Friday, October 7, 2011

Trip to Stuart Virgina

On one of our trips to Roanoke we met a cattle farmer at the local downtown market. He was selling grass fed beef. After talking with Mr. Sparks for awhile we knew we wanted to try some of his beef. The thing we like most about his beef is that he doesn't feed his cattle ANY grain or give them any antibiotics or growth hormones. Mr. Sparks encouraged us to come out to the farm and take a tour.



Here we are arriving at his home... look at all that green grass.



After spending some time chatting he took us out to check out the fields.



He has several fields so he can rotate his cattle among them.






And here we get our first look at his cattle.



This guy had been in the mud. Who knew cows liked mud?



This is where the cattle get their water. Fresh well water I might add.



Okay, here is the super cool part of his farming technique. When he puts his cattle in a field he only gives them one strip of land to graze on at a time. Then when the cattle have eaten all the grass in that strip he moves them on to the next strip. So that they are always eating fresh grass. When they have gone through the whole field he then rotates them to another field.



Happy grazing cows.



Here are just a few more pictures of his cows.









We had a great time at the farm. It is really nice to know where our meat is coming from. Mr. Sparks takes excellent care of his cattle and our family really appreciates it.



Healthy happy cows....


.... make healthy happy hamburgers. Eat on cows!

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