When Integrity Asks Everything of You
There are moments in farming that crack you wide open, and last week was one of them for Claire.
If you've been following along, you know Claire and Chuck – the young farmers who left Michigan last year to join our operation and learn regenerative farming from the ground up. They're about a year into doing this full-time with us now, mastering the daily practices that separate genuine regenerative agriculture from operations that just use the label.
Last weekend, Claire had to say goodbye to Benjamin – her first steer. Six and a half years ago, long before she and Chuck made the move to Arkansas, Ben fulfilled what Claire called her "lifelong dream of owning a cow." He was calm and gentle by nature, the kind of animal that made working with livestock a joy rather than a battle.
He thrived on pasture here, leading younger cattle to fresh grass, responding when called. At 2,200 pounds, he could still "leap for joy" when excited about a pasture move – until everything changed suddenly.
Ben, the gentle steer, with Claire and Chuck by his side.
When his hind end started giving out, there weren't many options. Claire spent the day with him – good feed, hauled water – hoping he might recover. But he kept deteriorating. So she made the hardest call a farmer can make, choosing to end his suffering quickly rather than let it continue.
"There just really aren't words to sum up this loss," Claire wrote. "Six and a half years were just not enough, but such an amazing time it was."
I'm sharing this with Claire's permission because it illustrates something critical about the farming model you're supporting.
The industrial system has made livestock management purely transactional. Animals move through CAFOs as units – efficient, distant, built specifically to avoid the kind of relationship that makes Claire's loss so painful.
But the type of farming we do requires farmers with a genuine passion for animal husbandry – and Claire's a natural who walked onto our farm already possessing it. She arrived with an instinctive ability to read livestock behavior, spot the subtle changes that signal illness before it becomes critical, and understand what each animal needs. Over this past year, helping Andrea manage our cattle and sheep has given her the opportunity to refine those innate talents – applying them to rotational grazing, low-stress handling, and making the hundreds of small decisions that determine whether livestock truly thrive or merely survive.
That attentive care produces measurably different results – stronger immune systems, better fatty acid profiles, superior meat quality.
It also means days like last Saturday hurt.
We don’t raise animals to survive the system. We raise them to thrive on pasture, through patient, daily care.
This is what farming with integrity looks like. The rigorous animal welfare standards that produce the clean, nutrient-dense meat you're feeding your family. Where farmers like Claire stay present for every hard decision.
Your support makes it possible for farmers like Claire to maintain these uncompromising standards – even on the days that test everything.
Your farmer (who believes quality starts with genuine care),
Cody