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Most people just looked at me with a confused expression when I said I’m traveling to the very northern tip of California to learn about chickens for 2 days.  First of all how could you possibly talk about chickens for 2 whole days and second of all (Kelsey) haven’t you been raising chickens since you were a little kid, what more do you have to learn about them?   The answer:  You would be amazed at how engaging the conversations were and how many profound lessons I learned!  I realize that not everyone is able to take 5 days away from the farm to go to an event like this so here’s my recap of what happened… 

I have to admit, the vegans are right!  That is in the sense that we modern day meat eaters are more barbaric than our hunter gatherer predecessors thousands of years ago. 

Our cows are able to roam freely, eating healthy grass and enjoying fresh East Tennessee air and sunshine. We work to mimic nature, and using this natural model of grazing, we heal the land, clean up the waterways, produce healthier grass, and feed the earthworms – which all increase the meat quality. And of course, no steroids, no antibiotics, no growth hormones, no feedlots or grain finishing – ever. We have two foundational breeds of cattle that we raise: South Poll which was developed specifically for grass fed beef production in the southeast and grass based Angus genetics.

Sequatchie Cove Farm is back to raising Heritage Breed pigs! Right now we have Gloucestershire Old Spots, Mulefoot, Large Black and Red Wattles. We keep our pig production on a small scale, around 10 per year because we have found from experience that raising larger groups of pigs on pasture and in the woods can actually be hard on the land

We do everything we can to produce the best chicken possible for our community. As soon as our birds are old enough to come out of the brooder, they go out to pasture where we move them every day to fresh grass. We supplement by hand feeding them a blend of Organic grains.

We have a whole set of devotees who will eat only the eggs that our chickens lay. We move their ‘house’ every couple of days so they always have fresh grass and bugs to nibble on. We also supplement them with certified organic grain, meaning that all the grains were raised with no pesticides, no herbicides, no fungicides, no -cides of any sort, non-GMO, no antibiotics, nothing synthetic.

Let’s dive right into the hottest topic in sheep farming: Parasite Control!  There are three main methodologies with sheep farmers in regard to worming.

I was mowing the pastures the other day and found my mind wandering to a familiar topic…this question of what I am doing?  

In our opinion, a dutch baby is one of the best breakfasts around!