Health Hero Farm

If you have been thinking about purchasing a side of beef so that you can have the best possible beef at the most economical price, please contact us.  NOW is the time to reserve your side, as supplies are limited.  Our cattle are certified 100% grass fed, as well as Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World.  Perhaps you have already tried our Porterhouse or rib steak at Hotel Vermont or enjoyed our stir fry through the Intervale Food Hub’s Omnivore CSA share.   If you order a side of beef, the steaks and roasts can be cut to your specifications, and you can decide how much ground beef versus other cuts you want.  We deliver your order to your home free of charge.  Our price is $4.20 per pound (hanging weight), plus butcher fees.  If you get together with friends and order the whole beef, it’s only $3.95 per pound, plus butcher fees.  There’s a lot of good press about the benefits of grass-fed beef, and this is a great opportunity for you to commit to a healthier lifestyle.  Buying in bulk gives you all the steaks and roasts for the price of ground beef.  If your freezer space is limited, we also offer several size packages on our website to stock up and save.  Please contact us to sign up for a year of really great beef!!!  
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Here’s our story — how we raise our cattle and produce such great beef.  It’s all about the love.  Matthan, who is working for us this summer, did the photography, along with his wife Catie.  We think you will enjoy this:  

The video is also on
Youtube, with perhaps better delivery speed.

Fiona is our morning delight! She sees us approach with her bottle and comes bounding to meet us. Her mother is nursing her twin brother, who now weighs 150 pounds to Fiona’s 105 pounds, but it’ll all work out. We have been visiting our friendly neighborhood dairy farmer to tap his bulk tank for raw, whole unhomogenized milk. The thrice-daily warm bottles have now dwindled down to one big feeding in the morning. Fiona has been observed to chew the cud and drink water from the stock tank, so with fingers crossed we are watching her carefully and hoping she transitions to 100% grass-fed in a few weeks. [By the way, we had named her Fiona after the Shrek heroine, because she is spunky and she is effectively an ogre in her mother’s eyes.]

Graduation!  The bull calf has found the teat, learned to suckle and is packing on the pounds.  We drive the calves out to the herd, and mama follows with laser focus.  As expected, the herd welcomes excitement and gathers to greet them.   What we didn’t see coming was the challenge for herd dominance.  The cow had only been away from the herd, to bond with her calves, for three days.  But the new leader is not about to give up her place.  These cows weigh around 1700 pounds each, so the action is earth-shaking.  After a little head-to-head shoving, everyone settles down to graze.  Now for the sad back story…  The heifer twin has been rejected by her mom and we have become her only source of nutrition.  Although “Fiona” can bask in the sun, play with the other calves and nibble inquisitively on grass, she has to wait for the bottle to fill her belly.

 

What a joyous time of the year, when we turn the cattle out on pasture and get to see the calves nursing. These are the first three — a little bull calf and two heifers. Many more to come, with visions of easy calving. Joan attended the “calf clinic” and hopes she doesn’t need to use any of her untried delivery skills.

With the warmer weather, the cattle enjoy spending time outdoors, rather than in the barn. We feed them our aromatic baleage in the bale ring. And then we unrolled a bale of bedding hay down the hill. The age-old quandry looms — to eat the hay or sleep on it? Or both?
 

Click here for a video of the bull helping us unroll the bedding bale.

Hotel Vermont is now offering our porterhouse steak at their restaurant! You no longer need to know how to cook to enjoy our beef.

Juniper Bar & Restaurant’s spring inspired dinner menu addition: bone in steak for two with salads, Red Hen Baking Co. bread & Ploughgate Creamery butter, roasted veggies, and 100% grass fed beef from Health Hero Farm. Please support the Juniper Bar & Restaurant with your business. It takes a special effort on the part of the chef to source their ingredients from small local producers such as us. We so appreciate this opportunity to get the word out.  *Photo credit Hotel Vermont.

We just brought the cattle into the barn to weigh them and have a good look at their condition.   Great news!  The average yearling weight was 77 pounds over projections.  And no wonder, the baleage had a rich fermented smell, as would inspire hearty eating.  The calves were a little lighter than expected, but then we’ve just weaned them, which is stressful.  Still they look bright eyed and energetic.  Special thanks to our neighbors Fred and Erin who helped us persuade the cattle to enter the handling facility and stand in the squeeze chute.  Erin is amazing, she has such a way with animals.  I understand she is a horse whisperer as well and speaks chicken.

 

OK, round two! This calf, with her mom’s cooperation, has figured out how to nurse through the corral panels. It’s a little complicated, since the calf has to turn her head sidewards to get it through the horizontal bars. So yesterday, we heavied up on the polywire — both sides of the corral panels. Both parties are encouraged to get with the program.