Our current herd of 50 full-blood Italian Chianina cattle arrived on September 22, 2003. We intend to add a herd of Katahdin sheep, Cinta Senese and Large Black pigs, and chickens for broilers and eggs.

With all of our animals the overall management approach is to provide humane housing for the six cold months alternated with intensive rotational grazing on permanent pastures during the six warm months. In winter we will provide open barns with lots of comfortable bedding to soak up all the manure and urine. This “bedded pack” gives us an ideal material source for making the compost which is critical to our vegetable growing and soil fertility in general. In summer, we will move animals on a daily basis from small paddock to small paddock with lightweight portable electric fencing. This “management intensive grazing” system insures that animals are always eating the most nutritious young growth and that the forage plants have a chance to recover before being re-grazed.