To enjoy the vast majority of our products you must become a member as our members own all of the animals on our farm and all of the production that comes from them. New memberships with our farm are currently available on a limited basis. We are only taking members who are primarily interested in our meat- the driver of our regenerative farming methods. Please contact us either through our email thegoldenhoof@icloud.com or by calling or texting Alice at 720 900 9494 if you are interested in learning about our memberships.
Cattle: Our cattle make amazing beef. We raise Dexter and Lowline beef cattle because of their resilience, docility, small size, great mothering and easy finishing. It's much easier to finish one of these animals for great beef on grass than it is most any other cows. We feed our ruminants exclusively on fresh green pasture and hay. But being 100% grass fed isn't enough, plenty of cattle are not being properly rotated and this can be very destructive in a brittle environment like ours. We holistically manage our pastures using rotational grazing to ensure that we are constantly improving our soils and building soil organic matter in our grass ecosystem. Our cattle sequester carbon while making amazing beef. This creates the cleanest, most nutrient dense beef available.
We are currently working on transforming our 20 acres of finishing land on our home farm to silvopasture to create even better beef and lamb. We are in the process of planting around 1,000 trees in this area to give the animals more diversified forage, increase year round forage availability, enhance water retention and resilience, provide shade in summer and cover during inclement weather, as well as to improve soil health and wildlife habitat. Current studies show that not only is it important that ruminant animals eat grasses instead of grains, but that their health and the nutrient density of the meat and milk they create is vastly improved by having at least 10 different species of forages in their diets. We have been managing our pastures for diversity and health from the beginning and have far more diversity than that, but by adding large numbers of 22 new species of trees to their habitat we will increase their health, comfort and resilience dramatically while improving the health of their surrounding ecosystem equally.
Sheep: We have been raising Clun Forest sheep along with a few Blue Faced Leicesters. Clun Forest sheep are a critically endangered breed. They are small, efficient graziers who do well on marginal pastures and have great mothering qualities. They also make a delicious, full flavored 100% grass fed lamb without any gaminess and have beautiful, strong, easy to spin wool. When crossed with BFLs, their wool becomes amazing- strong, soft, lustrous and still easy to work with. We have been holistically managing our sheep, constantly rotating them through our pastures in order to maximize flerd (flock/ herd) health and growth along with pasture photosynthesis, organic matter and diversity. We have processed all of our sheep for the next year as we need to not have sheep on property while we establish our new silvopasture plantings. We hope to bring them back soon, and once we run out of our own lamb if needed will find another regenerative sheep farmer to help us keep our store stocked.
Pigs: Our pork is raised on pasture in large, playful, social groups in the beautiful San Luis Valley of Colorado near where we keep our cow calf pairs and yearling cattle. They are rotationally grazed on about 20 acres of diverse pasture and given supplemental organic grains, alfalfa, organic broken eggs and other organic food waste as we find it.
Poultry: We raise our own egg bird genetics in a truly free range system eating whatever they find. They are not in chicken tractors or indoors, they go where they choose and eat what they choose on our primary 27 acres. Chickens (when exercising their free will) spend most of their time in forests eating berries and grubs and whatnot. We have been working at creating the best habitat we can for them by planting bird friendly shrubs and trees while providing them with fresh sprouted wheat along with fresh fruits and veggies from the waste stream year round. Unlike chickens, ducks normally spend a lot of time in pastures as they can readily eat and digest grasses. You will often find our ducks out in our pastures following our cattle and sheep while eating the insect life they find in and around the cow pies and ewe berries, breaking parasite cycles and creating amazing eggs and meat as they go. Like the cattle, sheep and pigs, our birds work tirelessly to improve the biological life of our soils and create the compost we use for our on farm.
Dairy: We raise our dairy cows in a truely humane system. Instead of being separated from birth from their calves as is considered the humane standard for commercial dairies (including organic grass fed and pastured dairies), our calves are kept with their mothers and their peers throughout their lives (normally calves are put in isolation holding cells at birth and bottle fed). Our calves are generally weaned around 5 months of age when their rumens are fully developed to eat grass and other forages. For 5 months they nurse on their mothers at will and play with the other calves (when not napping). This means that we get a lot less milk per lactating cow. It also means that our cows are much happier and healthier. They are also exclusively A2A2. Our cows eat nothing but forage (grass and whatever else is growing in our pastures), hay and a daily treat of sprouted turkey red wheat while they are being milked.
Wool Products- We have wonderful people who help us sheer our Clun Forrest Sheep and clean, spin and knit our wool. We sell raw fleeces ($12-$15/lb), roving ($2/oz), yarn ($18/skein) and finished wool products like sweaters, hats and socks.
Lard Products- In the old days everything was made with lard. Well made lard from healthy outdoor pigs is an exceedingly stable, exceptionally moisturizing and deeply nutritious substance.