Our Livestock
Laying Hens
We have a summer house attached to a fenced yard where the hens have access to grass and insects. These naturally occurring feed sources provide the rich flavour and deep yellow colour of our eggs. A couple days a week, they are let our to roam the yard and hunt down grasshoppers.
During the winter months, the hens are housed in an insulated barn where they have free access to heated water, feed, lots of straw and roosts. The nest boxes are roomy and private which provides the hens with comfort and privacy during the laying of eggs. They are fed fruit and vegetable scraps which gives the eggs the deep yellow colour and more flavour. On warm, sunny days, the hens do venture out and scratch at the spilled grains in the bin yard nearby.
Turkeys
We raise turkeys each summer on pasture with open faced sheds for wind and weather protection. There are roosts within the sheds to allow the turkeys to fly up and roost for the night.
The turkeys are provided with free access to water and a poultry ration feed. They are contained and protected from foxes and coyotes with snow or predator wire and our livestock guardian dogs deter these predators getting too close and figuring out how to get in.
Broiler Chickens
They are started as chicks in a barn until 3 weeks old when they can start being outdoors and then they are moved to the pastured pen at 4 weeks. We station feeders and waterers near 2 shelters, which they sleep in at night and use for protection from wind and rain. The shelters are moved every couple days to move the chickens to fresh grass.
f
f
f
f
f
f
f
Beef Cattle
Each spring we hand select a couple yearling steers (castrated males) from our larger commercial herd to grain finish for our farm-direct meat sales. The calves are usually ones that have been born and raised on our farm, sometimes we select from the herd of steers that we bought the previous fall if the size and quality is better.
These cattle are separated into a smaller pasture for the summer and fed additional barley or oat grain 1-2x a day until they reach finished weight.
Our cow herd will calve in April-May on pasture on the main farm. In June when the calves are big and healthy, and the pastures have a good amount of grass, we will haul smaller herds to summer pastures.
In the winter, we provide our cattle with free access to baled forages; grass, alfalfa and straw as well as daily grain for needed calories and nutrients.
Hogs
We currently purchase weaners (2-3 months old, 30-60 lbs) from local farmers that we raise outdoors. They have shelters, straw bedding and free access to feed and water. We also regularly feed them vegetable scraps, extra garden squash and flakes of hay for extra nutrition and entertainment.
