Ararat Farm
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Meet the Animals

Below is an in depth description of everything we do to connect hungry people with healthy animals. We want to provide you with the knowledge of how your meat is raised, the reasons for the methods that we raise them and how that benefits you and your family. We hope that you learn and have a better understanding of where your meat comes from and how it gets in your freezer and on your plate! Please subscribe to our email list so you receive monthly updates and know what is new or coming soon. Also find us on Instagram.

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Grass Fed & Finished Beef

At Ararat Farm we raise intensively managed, mob grazed beef. This means that they are moved onto fresh pasture at least daily (we try for multiple moves a day through the summer). This keeps them away from their manure and parasites and gives the grass adequate rest for regrowth. The mob grazing stimulates the microbes in the soil into overdrive, pulling minerals and nutrients to the grasses increasing leaf growth. This results in a rich, lush variety salad bar that the cattle graze on. Even in the winter we are able to graze most of the way through with just a little grass hay supplement. The cattle are grass finished which means that they are grassed completely to slaughter weight on pasture with no added feeds.

We have switched to using South Poll cattle. This breed is a hardy, southern grass cow that gives us a step ahead on selecting quality genetics. We rely on good genetics and management to ensure our herd performs well without inputs, such as vaccines, grain feed or hormones. Grass cattle are breeds of cattle that perform well on pasture as they were created to do; as opposed to grain cattle breeds which are suited for the manure lagoon feed lots that most beef is fattened in. South Poll cattle are low maintenance, low input cows that raise fat calves on our grass pastures. Their gentle temperaments allow them to gain weight quickly providing you with a flavorful and juicy meat. Our herd has not grown big enough to fill our customer demand so we also have to purchase stocker calves that we raise for slaughter. We strive to only purchase these from farmers who have not given them any grain, hormones or vaccines.

We give our cows a long and happy life with only one bad day. Our target weight for slaughtering is carcass hanging weight of roughly 500 lbs. We sell the beef by the carcass weight which is a standard weight used by producers and butchers to determine value. Typical take home weight is roughly 70% of the carcass weight. When you pick up your beef, each cut is individually labeled and vacuum packed for your convenience. A visual difference between grass fed/finished and grain fed beef is the marbling. Grain fat gives a very visible yellowish fat marbling which is high in omega 6 fatty acids. Fat from proper grass grazing is a clearer fat marbling that is not as visible. This fat is high in omega 3 fatty acids and CLA.

Our beef is sold by the 1/4, 1/2 and whole. We butcher in the Spring (May) and Fall (September) to ensure you are always stocked up in beef.

We also have started selling ground beef in a little store in Knoxville.

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Ararat Serves BGG

We have recently started serving beef to a restaurant in Bristol VA. Bristol Gardens and Grill (BGG) is an adorable little restaurant located in the middle of bustling Bristol not far from the racetrack. They are serving Ararat’s grassfed and finished ground beef in the form of delicious burgers. If you are in the area defiantly look them up and enjoy a delicious farm to table meal!

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Pastured Pork

Ararat Farm is dedicated to bringing you the healthiest, most flavorful pork. Our herd of heritage breed pigs is rotated through an abundance of fresh pasture and lush woods to allow them to forage an incredible variety of nutrients. This causes the pigs to thrive and make fat and juicy, mouth watering pork.

We manage the pigs differently than the cows when it comes to the ground they are on. We leave the pigs on the ground longer than the cows in order to provide proper stimulation to promote plant root structure and soil microbes from the pigs tillage. Pigs need to be managed so that they provide proper stimulation and not cause erosion or deforestation for the flora and fauna.

We purchase weened piglets from local producers who raise a variety of heritage pigs. These are older breeds that perform well with foraging instead of a grain only diet. Breeds such as Berkshire, Hampshire, Large Black and Red Waddle just to name a few, are what we have used with delicious success. The unique design of pork fat, allows it to absorb flavor from its food within a month of changing it’s diet. This gives us the ability to bring you a seasonally flavored pork, with lush greens in the summer and rich acorns in the fall (for you food gourmands, acorn fattened pork is a high dollar delicacy in Spain). We do use some supplemental grain feed (which is okay because pigs are omnivores). We purchase this from a local mill and the grain they carry comes from a neighboring farm. Our pigs are not given any hormones or antibiotics because we use Diatomaceous Earth and apple cider to cleanse them of parasites.

Just like the cows, the pigs have a very happy life with just one bad day. Our target weight with the pigs is roughly 175 to 275 lbs. hanging carcass weight. We sell the pork by 1/2 and whole per lb. of carcass weight. We sell the pork by the carcass weight which is a standard weight used by producers and butchers to determine value. Take home weights are roughly 75% of carcass weight. The butcher who serves us is able to not only make fantastic sausage (MSG&Gluten Free), but is also able to both smoke and brine cure ham and bacon (brine curing is how grocery store bacon is cured). When you pick up your pork, each cut is individually labeled and vacuum packed for your convenience.

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Grass Finished Bison

This is a summary of the bison and how we grazed them. This was a huge experiment and we went into it with very little knowledge because there is not a lot of information on the grazing methods for bison. So here is what we did and what we learned in the process!

Bison are in the same family as cattle with some differences. At Ararat Farm we purchased the bison older so they have only been grass finished and have not been fully grass fed. Being grass finished however provide them with a good finishing growth and fattening. Their condition improved tremendously within about 2 months of grazing. The bison were an amazing demonstration the results of proper grazing practices.

When we first got the bison they were very skinny and their hips were very sunk in (a typical indication of a limited “hungry” animal) and their coats were matted and smelled worse then a wet dog. All of these signs are the same signs we watch for with our cattle herd to make sure the health of the animal is the best it can be. So when the bison came to the farm they started off with a very high parasite load, hungry and very easily spooked.

The bison managed just like the cattle and didn’t push fences (including the poly wire). They opted to go under or walk over if they were pressured in a direction. Once they finally settled in with grazing we found they grazed more like sheep then cattle. They would go through and graze the grass and pick the best stuff but did not brows like the cattle do. Once they were moving with the herd they settled into the mob grazing routine of the daily to twice a day moves their condition improved very quickly and their temperament calmed to the point that you could nearly pet them.

By about 3 months they did not stink and had no scent at all. Their winter fuzz nearly all fell of and their hindquarters were sleek and they started filling out just like our South Polls do! They also tended to be the first to come to a call and move to the new paddock.

Taking them for their one bad day went pretty well. Because they settled in the herd but did not integrate into the herd, we ended up having to take all 4 animals They were their own little herd unit. In the future if we have the opportunity to do bison again, we hope to organize the grazing to move the bison into the herd sooner and maybe get younger animals that will want to be in the herd more. Over all it was a good experience and we will see what the future brings as to whether we graze bison again.

The bison meat is very lean and tastes just like beef. Different cuts do have a slight after flavor depending on where that cut is from on the animal. The texture is so lean that it must be cooked even slower then grassfed beef. It is a very tasty meat and we are excited to offer this item!

“All the Animals above are the best meats…”

“All the Animals above are the best meats…”

GMO & Soy Free Pasture Raised Chicken

What is the difference between Organic, pasture raised or “free range” chicken chicken at the grocery store and Ararat Farm’s Pasture Raised Chicken?

This year (2020) we wanted to experiment with pasture raised chicken to see how they would do in one of our fields, how profitable they would be and how our customers would like them. Even more then being profitable the pasture raised chickens grew out so well and the end result of the meat itself was so good. Here is how it happened.

To begin, when you go to the grocery store and see a sale on organic or free range chicken and cook it up it may be the best chicken you can find in a grocery store. The hard reality of that chicken is that is was not necessarily raised on pasture or free range. Most times a “free range” bird is not in a small space sitting getting fat, but, they are still in a warehouse cramped up together on the same ground their entire life.

Ararat Farm’s pasture raised chickens are pasture raised more then free range. We have them in coops for safety and security but they get moved every day. This provides them with fresh ground and foraging (like we do with the cattle). It also moves them from their nasty space they were in the day before, protecting them from parasites and providing them with better health.

They are also GMO and Soy free making them a cleaner product for the consumer. It also gives the birds two less components in their gut to weaken them.

The processing of the birds (their one bad day) is done on the farm. It is a quick process and done very cleanly. The birds don’t suffer and we strive to keep them calm during the process.

The finished product makes for a tender and delicious meat. These birds have a tremendous amount of meat off of them and make such a rich broth. We have found they can provide two batch of broth.