Protocols

Pasture raised farming has been around much longer than industrial farming. Heck, this is where farming began! 

Back in the day, animals were able to forage on pastures led by humans as they travel from homesite to homesite. We call this rotational grazing now, but back then it was just how farming was.

So what does pasture raised mean today? 

Well, our animals are given ample roaming space, access to fresh forage, grasses, worms, insects, nuts, seeds, sunlight, fresh air.

This allows them to live the way they were intended too: pigs rooting, cows chewing cud, chickens scratching, goats climbing, rabbits hopping.

Pasture raised meats are proven to be healthier and more nutrient dense than their commercially raised counterparts.

It is also observed that the animals themselves are healthier and much happier when raised as God intended.

So, pasture raised means that animals are raised on pasture outdoors. But at Edwards Family Farms, we take it a bit further and implement regenerative agriculture practices, ensuring proper animal welfare, ethical farming practices and raising a healthier product for our customers.

Our meats are naturally gluten-free.

Plain, fresh cuts of meat, including beef, poultry (chicken, turkey, etc.), rabbit, lamb and fish/seafood meat, are all gluten-free.

Animals raised outdoors on pasture and in wooded areas are able to eat a diverse diet of plants, insects and nuts, in addition to being fed silage and grain.

They are exposed to sunshine and are able to forage, run, jump and root in the soil.

This results in healthier animals … and more nutritious food for people as well.

We practice rotational grazing by containing and moving animals through our pastures to improve our soil, plant, and animal health.

Only one portion of our pasture is grazed at a time while the remainder of the pasture “rests.”

To accomplish this, our pastures are subdivided into smaller areas (paddocks) and our livestock are moved from one paddock to another.

Resting our grazed paddocks allows forage plants to recover and deepen their root systems.

Our rotational grazing practices also help to prevent erosion and agriculture runoff.

Why does this matter?

Left alone on a patch of land, animals like cattle and hogs can quickly destroy all signs of life, compacting the soil as they go.

However, if the animals are managed with rotational grazing, the soil sees big returns.

Grazing encourages plants to send out more and deeper roots.

Those roots are continually sloughed off to decompose in the ground, boosting soil biomass and fertility and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.