Christmas with the Animals

Enjoying a hot bran mash, a relaxing morning coffee, and some alfalfa cubes Christmas Morning

Winter on the Farm

Winter presents some interesting challenges for us. The pasture is dead and frozen, water freezes regularly, and the short days mean we do the majority of our animal care in the dark. On the bright side, the cattle aren't bothered at all by the cold or the snow, and it does make for some great pictures! The shorter work day also means we get some time to catch up on some indoor work and make plans for next year. Right now, we are both enjoying reading books by Gene Logsdon, and looking forward to attending the CCE grass-fed beef conference in January.

Big Thanks to Our Helpers!

Thanks so much to Joe, Grace, and Matt for all their help with the new driveway! As you can see in the post below, the calves are really enjoying the view!

Good Pasture Management

In addition to rotating our cattle onto fresh grass every 3 days, we find that giving our free-range laying hens access to the grazing area reduces pests and improves the quality of the pasture. The cattle also act as a deterrent for predators...a real win/win for everyone!

New Additions

We are pleased to announce that we have expanded our herd to include Lowline Angus. These are great little cows that do remarkably well on pasture alone. We look forward to next years crop of hereford/angus crosses for some of the best tasting beef around!

Free Range Eggs from Happy Chickens!

Free range eggs available from our brown and colored egg-layers. Incredible taste, lower cholesterol, sustainably raised. Contact us for details, delivery available to NYC.

New Bull Calf

Pure-bred Miniature Hereford Bull, out of LS Royal Duchess. Calved unassisted 7/26/09. Available for sale or trade.

Pastured Poultry Available 8/8 & 8/9

Colored Rangers are now available....will be around 4lbs dressed weight. These chickens are a French heritage breed renowned for their superior flavor, that thrive when raised on pasture. Email for availability.

Grass Fed Beef

Chicks for Sale: Brown and Colored Egg Layers

Limited quantities of chicks available for sale: healthy, vaccinated, excellent laying varieties, from high producing lines. Please email if you are interested, chicks will go to good homes only!

Useful Sites

Grassfed Beef Association: www.americangrassfed.org

Local producers: www.eatwild.com

Learning Center: Beef Cuts

A diagram showing common cuts of beef. For customers who purchase halves or quarters, they will get a variety of all cuts.

Chicken Tractor

Our "chicken tractor" is designed to be pulled around to fresh pasture every few days, and the wire mesh floor prevents predators from getting in at night, while allowing the manure to drop through....we get the benefits of extra fertilizer, and with all the hens scratching and foraging, we have our own soil enhancing system free of charge!

3 day old chicks

This year's batch of layers....we are looking forward to more delicious brown eggs from our free range hens, as well as the pastel colored eggs we can expect from the new addition of Ameracaunas to our flock!

The Beginning....

Today is the first official day of Hickory Field Farm! Not only did we finally decide on a name, but we also made our first sale....8 adorable chicks to a very excited buyer from Connecticut. We have more chick sales happening this month, but come May we turn our attention to the cattle. More info to come on availability of fresh eggs, grass-fed beef, and fresh pastured roasting chickens!