Farm Product Updates

Today we are going to jump right in and start with our meat chickens first. For years we have received our chicks via the USPS. Regardless of the hatchery bought from, there were always problems.

Our current hatchery is Valley Farms located in Muscle Shoals, AL – the closest supplier there is to our farm. Those babies travel through 5 USPS locations before I pick up at Petal. Sometimes it takes two days and other times 5 days. The heat/ cold, handling, and time is very hard on them and cause death and or stunts their growth.

Ryan has now solved the problem by delivering them himself. The chicks hatch on Tuesday and deliver the next day by mid-morning. What a difference this has made. We are well on the way to improving the quality and quantity of our chicken (Wed processing sold out overnight) – and they are NOT VACCINATED!!!

Other farms and homesteaders are welcome to take advantage of this opportunity for their chick needs. Place your order with Valley and tell them you want to pickup at Nature’s Gourmet Farm delivery.

Laying Hens – The heat has been very hard on our ladies. Even with shade cloth and high vegetation in the pasture, their egg production is way down. And some of the older hens passed this week.

Getting replacement pullets has always been an issue because there is no source in the Southeast. And, there has only been a few farms scattered about that bought pullets.

So, I approached Ryan (Valley Farms) with the problem. He has Amish contacts in his area who can raise them from chicks (hatched at Valley Farms) to pullet age and several folks with cattle trailers who can deliver them to farms.

Not all the details are worked out, but basically Valley will take orders in September and deliver early March. Then take March orders for September delivery. This is something other farms and homesteaders can take advantage of as well. However, like our feed delivery, there will be a minimum order quantity for farm delivery by location.

Beef – People really like our beef! A customer picked up his order Monday at the farm and said he is hooked on our products – cannot stand to eat store meat any more. Pricing - for several months now cattle futures will drift down several days then pop back up to the highs.

Taking our custom order business to Homestead for processing has worked out pretty good and allowed us to serve more customers with our regenerative grass-finished beef. In fact, the latest 13 customers will take delivery Monday for their half/whole purchase.

That said – we are currently planning our next harvest for custom half/whole orders. Six people have already been added to our waiting list. If you are wanting a half/whole beef in the next 4-5 weeks then you need to email me and get on this list to be notified.

Pork – Frankly, pig management got out of hand several years ago when I was building processing plants, etc. and needed more help. And, I learned why farmers like Joel Salatin do not farrow piglets, but buy them. It is very difficult to have two separate operations for pigs on the farm.

Fortunately, we have help now and they have done an outstanding job correcting the problems. Additionally, we are buying our piglets from other farms.

This is a picture taken Friday after unloading a few new piglets purchased from a local farm. The new piglets are a cross between Berkshire and IPP (Iowa Pastured Pig). Watch this short video to see them unload.

The primary objective with our pigs is to be consistent with our processing weights which transfers directly into consistent cuts that our customers buy. While we are not 100% there YET, we are definitely well on the way.

** Product Availability Update ** 

NOTE: Restocks are made about 6 PM on the dates indicated below!

Chicken -Restocked August 14th. Next Restock is August 28th
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Turkey - Sold Out! New poults arrived, but will be months before ready. Demand popped and I dropped the ball on this one.

Eggs - Restocked each Wednesday. With the extended heat eggs have become tight again.

Beef - Next restock August 22nd. Half Beef- email me to get on the waitlist NOW!
        
Pork - Restocked fresh cuts August 14th. Cured items about August 23rd

Lamb - Restocked Wednesday July 31st. Many customers have already placed their orders.