Grass-Fed
The animals on Leaping Waters Farm live the way they were intended to: in open pasture, on the Earth.
All of HERD Provision animals from Leaping Waters Farm are given free range to roam the plentiful pastures with access to the mixture of grasses that have been sown for the seasons: spring oats (grass), winter rye, clover in the summer, and a blended variety in the fall. Additionally, they live lives free of herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones, which means the meat they provide is just as natural as the spring waters from which they drink. Raising animals on open pasture means the livestock is able to choose their own diet, and it also allows the animals to replenish the soil upon which the cattle rely.
This system leads to animals that are healthier, meat that is healthier, and in turn, consumers that are healthier.
Unlike humans, cattle are one of the few animals with stomachs that have the capacity to digest and process grass; as such we believe it's important that they eat plenty of it. The cattle at LWF are both grass fed and grass finished, which means the meat that they produce is healthier (very high in omega-3's!) than the commercialized alternative. The public often times equates the term “grass fed” with non-marbled, lean yet tough meat that has an iron-like flavor, but our meat is nothing of the sort. Because our cattle are free to graze as they please, the muscle they develop has deep flavor and beautiful marbling, and the nutrients that they gain from foraging the land is passed onto you, the consumer.
Commercial cattle on the other hand, are raised indoors on jam-packed concrete feedlots where they're fed grains instead of grass. These grains fatten the animals up, help to provide marbling in the meat, and renders their products more desirable to consumers. Sadly though, the feedlot system is hard on the animals and their genetics. Their bodies quickly acclimate to this new lifestyle and diet and in turn lose the ability to live off the land: If and when these cattle are removed from the feedlot and sent to responsible farms to feed on grass, their bodies are no longer able gain good weight via foraging the land alone. Therefore, they can't produce quality meat.
The good news is, since the Ancient White Park Cattle were such a revered breed, they were protected from ever entering into that system and therefore still have the innate ability to gain weight from whatever forage, be it grasses, wild roses or onions, they can find. This is not your supermarket grass fed!