Fewer than 20 years ago, White Oak Pastures had evolved into a conventionally run commodity cattle farm. We employed all of the industrial tools that science had developed to take the costs out of farming, including pesticides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, and antibiotics. Even while using these artificial crutches, our family never ceased to believe that we were being good stewards of our land. We were completely oblivious to the grave consequences that can result from fighting against nature. We were unwittingly steering our family heritage in a direction that was not environmentally sustainable. But by the mid-1990’s, White Oak Pastures President Will Harris had become disenchanted with the excesses of that system. And in 1995 he made the bold — and some thought, foolish — decision to take the farm back to its origins.
Today, we are raising cattle, sheep, and poultry using the same methods Will’s great-grandfather used a century and a half ago. We proactively support nature's food chain, using only sun, soil, and rain to grow organic sweet grasses for our animals to eat. Practicing the Serengeti Grazing Model, we rotate complimentary animal species side-by-side through our pastures. The cows graze the grass, the sheep eat the weeds, and the chickens peck at the grubs and insects. All three species naturally fertilize the land, and our soil is again a living organic medium that teems with life.
Raising animals this way is not the cheapest method. Our way is, however, the right way for the sake of our animals, our environment, and for the people who eat our products. Stewardship of our farm is not a passing fancy; it is a lifestyle decision and a core value of our family. We continuously strive to improve our land stewardship.
We are proud to be the largest USDA Certified Organic farm in Georgia. Our animals are processed in abattoirs that we built here on our farm, and they are zero-waste facilities. All animal remains are processed in our on-site aerobic/anaerobic digester and used as organic fertilizers for our pastures. We have a small-scale organic farm on the property that grows more than 40 varieties of heritage vegetables, fruits and nuts. Forty percent of our plant’s energy needs comes from solar panels. White Oak Pastures received the Governor’s Award for Environmental Stewardship in 2011, and The University of Georgia’s Award of Excellence in 2008.
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