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OUR FARM PRACTICES
Why Shop with Rocking 5 S Farms?
Grocery stores are full of products labeled "healthy," and "organic." The food industry knows that Americans are looking for better, cleaner, and healthier choices. Even large commercial snack food producers know that most families are looking for more ecologically friendly options. We see this reflected in the packaging and marketing for all sorts of goods now. But when you choose small local farms you can feel CONFIDENT you are getting exactly what you are looking for!
Family Owned and Operated- Shopping with family-owned business means your grocery dollars work hard to directly support a family. You help families pay their bills, keep their homes, and send their children to college. Walmart and Costco may never miss you, but every customer makes a difference to a family-owned business.
Local- Locally produced foods are at your door and ready to eat inside their peak of freshness (and nutrition.) By shopping locally your food budget helps keep farmlands in our community and supports the local economy. Research shows that supporting local business drastically improves how long the dollar cycles inside of our community, this is in part because local businesses are more likely to do their own shopping locally as well. Foods produced locally require less non-renewable resource usage due to less major trucking and refrigeration, plus less traffic!
Regenerative- At Rocking 5 S Farms we utilize earth-healing practices that build healthy soil, protect local ecology, and improve biodiversity. Regenerative agriculture aims to HEAL the earth and protect it for future generations. With small farms like ours, you can witness the ecologically friendly practices yourself! Join us on our socials, take a farm tour, or come out for a seasonal event. We love to share what we are learning about being stewards of our land.
Humane- We love our livestock! Every animal on this farm is treated with the utmost respect and raised in a manner that honors its natural tendencies. No cages, but instead, mobile enclosures that provide fresh grasses daily with plenty of room to spread their wings! No antibiotics and medicated feeds just holistic practices that create healthy and happy animals.
WHAT IS REGENERATIVE FARMING?
Regenerative farming, in short, refers to farming practices that improve our environment. Regenerative farming aims to improve soil quality, sequester carbon, and increase biodiversity; as well as, reduce inputs, increase yields, and reduce pests and pathogens. Techniques utilized by regenerative farmers include rotational grazing, rotating crops, agroforestry, and no or low till practices. Regenerative farmers often use cover crops, mulch, and natural or organic pest and weed management. Regenerative farming is a multi-faceted approach to address common issues with modern agriculture.
THE PASTURE RAISED PROCESS
All of our pasture-raised chickens spend three weeks in a brooder designed for their comfort and safety. We utilize a deep bedding method to maintain a clean and comfortable environment. Chicks are fed non-gmo chick feed from a local mill. After three weeks fast-growing broilers have developed their mature feathers and can be moved into chicken tractors where they will enjoy pasture life until they are harvested. Our laying flock spends a bit more time maturing in the comfort of the brooder before they are moved into mobile coops that house them while they are moved onto fresh grass every day. Our broiler chicken tractors provide plenty of room for the birds to stretch their wings, forage, and be chickens! Like our mobile coops, chickens tractors are moved to fresh grass every day. This provides an optimal environment for healthy chickens; less illness and parasites, more fresh grass and seeds, and bugs for increased omega-3s.
REGENERATIVE ON ROCKING 5 S
At Rocking 5 S Farms, we utilize a rotational grazing system; Animals are moved daily on fresh paddocks in a system that improves pasture lands, builds soil, and keeps animals healthy. We aim for a closed system using permaculture techniques. This means we try to utilize any waste or by-product from one system to supplement another. For example; waste from winter animal bedding is used to make compost while soil and roots from spent microgreen trays are spread for the chickens to scratch through, further improving their diet and adding to soil stores on our farm. We use natural and organic pest and weed management such as mulching, tarping, and hand-pulling. We plant trees and are developing silvopasture. We are always attempting to improve our regenerative practices to better care for our lands, water sources, and local ecology. Keep an eye on our blog or social profiles for more examples of our regenerative practices.