All of our farming practices are regenerative, designed to mimic and work alongside nature, while prioritising the welfare of the animals. Not only do these methods provide the most ethical and natural living conditions for our animals, but also build up the ecosystem in a natural way using diverse species with different actions on the land to build a regenerative and resilient landscape. The result is nutrient dense, high quality food products.
Pasture raised eggs
Our hens rule the roost! Our pasture raised laying hens have unlimited access to the outdoors - sunshine, fresh forage, dirt baths and all the best bugs. At night they tuck themselves into their "egg mobile", kitted with roosting space and nesting boxes for egg laying. The open floor means all droppings fall through onto the grass below, keeping the egg mobile squeaky clean for our ladies, while also fertilising the grass for their next visit. The egg mobile is moved to fresh grass every couple of days, ensuring hygienic conditions and thus avoiding the need for any medications.
A large electro-net secures the area ensuring the hens are protected while also maximising their impact on a given area. Their scarifying, scratching and dirt bathing gently aerate the soil. On top of all of this, they lay gorgeous golden-yolked eggs - naturally orange yolks from the grass diet. Most commercial layer feeds contain some colourants to ensure golden eggs. Our feed does not. The diet of our hens is supplemented with 100% hormone, medication, and antibiotic free feed, produced especially for us. Finding anything better than these eggs is like hen’s teeth!
Grassfed & finished beef
Our Angus beef cattle are born on our neighbour’s farm and walked across to our farm once weaned. They are familiar with the climate and conditions which builds natural strength.
Rotationally grazed on veld and managed pasture, our cattle are grass fed and finished to produce nutritious deep red, lean meat, with nutritious yellow fat. The chickens follow the cattle to spread manure and enjoy the insect buffet found in the cattle droppings. A symbiotic, natural sanitation and natural mimicry example
Rotational grazing ensures they have varied forage, as well as trample unpalatable grasses as mulch for the soil, before being moved. This builds soil organic matter, protects soil, and ensures living roots are always in the soil. In winter their diet is supplemented with planted cover crops and bales. Most beef available in stores may be “grass fed” initially but the animals are fattened up on grain. So while labelled ‘grass fed’, the animals were still fed grain. Our cattle are grass fed AND grass finished.
Read more https://www.regenagsa.org.za/grass-fed-vs-grain-fed/
Free Range Goats Milk
GORGEOUS GOATS MILK
Our goats are not a main enterprise on the farm but serve multiple purposes. We began milking some of our goats to ensure a supply of nutritious dairy. Our goats are rotated around the farm as needed. As browsers, they consume a variety of forage therefore producing milk with a varied nutritional profile with a wide range of vitamins and minerals. Goats milk has numerous health benefits including a lower allergy risk than cows milk due to the protein make up of the milk. Seasonally we produce some soft cheeses, and goats milk soaps using our goats milk and beef tallow.
Pasture Raised Chicken
PREMIUM PASTURE RAISED CHICKEN
Our chickens are pasture raised, a beyond free range production method of raising chickens outdoors. They start their lives in a toasty brooder until their yellow down is traded for hardier feathers. They are then moved onto pasture with unlimited access to grass, sunshine, and bugs. Mobile shelters provide shade during the day and a protected sleeping area at night, and moved every day to ensure the chickens only have the freshest, cleanest grass. The fact that they are constantly moved and not ranging on the same piece of grass defines this method as beyond free range. Their diet is supplemented with feed containing no medications, hormones, antibiotics or any additives.
The heavy manure load fertilises the grass, which builds topsoil and boosts the grass regrowth.
Pasture raised chickens not only produce a better quality, more nutrient dense meat, higher in vitamins and omega 3, but are also beneficial to the land in the process of building topsoil.
We are currently working with another local producer to ensure consistent supply of the best chicken. Our chickens are processed at a registered small local abattoir.
Outdoor pork
Our pigs are raised outdoors, providing fresh forage and hygienic living conditions while also allowing the pigs to have a positive impact on many areas. The pigs spend their days wallowing and foraging for roots, shoots, berries, and bugs. Their diet is supplemented with excess milk from our neighbour’s dairy, off cuts from vegetable harvesting and kitchen scraps. These pigs are truly free range pigs - completely outdoors in their natural environment. We allow the mother pigs to farrow on their own, without any interference other than providing some hay bales to make their birthing nest.
Our pigs have done wonderful work on our farm clearing brambles and invasives and are currently hard at work on our neighbour's farm.
Naturally processed
Our pork products are naturally processed. We use no fillers, no MSG, no nitrates or nitrates. Curing is a long and slow process, with natural smoking.