My husband & I started farming with chickens when we moved to our little patch of heaven. Somehow during all our travels we always ended up working on a farm, picking strawberries, veggies or flowers.

We believe farming is our destiny & in our blood. It's our passion.

Like our flock, our little family was blessed with a pigeon pair & these little munchkins are as passionate about farming as we are... They help with the shoo-ing of the chickens when we move the coops & our young man is doing his "Chicken -fit" when carrying buckets full of feed & water.

My daughter still loves the little ones & it's her duty to help with the babies when they move from the brooder their big coop.

Our little farm is a family affair & a passion for happy healthy animals.

Please tell us about your chicken:

How do you farm them? Our 600-800 chickens are pasture raised in a movable coop on 1 hectare. The coops are moved on a daily basis, to ensure they have a fresh patch of grass everyday to scratch & forage on.

What are they fed? They are grain fed. The grain is not GM/Glyphosate free.

What breed are they? Ross chickens

Do you use Antibiotics, hormones: We never use antibiotics or growth hormones.

Are your chickens brined upon slaughter? We never inject brine into the chickens.

Do you practice debeaking? Never

What age and how are the slaughtered? 8 weeks

BEEF

Tell us about your beef?

The Beef is from Triple G Farms, near Reitz and Petsana in the Eastern Free State. We are a family owned Angus farm in the Eastern Free State. The owner was a founding member of the Grass fed Association of South Africa.

Are the animals ever given antibiotics or added hormones: no, they are free range cattle that aren’t given routine antibiotics or additional hormones.

Are the cows ever feedlotted? Never. The animals are raised on the land and sold direct to consumers through our own slaughterhouse to make sure they are humanely treated.

Do you use cover crops or regenerative practices for your cows?

Triple G farm comprises 1300Ha and they have Angus studs. To improve the quality of their planted pastures and veld which would enable them to grow their herds, they started a program of developing mixed species pastures with the help of a biological farming consultant, which also reduced the need for chemical fertilisers.

This included the planting of legumes. They had great success with a legume species called sericea espedeza or more commonly, “poor mans lucerne”. It is high quality protein for cattle and can be grazed by cattle in the summer and baled for winter feed. Combining sericea with a grass type, Eragrostis, blew away our expectations and produced excellent grazing and bales. The combination of grass and legumes was far superior to each one on their own. Working with nature has become the backbone of our operation. We continually plant new species of legumes and grasses in our lands to bring as much biodiversity as possible. We are also running trials of intensive grazing which is a critical part of rehabilitative agriculture.

What are the cows fed? The cattle are free range (not grass fed) because they receive a supplement with grain but without hormones or growth enhancers. They are permanently in pastures - free range grazing. They are given supplements along with bales in the pastures in winter.

What is the protocol? There is currently no audit. We were part of the GFASA free range protocol, our farm was audited but the abattoir and rest of the supply chain wasn’t. Their protocol states that all parts of the chain, including the retailer, needs to be audited annually to be certified. The costs are too high. So the farm and deboning plant follow the protocol with full traceability but can't state that on their product.

Withok Freerange