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A Note About Our Feeding Practices
Here at Heritage Farms Northwest, we try our best to tailor our feeding practices to each individual species so that we can ensure that all their nutritional needs are met and also to ensure that we produce the best product possible for our customers.
Pork - The hogs that we raise are born in a pastured setting and live their lives out in the fields. They do eat a considerable amount of forage (grasses and clovers) from the pastures and in the winter time they always have access to clover haylage that a neighboring farmer grows for us. However, because hogs have a simple, mono-gastrointestinal digestion system (just like humans) they do not do a thorough job of digesting grasses and other highly fibrous feeds. Additionally they need a fairly high protein content to their feed in order to properly develop their muscles and to grow at a normal rate. Most pastures do not contain enough high protein plants (clover and alfalfa) to totally supply hogs with enough high quality protein to meet their needs. In order to supply a complete and nutritious diet for our hogs, we do feed them a mixed grain ration daily. Currently the primary ingredient in our feeding program is locally grown wheat that we buy from a neighboring farmer. We grind the wheat ourselves 2x's a week to ensure freshness and then we mix in a vitamin/mineral/protein supplement to bring the ration up to where it needs to be in terms of protein levels. Our protein supplement does contain soy products and a miniscule amount of corn, but the supplement is just one small part of their total diet. We do have the ability to raise you a hog that is both corn and soy free and would be happy to do so on a "custom order" basis. We would need to have your order and a deposit before we start the hog on his special order diet. Because we have piglets born all year long, we can get one going for you in a timely manner. You can expect about 8 - 9 months between ordering your "corn/soy free" hog and getting your meat. As with all of our animals, the hog feed does NOT contain any antibiotics or added hormones.*
Beef - Our beef cows are pastured 24/7 year round and eat only pasture plants in the summer and winter pasture as well as grass hay and clover haylage. They are considered to be 100% grass fed and finished beef. We do not use hormone implants in our beef cattle, nor do they ever receive antibiotics.
Poultry - Our chickens and turkeys are honestly and truly free ranged after they have feathered out enough to keep warm (3 weeks for chickens). This means that we have very little control over what they decide to eat. They spend much of their time foraging for bugs and seeds and have a great time out in the hog fields looking for left over morsels from the hogs' dinner hour. When the chickens (and turkeys) are young, they eat a home ground mix of wheat and vitamin/mineral mix. Once they are out in the field, they look for their own dinner and we occasionally supplement them with whole wheat. Again, our feeds are free of all antibiotics and added hormones.* As with the hogs, we can and will raise "no corn/soy" chickens or turkeys for you if you would like, all you need to do is contact us about it and we'll get you some started. Custom grown chickens take 12-14 weeks from the time of ordering, assuming that you order them during the "growing season" (April - Oct).
Rabbit - Our rabbits are raised on a commercial rabbit pellet which contains ground alfalfa hay and a vitamin/mineral component. In addition to the rabbit pellets we also feed clover hay and grass hay to the rabbits daily. We are working on setting up a system which would allow us to put the rabbits on the ground in "pasture tractors" so that they can live more naturally and do some of their own foraging. As with all our animals, the rabbits eat a diet free of antibiotics or hormones.
*It is illegal to use hormones in either pork or poultry production.
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Heritage Farms Northwest
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