Formerly,Bar None Ranch, of Berlin, NY, we are now Climbing Tree Farm, of New Lebanon. We raise PASTURED POULTRY, LAMB, GRASS-FED BEEF, and WOODLAND/PASTURE-RAISED, MILK-FED PORK. We keep our animals true to their instincts- letting our pigs dig, our chickens range, our sheep graze. We feed rotationally graze on pasture and silvo-pasture (in the woods). We work with a local dairy to feed our pigs Jersey milk. We are conscientious stewards of the land, and our animals.


Please visit our website climbingtreefarm.com
or contact us with questions or to place orders.


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Pigs

  PIGS
 
Our pigs come to our farm at around eight weeks old, when they weigh about 50 pounds. Our pigs are various mixes of heritage breeds. Pigs are naturally curious and playful, they also LOVE to dig. We try to appeal to their “piggishness” by rotating the pigs through our fields and forest so that they have fresh forage, plenty of space to exercise, and room
to explore. We employ our pigs, and their love of digging, to turn our garden(they fertilize while they till to!), and to manage invasive plant species on our land.

Our son moving the pigs into the forest, where they work to clear unwanted brush and invasive plant species.
Our Pigs eat locally grown grain, local raw milk, cheese, and whey, excess vegetables from local farms, and grass and roots from our pastures and forest. We have opted to feed our animals locally grown (not organic) grain for several reasons:
  1. Most organic grain is grown in China, Canada or (best case) the Midwest. Our food is grown 20 minutes down the road, which means it travels far fewer miles to our farm.
  2. We support local farmers and commerce.
  3. The grain we feed our animals is freshly ground.
  4. Organic feed costs 2 ½ times more and pigs eat a lot. The cost of feeding organic would be prohibitively high on a small, local farm like ours.
  5. You are what you eat- our pigs eat well and taste amazing.
  6. Pigs on grass are "happier than a pig in s**t."
     We do not use artificial hormones or routine antibiotics. In a few rare cases we have had to use antibiotics. We will not allow our animals to suffer, and when it is possible to restore an animal to health using a therapeutic dose of antibiotics, we will administer them. However, our animals are well cared for, and have required any kind of medical intervention fewer than a handful of times.
  7. Pig herd foraging on winter grass
    We use our pigs' natural curiosity to load them into the trailer when it is time for them to go to market, making loading (typically a stressful event)completely stress-free. Our USDA inspected processing facility  is only a 15 minute drive from the farm.   Our processor is Animal Welfare Approved, and holds a NOFA-NY organic handler certified.  Our pigs are usually between 190 lbs. and 250 lbs hanging weight when they go to market, depending upon our customers' preferences.  We usually sell our pigs whole, by the half, or in primal cuts. Most of our pigs go to restaurants (a large percentage to restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY), though we are open to selling to families and love to see our meat stay local in our valley.



Pigs can be fun playmates!
 



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