Tag Archives: soy-free

pigs

Here piggie, piggie

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Next weekend, we will be adding 2 pigs to the farm!  These pigs will be raised on organic, GMO free, soy free grain, fresh fruits, and goat milk (the goats are also eating organic, GMO free, soy free grain).  We can not guarantee the hay for the goats and pigs is organic, however, we can ensure the meat will be raised soy free from the time it comes to our farm.

If you are interested in buying some local pork, keep reading!

The pigs will be about 2 months old when they arrive.  We plan to raise them to about 6 months old, which means they will go to butcher in January.  Based on the results from another nearby farm who raised pigs on the same grain and milk diet, the pigs should be around 300lbs live weight at 6months old. It is possible for us to take a pig to slaughter earlier if desired.

Instead of re-typing, (or copying) what I have found about how much a pig will yield, I will let you read one of the better write-ups about yield: http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2006/07/04/what-is-a-half-pig-share/.

There are only 2 pigs.  We will not be selling cuts, only a whole or half pig.  Our pricing will be $5/lb hanging weight (without the head) for a half-pig and $4.75/lb for a whole pig.  We will be keeping at least half a pig for our family.  Buyers pay the slaughter and butcher fees directly to the butcher when you pick up your meat.  We will likely use a local butcher in Preston CT.  The slaughter charge is expected to be $75/pig and $1.30/lb hanging weight for butcher fees (please note, these prices are estimates).

If you would like to reserve a half or whole, email me and then send us your deposit.  A deposit of $150/half or $200/whole is required to hold your pig.  A second payment of the same amount is due on November 1st, and the final balance will be due when the pig is slaughtered.

Stay tuned for pictures in about a week!

chicken, goats, horse, rabbit

Countryside Organics feed

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Imagine you walk out to feed your chickens and spill some of the chicken feed on the ground in an area where the chickens can’t get to it.  If you came back a few weeks later, what would you expect to find?  Well, if it was commercial feed, you would probably find a pile of moldy feed.  What you wouldn’t find, is sprouts.  Just like the potatoes you bought in the grocery store – when was the last time you had to remove a sprout?  More and more chemicals are being used on the foods we eat, and on the foods we feed our animals.  Soy is cheap and has become a MAJOR component in animal feeds.  One REALLY big problem with that is almost all of the soy grown in the US today is GMO soy.

For quite a while, this topic has concerned us.  The problem is, commercial feed is cheap, and organic, GMO free, soy free feed is NOT cheap.   However, we have decided the time has come to shift our farm to a product line that is GMO free, Soy free, and organic.  We have chosen Countryside Organics because they offer feed varieties for all the animal types we currently have on the farm (and are considering in the future).  The down side is cost.  Our rabbit feed will be more than 2x as expensive.  The chicken and goat feed will be about 80% more.  However, in gathering info, another farm told us that their goats consumed about 3o% less feed and produced more milk on the Countryside product.

Since we know others in the area may also be interested in some of the products, we are starting a co-op.   There are no resellers nearby, so we will be buying a full pallet at a time and having it shipped from VA (that’s not cheap).  By coordinating a co-op, we won’t really save any money, but it allows us to order more frequently and not have to worry about exactly figuring out the next 3 months of feed needs.

If you are interested in joining our farm in the co-op, let us know.  The first order will be going on Monday, 8/12.