Our Values & Standards
Our Values
Pasture Raised—Never Confined: We believe pasture raised is absolutely, without a doubt, better for the animals, better for the environment, better for your health…which is better for you! USDA defines “pasture raised—never confined” livestock as spending over 51% of their life on pasture. Our lambs and goats spend 90 to 100% of their life on pasture with optional shelter for inclement weather.
Quality of Life for Livestock: Our livestock spend their days in the open air and sunshine grazing our lush, green pastures. Our young stock spend the majority of their time safe with their mothers within the protective flock learning to choose from a diverse forage menu much like the joy we experience at a well stocked salad bar.
Humane Handling: Our animals are humanely treated from birth to harvest following not only scientifically proven humane principles but also with the “Spirit of Humane” in mind to actively improve their quality of life through the reduction of fear, discomfort and avoidable stressors. They routinely carry out their natural behaviors such as grazing, browsing, lactating and exploring their environment as appropriate to their species.
Farmers: We are small, family farmers. We use sustainable farming practices that improve the soil, increase bio-diversity, and are beneficial to our local community’s environment. We use conservation and preservation methods. In practices this means what is taken out of the environment is put back in, so land and resources such as water, soil, and fertility can be replenished and are available to future generations.
We believe in paying our producer members a fair amount for their products to compensate for their extra skill, labor and commitment to meet these values.
Our Standards
The attached (pdf) policies and standards were developed specifically for Browse and Grass Farmer members by Janet McNally a nationally known sheep industry researcher and producer with oversight by Temple Grandin, PhD. Grandin is a designer of livestock handling facilities and a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado and a well known advocate for humane treatment of livestock.