Chicks in the Brooder & Two Newborn Lambs – Spring Time is Coming!
Posted on | February 28, 2010 | No Comments
Well, it’s finally warming up a little and spring is around the corner. It’s been a pretty restful winter for us at Legacy Family Farm, but now it’s time to get back to work growing “food fit to eat”, our pastured chicken and grassfed lamb and beef for folks in the Aiken, North Augusta and Augusta area. We’ve gotten off to a pretty eventful start this year with two, slightly unexpected, lambs born within the last week. Their mothers are mothering well and the lambs are growing stronger daily.
We picked up our first batch of chicks for this year at the post office last Tuesday. We have 150 Cornish Rocks in the brooder. We plan on putting them on pasture in two weeks on your table by the first or second week of April.
We should be back at the Aiken Farmer’s Market on April 10th. I will be sending out email updates to our regular customers in the weeks leading up to that. (If you would like to be added to our email list, email me and let me know). We still have some grassfed beef and lamb available at the farm if you need it. Just give me a call to set up a time to come by.
I’ll be posting some videos and photos in the weeks to come – so stay tuned.
Blessings,
mark
Thanksgiving Greetings and Product Update
Posted on | November 25, 2009 | No Comments
Thanksgiving greetings from Legacy Family Farm,
Here at Legacy Family Farm we have alot to be thankful for this year – healthy family, healthy animals, good rain, and God’s grace.
We also are very thankful to all our customers, especially all of you who purchased our Pastured Chicken and Grass Fed Beef this last weekend at the Aiken Farmer’s Market. We are very thankful for your support and the relationships we are building with many of you. We look forward to growing you more “food fit to eat” and we are thankful for the opportunity. We realize that y’all are taking time out of your busy schedule to come to the market and spend your hard earned money on our products and we want you to know that we don’t take this opportunity for granted. By supporting locally grown food producers you are changing culture for the better one small step, or tomato, or chicken, or rump roast, at a time and I really do admire and appreciate that. Thank you.
UPDATE:
We will not be at the Aiken Farmers Market this weekend the 28th. Y’all bought all our chickens – we have nothing to sell!!. Well almost nothing – we have a couple 6 lb chickens left and plenty of beef. We’ve decided to take the Thanksgiving weekend off and try to relax – oh yeah, I forgot – move the chickens, move the sheep, feed the horses, plant some rye grass, put up the sheep handling equipment, fix the fence…..life on the farm.
We will have our Poulet Rouge Chicken available Dec 5th at the farmers market.
We will have our Grass Fed Beef available also on December 5th.
You may order individual cuts or our special combinations below:
Prime Cut Sampler Box - $70
15% discount
A great gift for the holidays.
Each box contains:
2 NY Strips(1lb total)
2 Filets(.55lb total)
2 Ribeyes(1lb total)
1 Sirloin Steak(1.2lb total)
1 Chuck Roast(3.0lb total)
3 chubs of Ground Beef(1 lb each)
Bundle of Burger (5 lbs)- $20
20% Discount
5 chubs of Ground Beef(1 lb each)
WARNING: Once you eat this beef, it will be hard to go back to grain fed store bought beef.
We will have our Grass Fed Lamb at the Aiken Farmer’s Market on Saturday December 19th. I will have it at the farm earlier in the week, so if you would like to come by and pick it up before the 19th, that would be fine.
If you would like to make an order of Pastured Poulet Rouge Chicken and/or Grass Fed Beef for December 5th pick up - please email your order to me at mark@legacyfamilyfarm.com .
You may also order Lamb for the 19th. (Any special cuts of Lamb will need to be ordered before December 8th)
We look forward to hearing from you,
mark
Mark Billings
Legacy Family Farm
Land – Life – Legacy
803-295-8542
New Life – Introducing our new lambs
Posted on | November 6, 2009 | No Comments
Take a look at our new lambs. We have been very blessed. Eight of our ewes have had 10 lambs in the past three weeks. These are Katahdin ewes and the ram is a Katahdin/Dorper cross.
Moving the Chicken Pens
Posted on | November 6, 2009 | No Comments
Here’s how we move the chicken pens. This helps insure that the chickens always have a fresh salad bar to eat and their manure will be more evenly spread on the pasture.
Lettin’ Chickens be Chickens
Posted on | November 5, 2009 | No Comments
At Legacy Family Farm, we believe in letting our animals express themselves as God intended.
Here’s a video on how we let “chickens be chickens.”
Out of the Brooder and into the Pasture!
Posted on | October 17, 2009 | No Comments
Today we moved fifty Cornish Crosses and one hundred Colored Rangers from the brooder to the pasture.
They have been in the comfy confines of the brooder for three weeks, since they were only a couple of days old. Now it’s time for them to grow up and grow out on the pasture where they will be enjoying sunshine, fresh air, and all the salad and insects they care to eat.
The Cornish crosses are the yellow/white birds and the Colored Rangers are…,well…the colored birds. The Cornish Crosses are the American standard for chicken. Plump and tender, bred to sit, eat and grow fast, about 7 – 8 weeks to processing size. They are great tasting birds and have been our bird of choice at Legacy Family Farm.
For our latest run of birds we have decided to try, along with the Cornish Crosses, the Colored Rangers. We have three different kinds of Rangers, the Le poulet Tricolor, Le poulet Redbro (red) and the Le poulet Jaune (yellow).
The breeding stock for the Rangers is imported from the regions of Burgundy and Brittany (France). The genetic stock is derived from the American and European old heritage breed of chicken and was developed in the early 1960’s to meet the highest standards of the French Label Rouge Free Range program. Currently, the Ranger genetic stock is used by most non-factory farm production models (alternative) all across Europe and also by small pastured poultry producers in search of a traditionally raised farm chicken – just like the “oldies”, healthy and with a succulent flavor and texture.
Since our Ranger Broilers are a slower growing breed, they are naturally better suited to the higher welfare and all true natural rearing systems(free ranging on fresh pasture).
Natural instinct and behavior is preserved in the selection and growing methods of the Ranger breeding stock. It goes without saying that these birds love foraging in pastures, free ranging outside, always looking for natural sunlight and fresh air, as well as ground scratching and dust bathing.
We are very excited to be able to offer them to our customers.
The Cornish Crosses should be available mid November and the Colored Rangers first to mid December.
Here’s my wife and one of my daughter’s moving a crate of broilers to their new home.
Placing the broiler chicks in the pen.
The chick’s new home for the next few weeks.
We will keep them in the pen for 24 hours so they will become accustom to it and consider it home. We will then let them out during the day to range and forage. They are kept safe from predators during the day by an electric chicken net placed around the two pens. This gives them approximately 8500 square feet ranging area. At night the birds will go back into the pen for shelter, safety and sleep.
Finishing Beef
Posted on | October 10, 2009 | No Comments
Beef finishing – what is it and what does grass finishing do different?
Finishing is the stage an animal goes through prior to market where it gains weight steadily over time to develop interstitial fat. In grass fed/finished animals, this healthy fat is loaded with Omega 3’s, Vitamin E , and Conjugated Lineolic Acids (CLAs) which are healthier, and more plentiful, than that found in grain fed beef, based on research conducted by Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, and the Mayo Clinic.
This fat provides the tenderness and taste to the meat when cooked. Lean meat has less of this fat. However, genetically high butterfat meat is also very tender and juicy but may look visibly lean. A compromise between the two is generally most desirable.
Our animals are finished solely on forages. Pearl Millet, Oats, Crabgrass, Bermuda, Ball Clover and other legumes make up our nutrient-rich salad bar. As necessary, we supplement high quality hay. All of the hay we purchase is sludge-free.
Advantages of Grassfed Beef
Posted on | October 10, 2009 | No Comments
I’ve attached a few links to articles about the advantages of grassfed beef.
This Steer’s Life by Michael Pollan (New York Times) – PDF
Better Beef by Nancy Smith – PDF
The CLA Advantage by Jo Robinson – PDF
Update on Pastured Chicken and Grassfed and Finished Beef & Lamb
Posted on | October 10, 2009 | No Comments
We wanted to let everyone know that we will be out of Pastured Chicken for a few weeks. We are raising another batch right now and we should be back at the Aiken Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings in mid November. We will be offering three, four, five and six pound Cornish Crosses. By mid December we will be offering a poulet rouge range chicken from the French Label Rouge line of meat chickens. These chickens take longer to grow out and range more than the Cornish Cross. They are great foragers and their taste is unmatched.
We also wanted to let everyone know that we now have grassfed and finished beef. It is available in various cuts – steaks, roasts, hamburger and by the whole or side. Amounts are limited.
We will have grassfed and finished lamb by November. We are very excited!
Fresh – the Movie Trailer
Posted on | October 9, 2009 | No Comments
FRESH Synopsis
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.