But it's official. We are now certified as a Step 3 farm (on a 5 step scale) with the Global Animal Partnership. www.wholefoodsmarket.com/meat/welfare.php Whew. For a farm that is only a year and a half old, this has been quite the learning experience. Though there are decades of experience raising cattle, pigs were a whole different animal (wink,wink!).
Not only were we being pushed by the gilts and boars arriving to our Utah farm from Indiana, but we were pushed by the piglets who were soon to be delivered. There were facilities to build or remodel, feed and medications to research, best-practices for farrowing and raising pasture centered hogs, and systems to put in place for tracking, breeding, and selling. This is on top of running the rest of the farm and running our other careers in construction and coaching parents of troubled teens nationwide.
Still, this is exactly the kind of experience we were looking for. A chance for us to build memories working together as a family. For our kids to learn to use hand tools and power tools, work till they were too tired to eat, and witness the fruits of their labors. Everyone and their talents were needed to accomplish the successful result we had from our 120 step audit by IMI Global, an independent farm auditing company.
We were able to bring family and friends out to help us at different points along the way, making it a real community effort. We are so grateful for the fast approaching audit deadline to help us get up to speed much more quickly than we would have on our own. Success is sweet indeed.
Happy Farming,
Roxanne Thayne
Not only were we being pushed by the gilts and boars arriving to our Utah farm from Indiana, but we were pushed by the piglets who were soon to be delivered. There were facilities to build or remodel, feed and medications to research, best-practices for farrowing and raising pasture centered hogs, and systems to put in place for tracking, breeding, and selling. This is on top of running the rest of the farm and running our other careers in construction and coaching parents of troubled teens nationwide.
Still, this is exactly the kind of experience we were looking for. A chance for us to build memories working together as a family. For our kids to learn to use hand tools and power tools, work till they were too tired to eat, and witness the fruits of their labors. Everyone and their talents were needed to accomplish the successful result we had from our 120 step audit by IMI Global, an independent farm auditing company.
We were able to bring family and friends out to help us at different points along the way, making it a real community effort. We are so grateful for the fast approaching audit deadline to help us get up to speed much more quickly than we would have on our own. Success is sweet indeed.
Happy Farming,
Roxanne Thayne
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