Our Livestock Program 

We believe animals raised with compassion and care can create a more resilient farm system. By recycling crops, digesting carbon, and giving back important bacterial rich fertilizer, animals are an integral part of our sustainability practices here at Full Belly. We raise chickens, cows, sheep, and pigs. All animals are pasture-raised, lovingly handled and constantly treated to nutrient dense produce! 

Meat can be purchased at all of our farmers market locations and through our CSA program. All meat is vacuum-packed and frozen when it leaves the Farm, but some thawing may occur during the delivery process. Please email produce@fullbellyfarm.com to inquire about specific meat cuts and prices. 

CHICKENS

Eggs: Our Full Belly Farm layer hen program is something we are very proud of.  We have between 1200-1500 hens at any given time  They stay inside portable electric fencing about 25,600 square feet in size.  The hens have a mobile coop to roost in at night and lay eggs in during the day. They live on pasture, in orchards, and even in spent vegetable fields depending on the season. Every 4 or 5 days, once they have finished eating all the bugs and forage in their space, they are moved to a completely new site. 

We raise Red Stars and Americana chickens. Our hens lay eggs that are shades of white, brown, tan and blue. The number of eggs our hens lay can vary by the season, the weather and their age.  They enjoy an organic diet of our homegrown wheat and organic grain packed with trace minerals and nutrients that we buy from Bar Ale in Williams, CA., and grass and cover crop from our pastures. 

Broilers: Our meat birds also live a happy life amongst our pastures in mobile coops. They eat an organic diet of organic Bar Ale grain, grass and our organic veggies and fruit. 

Soup/ Stew Chickens – Our egg-layers are hard workers, and when they reach the end of their laying cycle, we harvest them. These are whole chickens (with head and feet attached). They are not roasting chickens. They make delicious soups, stews, and broths. The meat from the boiled carcass is great for tacos, chicken salad, and casseroles.

SHEEP

Our flocks of sheep are an integral part of our operation and are regularly rotated through produce fields after we have finished harvesting. Our lambs are fed organic pasture, vegetables and homegrown hay. We raise a few breeds including California Red, Merinos, Rambouillet, Lincoln, and Suffolk. Some are dual or triple-purpose breeds, meaning they produce good wool, meat and dairy.  
 
All of our sheep are long-haired breeds. Our own sheep-shearing professional, Rye Muller, shears the sheep every spring once they no longer need their fleece to protect them from the cold. Once the fleece is removed, we send it off to Green Mountain Spinnery in Vermont and it comes back as yarn or roving. 
 
Many of our sheep are hard working mothers, who produce a number of lambs over the years. We harvest the lambs at one years old and send their hides to be tanned and cleaned in Pennsylvania at Bucks County Fur Products. Our sheepskins are not dyed or bleached, and showcase each sheeps natural coloring.
 
Yan and sheepskins are available in our web store here and at farmers markets every week. 

CATTLE

We raise jersey and black angus/jersey cross cattle. The cows graze our pastures and cover crops and are given ample space to roam. In addition to pasture, our cows are fed an organic diet of farm produce leftovers and homegrown hay. They particularly like winter squash and musk melons.

 

 

 

 

 

PIGS

Our pigs live in a grassy pasture, shaded by black walnut and oak trees, near Cache Creek. We raise a Hampshire/Tamworth cross breed. In addition to pasture, our pigs eat an organic diet of farm produce leftovers, tasty black walnuts and homegrown dent corn that we crack in our own hammer mill and mix with water, milk, and eggs for extra nutrients and supreme digestibility.