What is Locally Pastured?  Why is it so important?
Here at Oakland Bay Farm, the phrase Locally Pastured combines two pillars of our foundation into one very important idea:

We are firmly committed to supplying our local community with fresh, nutritious food that is worthy of our customers’ trust because it is produced ethically, morally, and environmentally. All of our animals are locally raised and bred. The key to our animals’ vibrant health and high quality meat products is their unlimited and boundless access to the outdoors on our pasture.

Our animals are outside on pasture as long as deemed safe for that animal. We want our animals to to express their pure “animal-ness” by giving them around the clock access to their natural foodstuffs. This cannot be done more simply than raising them outside; plain and simple. Conventionally raised animals are not just getting sick for no reason. They are getting sick, due to their deplorable living conditions that completely deny them of all access to the outside and their natural forages.
 

How do you raise your beef?
First and foremost, our cattle only ever consume grass and other green forages! At no time do our cattle ever receive any grain at all. And of course they consume no animal products, since they truly are vegans. Second, our cattle are our four-legged, petroleum/oil/air/noise-pollution free, lawn mowers that actually stimulate abundant grass growth!

To properly pasture (see the ‘Locally Pastured’ handout) poultry the grass needs to be short. Enter our cattle…they have access to the exact amount of forage they can consume in one day; no more–no less. Then, at the end of each day we move them to a new section of pasture to start the cycle over.

We do this everyday so that the chickens coming behind them can run around and eat the insects and fertilize the soil.

Our cattle are a vital component of our entire Locally Pastured system.
 

How do you raise your pigs?
Our pigs are able to express their full “pigness,” when and how they so choose! We want our pigs to live just as they would if they weren’t ours.

Our pigs live outside with access to forages and grasses to eat and also root around in the soil to find roots and soil dwelling creatures to eat. Rooting also allows them to cool down by laying and coating themselves in/with dirt. Furthermore, we provide them with access to 100% certified organic, GMO free grains, minerals and vitamins.

Our methods result in pigs that live how pigs should, and by doing so, they provide us all with food products whose content is superior in taste and nutrition.
This is how Oakland Bay Farm feeds pigs’ needs to fully express their “pigness!”
 

Are your animals happy?
Our animals are the happiest you’ll find around. Why, you ask? Its because we go out of our way to provide them with a quality of life that is (as close as possible) identical to the life they would live if they were not our animals.

We want our animals to be able to express their full “animal-ness” when and how they so desire. We have adapted to their needs, instead of demanding our animals to adapt to ours. The result is healthy, happy animals and food products that are superior to any others you will find or currently have access to.

Nutritionally and environmentally speaking, our products and animals are better for you and the land upon which they are raised. Yes, we feel it is safe to say that our animals are most indeed happy.
 

Where does your meat come from?
Our meat products come from animals that we own. They are our animals. They live here in the local community. Unlike other locally owned meat shops whose products come from animals raised not only outside of our local area, but outside of the entire Pacific Northwest (WA, OR, ID and CA), Oakland Bay Farm’s products come from animals raised within 50 miles of the Olympia Farmer’s Market!

Unlike other locally owned meat shops whose products more often than not come from huge scale ‘Confined-Animal-Feeding-Operations’ (CAFOs) and factory farms, Oakland Bay Farm’s animals are pasture based (the ‘Locally Pastured’ handout) and live outside in the environment they’re suited for. We pick up our products from the butcher the morning the Olympia Farmer’s Market opens! No one else has meat that fresh and no-where locally besides Oakland Bay Farm can it be found - guaranteed!
 

Are your products Certified Organic?
1. How much trust can one instill into a Government owned and operated food label such as certified organic? We provide our customers with the opportunity to trust their own eyes, ears, nose and mouth when it comes to their food since one, our farm is open to the public; and two, we only sell our products locally. When it comes down to it, who would you trust more: yourself or the government?

2. The only guarantee certified organic provides is that food inputs are “clean in nature;” no synthetic chemicals or no poisons were used in the production of said product. We don’t feel that is much of an accomplishment! As a bare minimum, poisons should not be used in food production! Guaranteeing no poisons were used is a good first step though stopping there is not good enough. Of course we don’t use poisons to produce our food products; what’s more we’re also extremely concerned with and guarantee our customers that the quality of life, quality of the end product, nutritional content, freshness and taste are superior to those that are just certified organic.

3. The armor and the aura that initially surrounded Organic has been steadily eroded by larger companies wanting a “piece of the pie.” These companies, most of which being the reasons the Organic label came to be and gained popularity due to growers and consumers demanding a higher standard of food production, have used their gigantic economic advantages to, unfortunate as it may be, successfully remove bits and pieces of the soul of what the original organic movement once stood for. Most noticeably and recent, the certified organic label now allows growers to use Genetically Modified Organisms in certified organic food production. Scary, huh? So much for purity.