At EcoFriendly Foods, all of our cows are raised on pasture, in an environment that lets them be cows. We simply give them what they need to be healthy and happy – fresh air, sunshine, and green pastures – and they handle the rest. Their diet consists exclusively of grass, medicinal wild plants and herbs, supplemental hay in the winter, and free-choice salt and minerals. No grain whatsoever.
Most farmers will tell you that cows need lots of grain. This simply isn’t true. Cows are ruminants, like deer and sheep. They’re designed to eat living plants. With proper management – i.e. planned rotational grazing – our farmers have been able to eliminate grain entirely. So what is planned rotational grazing? It’s a sophisticated system of observing pasture growth and appropriately timing the density and duration of each grazing. In English, that translates to “keep the paddocks small and move your animals a lot.”
The fact is, most cows are raised in huge paddocks and moved rarely. This gives the pasture no time to rest, which depletes the soil and inhibits proper regrowth. This makes the nutrition of the grass very poor. Within this kind of pasture management system, it’s no wonder why farmers think they’ve got to feed their animals grain in order to get them to “grow out.” The theory of managed grazing, on the other hand, is: “If you take care of your pasture, it will take care of your animals.” So, by managing our grass, we can raise a healthy, fat, nutritious animal with absolutely no grain.
To learn more about our cows and how they’re managed, click here.
Our Production Standards in a nutshell
What we ARE and what we ARE NOT?
- We are not certified organic.
- We use no herbicides or pesticides on the pastures where our cows live.
- We use no hormones or artificial growth stimulants.
- Our cows are free of antibiotics.
- Our cows are 100% grass fed and pasture-raised.
- Our cows are regionally raised within the Cheaspeake Bay watershed.
We consider transparency to be one of the most critical elements in developing sustainable relationships with our customers. If you have any questions about our family of farmers, or about any other link in the EcoFriendly food chain, please feel free to contact us.