LFFC Meat & Chicken Shares are value-packed, convenient, and extremely popular. Butcher block favorites like roasts, ground meat, pork, bison, steaks, bacon, sausage, chops and more are dropped off at your site every week! When it comes to meat, we take the same care in raising our cows, pigs, lambs, chickens, turkeys, and bison as we do for our vegetables.  The beef comes from cows that have been grass-fed and grass finished, our pork comes from heritage breed hogs, and our chicken share is certified organic. As always, all of our animals are pastured with absolutely no added hormones, antibiotics, or GMOs! Their feed is all non-GMO and organically raised.

Our beef, bison, and lamb are all fully grass-fed/grass-finished, meaning they receive no grain in their diets. They are fed supplemental hay through the winter months when they are not able to feed solely on pasture.  Currently, we work with two farms that raise grass-fed/finished beef, and they consider themselves to be grass farmers as much as they consider themselves cattle farmers. Breeds that they raise are Angus, Red Devon, Hereford, and crosses of these breeds as well. Our bison comes from one farm located in Perry County, where these massive animals range on 220 acres of pasture. They have a herd of about 80-100 bison at any given point, and these animals are as close to wild as it gets. The genetics of these animals are that of the American Plains Buffalo. They usually take around 3 years to reach slaughter weight. De-Glae Organic Farm is currently the only farm providing us with lamb. He raises a herd of around 70 fully grass-fed/finished lambs on his pastures in Peach Bottom, and in addition to that he milks his sheep to create artisan sheep’s milk cheeses, and has a full-on organic vegetable operation.

Our poultry are all fully pastured, and on occasion, receive supplemental feed. Depending on the farmer and type of feed that farmer is using, the feed may contain corn and soy. The co-op guidelines outline that all feed is to be non-GMO and raised organically at the bare minimum. We currently have 9 farmers raising broilers for the co-op. The farmers only raise birds for 8 months out of the year to assure that they are getting a big portion of their diet from foods that they can forage. This also allows time for the pastures on the farm to lie in a dormant state instead of being torn up by the birds through the wintertime. Our farmers, and we, value this above all because it allows the microorganisms in the soil to rest and then regenerate the soil in the springtime, bringing to life the biologically diverse pastures that make for the healthiest, highest quality chicken we can provide.

Our pork is also fully pastured, and these animals are often raised on woodlots or marginal land that is not suitable for vegetable/grain production. In our area, forests provide optimum forage including tons of nut-bearing trees such as beech, oak, hickory, and chestnut, which give our pork an outstanding finished flavor. Additionally, this land provides a soft, compost-like soil which is easily turned over by the animals’ snouts in order to get down to the roots and munch on the good stuff. These animals get the bulk of their food from foraging and produce seconds, which the farmers will cull out from higher quality produce. In some cases, our pork receives  supplemental feed through the winter months, in which case it is likely that their feed would contain corn or soy. Of course it would be all non-GMO, and organically grown feed. We have ten farms raising a variety of heritage breed hogs, which will include Large Blacks, Duroc, Berkshire, Red Waddle, and Old Spots just to name a few.

2016 Summer Chicken Share

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