Peaceful Pastures

Written by: Deborah Wechsler (2004)

Jenny and Darrin Drake

Peaceful Pastures

Hickman, TN

www.peacefulpastures.com

“It all started with a blind date,” says Jenny Drake.  Jenny, from Kentucky, was a vegetarian, with an interest in veterinary medicine, a job in public health, and concerns about ethical treatment of animals; her date, Darrin Drake, grew up on a conventional cattle and row crop farm, but had been researching grass-based farming as a way to be more insulated from commodity farm prices. “Grass-based farming solved my reasons for being vegetarian,” says Jenny, and within a year Darrin Drake and Jenny married and started farming together, first in his home state of Indiana for two years and then in Virginia for two more years, with Jenny working off the farm as they built up their livestock base. Seven years ago, they bought a farm in Tennessee abandoned for five years, neglected for 20, and adjoining that of one of Darrin's best friends.

Early on, while they were still in Indiana, Jenny decided she would try to sell their first four beef cattle direct to consumers. “I got on the phone and by noon I had six sold,” she remembers. Obviously, she was on to something. Since then, their farm has continued to grow, always responding to demand from its customers, into a busy, multi-faceted and multi-species direct-market operation raising beef cattle, dairy cows, sheep, hogs goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese. The Drakes tried produce one year, but quickly decided to concentrate on what raising they knew best, raising livestock and poultry.

All the livestock and poultry are pasture-raised. Chickens and turkeys are the only animals that receive grain . Pastures are a mix of fescue, clover, bermudagrass, lespedeza, and orchardgrass, with rye seeded on some pastures in fall for winter and early spring forage. The livestock stay in their pastures approximately 5-7 days. The Drakes have found Managed Intensive Grazing (MIG), where animals are moved as often as twice a day, too labor-intensive. and, says Jenny, “our animals laughed at that polytape fencing."

Their beef cattle are Red Angus, and many of their animals are heritage breeds: Dutch Belted cows, Oberhasli goats, Lincoln sheep, Tamworth and Hereford hogs, Australorp chickens, Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys. “We were looking for truly grazing breeds which are really hardy and lower maintenance,” explains Jenny.

Beef and lamb bring in the most income, with about 50 cows and 40 lambs processed annually. Lamb and pork have the highest profits. Chicken and poultry draw in a lot of people, but the profit margin is much lower. Meat is marketed as healthy, hormone- and antibiotic-free, ethically raised, and environmentally sustainable, but is not organic -- partly because of certification red tape but also because commercial wormers are used as needed on all animals except birds and pigs. “The one year we tried to go organic, 40% of the lambs died from parasites,” Jenny says.

Processing is a major issue for the farm, especially for poultry. Jenny and Darrin had access to state-inspected processing plants for their poultry when they were farming in Virginia and Indiana, but not once they moved their operation to Tennessee . In Tennessee they acquired their own equipment and started to do on-farm processing, but were in constant legal battles with the state. Just this year, the Drakes finally decided to sell the equipment and shift their chicken and turkey production five hours away to Illinois , where Darren's sister would manage it for them. “We were spending $3,000 a year in legal fees for a $10,000 business,” says Jenny. “It was hard to let go of raising the birds and control of the processing, but if we went with USDA-inspected processing, all issues were null and void, and it opened up the restaurant market for us.” They debated getting out of poultry entirely, but the chickens and turkeys are too important a draw. They are still looking for a processor for their ducks and geese; few processors will handle these specialty birds, and those that do are expensive. For now, they may have to sell the birds live, pay the high processing costs and try to pass those costs on to customers—or eat a lot of duck and goose themselves. For livestock, they are served by USDA-inspected processors an hour or two away, but rising costs for processing have them worried. They are hoping that additional facilities will be opened to increase their options.

The Drakes sell all their farm products direct to consumers and restaurants, with all meats sold frozen. The greatest proportion of their sales are national through contacts made by advertising with the Weston Price Foundation, a listing on the Local Harvest and “Eat Wild” websites, and endorsements by nationally known nutritionists. Some sales are to customers in Nashville , about an hour away. The Drakes offer three CSA options, each offering 22-25 pounds of meat per month, with pick-up either at the farm or a central delivery point. Currently, the year-round CSA costs $855; a “premium” November-May CSA costs $525; the “family” November-May CSA, which does not include lamb or steaks, costs $450. In addition to the CSAs, they sell to co-ops, natural food stores and high-end restaurants in Nashville. Very few of their sales are in their home county.

Peaceful Pastures markets other products besides meats from its animals. White or silver fleeces from the Lincoln sheep are often sold to a network of “Santa beard” makers; the wool is well-suited to this specialty use. Colored fleeces go to handspinners, occasionally through E-bay. A handspinner herself, Jenny is able to answer customers' questions about washing, carding, and using the Lincoln fleeces. People can even buy cull wool to use as garden mulch. Jenny began making soap as a way to use up goats milk—though it actually uses very little—and continues to make it because she enjoys doing it and because it adds another year-round product to their mix. Sales are especially good around Christmas, and the year-round CSA participants get a bar of soap each month. She also likes making cheese, but all milk and cheese is sold at the farm only for pet food; sale of raw milk for human consumption is illegal in Tennessee.

Peaceful Pastures has a long wish list for the future. Getting good labor is a top priority. Their standards are high, and they require that hired help be drug, alcohol, and tobacco-free. “In seven years, we've been through over 75 employees,” says Jenny, “but bad help is worse than no help.” Their most effective workers have been interns, often pre-vet or veterinary students looking for practical, multi-species experience. Because training is extensive, interns must commit to a 14-week stint. Ideally, they would like one full-time person, one part-time high school student, and interns, but Jenny feels she will need to invest more time in visiting colleges to recruit interns.

If they can resolve labor issues, they'd like to expand the business. Expansion plans include building their sheep flock up so they can consistently market 100 lambs a year. Additional lambs and their now-USDA-processed poultry would make it easier to attract restaurant customers. Jenny is also seeking ways to reach out to individual consumers in the Nashville market, where she finds that potential customers seem wedded to the convenience of shopping at natural foods supermarket chains, where they can buy non-frozen meats that take little forethought to prepare. She is also thinking about the possibility of adding farm tours for school groups. This would require more labor and keeping the farm trimmed and neat, but may be a good way to capitalize on the Noah's Ark diversity of the farm, bring in income, and make the city folks more aware of Peaceful Pastures as both a destination and a source of good, healthy meats.

Location: Tennessee 's Cumberland Plateau , about one hour east of Nashville

Climate zone:   6   Soil type: Loam and sandy loam

Years in commercial production: 11; 7 at this location

Acreage: Own 300 acres; lease an additional 500-700 acres

Livestock: About 100 Red Angus brood cows, 12 milk cows, 65 breeding sheep, 40 hogs , 40 dairy goats, chickens (including 100 laying hens), ducks, turkeys, geese, and a few horses

Crops/products: Cuts of beef, veal, pork, lamb, goats. Chickens, turkeys, duck, goose. Fleeces; raw goat & cow's milk and milk products (as pet food only)

Value-added products: Meat cuts, sausage, naturally cured bacon and hams, and homemade soaps and bath products.

Notable facilities and equipment: Walk-in freezer, commercial chest freezer. Large marine coolers for transport of meats.

Weeks in production: Year-round

Markets: Three CSAs, direct to individuals and restaurants; mail-order via internet

Labor: Jenny and Darrin Drake, full time; summer interns, some hired help