of the hut, to outside, depending on weather and their whims,
eating the grasses and weeds and all the bugs they can catch.
|
|
|
