Jill says that she learned to love nature, plants, and animals from her mother. After graduating from Western Michigan University with a degree in agriculture, she purchased Crane Dance Farm in 1996. Getting the farm back into shape took a lot of hard work- from restoring the buildings to rehabilitating the health of the soil. Providing animals with the happiest, healthiest lives possible while maintaining nature’s balance on the farm, is what Jill quotes to be her greatest life’s goal.  Jill’s business partner, Mary Wills, is a retired high school English and music teacher. She first began volunteering at Crane Dance Farm after Jill convinced her she could eat the meat from her farm and not worry about cholesterol. She soon became a resident and owner of the picturesque farm.

Jill and Mary are committed to genetic diversity and try to acquire endangered, heritage breeds whenever possible. On Crane Dance Farm, plentiful pasture, fresh air, and sunshine nurture their heirloom pigs without the use of hormones or unnecessary antibiotics. Jill and Mary believe that this farming philosophy is one that’s not only better for the animals but also benefits the earth and consumer.

To learn more about Crane Dance Farm and its products you can visit the website- www.cranedancefarm.com- or follow Crane Dance on Facebook!

They decided that if they were going to raise the best pork possible, they had to start with the best pigs possible. They knew that the cramped, confined corrals of today’s commercial pig farmer was not for them. Kelly and Mark wanted their animals to be happy, healthy, and to have as much freedom as they could provide.

Their research led them to the Large Black and Tamworth hogs. Both are old breeds, well suited to grazing. The Large Black’s docile nature is often attributed to their distinctive, floppy ears that completely cover their eyes. Their black coloring makes them hardy in extreme temperatures and protects them from sunburn. The Tamworth breed is the most direct descendant of the native pig stock of Europe that, in turn, descended from wild boars. They are disease resistant and tolerant of extreme temperatures. Both these breeds are known for their good mothering ability, displayed when they are allowed to farrow, or give birth, on pasture.

Kelley and Mark plant forage crops and use a rotational grazing system.  During drought or freezing conditions where there is no foliage, they mill our own feed using their own custom blend. They never give any of their animals growth hormones or unnecessary antibiotics.  They allow their slower-growing pigs the time to reach maturity outside on pasture.

“We respect the animals we raise,” says Kelley. “Their happiness and comfort is our number one priority.  The quality of our product is a direct result of our efforts in keeping these animals as safe, happy and healthy as we possibly can.”

After ten years without hogs on the farm, Jack missed raising pigs and wanted to add more profitability to the farm. He is proud that he raises his pigs naturally, providing them with high-quality feed and raising them without the use of antibiotics or hormones. His choice to raise Animal Welfare Approved pastured pork was a choice to invest in a future in which his sons, Daniel and Jimmy, could make a living on the family farm and people can make better choices about the food they eat. “It would make me feel better to walk into a store and buy meat with the AWA seal,” says Jack. “It gives some piece of mind.”

Like many farmers, it’s a challenge to meet production costs, but Jack hopes that his sons, who work on the farm with him, will choose the hard work required to keep the family business running.

As a Master Herbalist, Christine has been able to apply her knowledge of herbal medicine to the care of her animals. Although there has been a learning curve for an herbalist trained to care for people, she is able to treat her animals almost exclusively with Certified Organic herbal remedies. This is a challenge in Florida’s hot and humid summer weather, which fosters illness and digestive problems, but Christine has found herbal remedies for almost all her animals’ health problems.

Christine, with Jamie’s help and support, continuously works to raise healthy animals because their welfare is of prime importance above profit. “They give a lot,” she says, so taking care of them is central to her operation. Christine’s emphasis on animal welfare led her to Animal Welfare Approved certification, which requires the highest welfare and sustainability practices. Sprawling Oaks Farm’s chickens and goats, says Christine, “receive fresh air and sunshine in the pasture all day and are always given lots of love.” She appreciates that AWA certification gives her “recognition for something [she] is already doing” and communicates to consumers that the dairy and eggs from Sprawling Oaks Farm were raised with the care that their animals deserve.

The Percys raise hardy mixed-breed pigs, selecting the best-performing animals from their own farm to produce the next generation.  On the diversified farm, they rotate their hog pastures with cover crops and produce, using the pigs’ natural ability to till and fertilize to create lush garden spots.

Rufus and Alice find high welfare to be one of the most important aspects of how they farm. They say, “Our motto is ‘Happy Pigs Taste Better.’  Raising our hogs in a way that keeps them happy and comfortable keeps them healthy, it keeps our land healthy, it makes a better product – and it’s just the right thing to do!”

“As farmers markets and the products of sustainable agriculture become more popular, bringing in new vendors every year, we feel it is important to consumers to have a third-party guarantee that the products they are buying are truly raised using responsible practices.  Animal Welfare Approved certification seemed the logical next step to our organic certification,” they continued.

For more information about Treble Ridge Farm and its line of Animal Welfare Approved gourmet ethnic sausages, please visit:  http://www.trebleridgefarm.com/

The initial herd of 12 bison (along with some laying hens) was established at Madroño Ranch in 2007, and soon thereafter the residency program for environmental artists and writers became a part of the ranch. Today, Heather and Martin’s herd of 40 Animal Welfare Approved bison range freely on rolling hills about 120 miles southwest of Austin. To reduce stress and preserve the meat’s quality, bison are slaughtered on farm with the supervision of a licensed inspector from the Texas Department of Health. Their AWA certified laying hen breeds include Ameraucana, Buff Orpington, standard leghorn, Black Wyandotte, and Rhode Island Red, producing colorful nutritious eggs. Madroño Ranch chickens are also raised outdoors, though at night they reside in what Heather and Martin like to call the Chicken Palace.

Heather and Martin could not run the ranch without the work of Madroño’s ranch manager, Robert Selement, but Heather notes that the bison basically “take care of themselves.” Raising their animals in a pasture-based farming system, which adheres to AWA’s rigorous standards for high welfare and allows animals to perform behaviors that are biologically and behaviorally appropriate, is the most important thing that the farmers at Madroño Ranch do.

In addition to farm operations and residencies for writers and artists, the ranch also hosts cooking classes and workshops. The Kohouts believe it is important to draw people out of the city to experience the rich natural diversity of the Hill Country and the complex relationship between people and their appetites.

The most important aspect of Ken’s farming is allowing his pigs to roam freely, foraging and farrowing outdoors. Living outside on pasture permits Hog Heaven Farms’ animals to express their natural behaviors, including their innate sociability. Sows give birth twice a year in their own farrowing huts, on fresh straw, and are only given assistance when needed. The natural, high-quality feed that Ken gives to his hogs is also an important aspect of the operation.

Ken applied for Animal Welfare Approved certification to benefit from AWA’s technical advice about raising livestock in the most natural way. Certification also lends recognition to Hog Heaven Farms, LLC, assuring consumers that they are using the highest-welfare and most sustainable practices possible.

When she was 10, while most children are asking their parents for allowance money and believe that eggs come from the grocery store, Shelby Grebenc was soliciting her grandmother for a loan of $1000 to start her own pasture-raised egg business. Shelby and her parents live on four acres in Broomfield, Colorado, 20 miles outside of Denver. She began caring for laying hens when she was just 6-years old. “Dad was trying to teach me to be an adult,” she says, so he gave her chores—watering, feeding, and letting out the family’s small flock of chickens. In the summer, she loved it. When it was 20^oF during Colorado’s winters, she hated it, but that didn’t keep her from learning everything involved in raising hens on pasture and starting her own business selling eggs to help expand the family’s income when her mother, Nancy, who has multiple sclerosis, was in a nursing home.

Shelby’s Animal Welfare Approved standard leghorn, Ameraucana, Rhode Island Red and Plymouth Rock laying hens roam on pasture all day, eating bugs and giving themselves dust baths and roosting indoors at night. Although balancing her business with her 4.0 grade point average and an abbreviated social life can be full of challenges, keeping the chickens safe from predators is Shelby’s biggest concern.  It requires that  someone is always home to lock the poultry into a well-secured coop at night, and feed, water  and let them out onto pasture in the morning. Shelby isn’t fazed by this responsibility, however. It takes her about an hour each day to feed her hens, put out fresh water, and collect and clean the eggs.  Her flock currently has 130 hens, which produce between 28 – 56 dozen eggs a week.

What do her middle school peers think about Shelby’s entrepreneurship? They’re “astonished,” she laughs, when she goes to the bank and, using her Colorado state-issued ID, withdraws money to buy feed. While some friends think it’s pretty cool, those that don’t have a familiarity with animal agriculture think “it’s gross. Many don’t understand farming. As my dad says, it’s part of life, BUT it is our job to make sure [our] animals have the best, most enjoyable life possible while we have them.  I love my animals and I make sure they are happy but I also understand the outcome.”

Shelby sells most of her eggs to neighbors in Broomfield. Customers can call her or look for the big yellow sign she places at the end of her driveway when she is available to make sales. She and her dad will also deliver eggs within one mile of their home. Shelby doesn’t have any plans of giving up her business anytime soon. “I’ll definitely raise [chickens] forever,” she states. “I love chickens. They’re interesting and fun.”

Becoming Animal Welfare Approved was an added marketing tool to communicate the rigorous husbandry practices that Hemmer Hill employs to raise their animals. Joyce is proud of her ability to manage her pastures without the use of pesticides and keep her animals parasite-free without worming. With Gary’s attention to soil health and rain fall, they are able to grow excellent grass and practice rotational grazing, moving their sheep to keep them on the fertile pastures. This can be challenging depending on weather, but it leads to their animals’ superior nutrition and health.

Hemmer Hill registered and pure bred sheep are mostly sold as breeding stock all over the Midwest and East Coast. The Saint Croix sheep is on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy “Threatened” list, meaning that they have a global population under 5,000. While they don’t produce wool, the variety is desired for their easy care, multiple births, and lean meat which many customers prefer over the oily or lanolin-tasting meat that some think wool sheep produce. Customers who would like to buy breeding stock should reserve their lambs ahead of time by calling or emailing Joyce.