We are a small family farm raising our animals on green pastures in the Catskill Mountains. We started farming on our own ten years ago. We are farming an 80-acre hill farm outside of Walton, N.Y.

Our farm started with a small flock of Romney sheep, a couple of Tamworth pigs, and a flock of chickens. We have grown into a flock of 80 sheep consisting of Romney, Lincoln, and Cotswold breeds. Our pigs are Tamworth and Large Blacks. We have two types of chickens, Broilers for meat and layers for eggs. We also raise turkeys and this year we will try geese.

From the beginning our goal has been a sustainable grass based farm employing humane animal practices. Our animals are raised on native grasses and legumes that regrow every year. Because of this renewable resource, we do not need to plough, plant or use pesticides on our grassland. Keeping the farm in permanent grass helps protect our precious soil resource,

By improved grazing management we are able to raise our lambs entirely on mother's milk and grass. We move our animals every several days to new pasture to increase weight gains, reduce disease, and improve nutrient distribution. Our lambs are born out on the pasture in late April, which coincides with the natural cycle of grass growth. By lambing later in the season, the grass is at a high quality that meets the nutritional demand of the mothers and the growth requirements of the lambs.

We provide fresh grass every day to our chickens and pigs to supplement part of their diet. Since these animals are non-ruminants, one third of their diet can come from grass. The other two thirds needs to be supplied through purchased grain to maintain health. The purchased grain comes from a small farmer run cooperative feed mill.

The meadow-raised poultry enjoy fresh green grass, insects and sunshine every day. Each day the chickens are moved to a fresh area of pasture. Once that area of pasture has been grazed, it is allowed to be cleansed naturally with rain and sunshine. The birds thrive on pasture without overcrowding, antibiotics or growth hormones. You will be able to taste the difference. Our Thanksgiving turkeys are raised in a similar manner as the chickens.

We raise our Tamworth and Large Black pigs on pasture and woodlands with lots of room to roam. The heritage breed pigs are rare breeds that were originally kept as an outside pig on small homesteads but as hog farms changed to confinement operations, the heritage breeds did not perform as well and fell out of favor. The breeds are now endangered but are well suited for outdoor living on a small homestead.

Endangered breeds such as Cotswold and Lincoln sheep, Tamworth and Large Black pigs and Dexter cattle have found a niche on our farm. These older breeds have retained many of their rugged self-sufficient characteristics, which allows them to thrive almost exclusively on native foorages with little or no grain. These rare breeds require little in the way of medications because of their natural resistance to disease. The rare breeds thrive under a variety of conditions with little intervention from us.

We feel it is important to raise animals in their natural environment. This keeps livestock healthier, improves production and keeps animals content. All our animals have access to fresh air, fresh grass, fresh water sunshine and plenty of room in an uncrowded stress free environment. We do not dock lamb's or pig's tails, or castrate lambs, or debeak chicks. Occasionally we have to treat a sick animal with an antibiotic. In this situation, the animal would not be sold through the CSA.

Our farm is centered around our children Sean, Kevin and Aeden which is how we came up with the name of the farm, "Tir na nOg" which means Land of the Young in Gaelic. They learn about responsible caring for animals and where our food comes from. Our farm needs to be self-sustaining so that our children will be able to farm into the future. We feel through our grass based animal production and this new opportunity with Community Supported Agriculture that our farm will be able to sustain a living for ourselves and our children well into the future.

We look forward to the opportunity providing you with alternatively raised meats through the CSA . We would welcome any questions you may have about our farm.

All the best

Dan and Helen Flaherty
and family

for more information call Helen or Dan at (607) 865-8414