About PD: Who are we? Meet Our People Our Fields The Animals Protocols

Pasture’s Delights is a beginning farm located near Decatur Indiana with a focus on raising livestock on pasture utilizing organic agronomic principles. While food is what we sell, we are really in the business of harvesting solar energy by means of living plants grown on healthy soil. Then grazing animals package the natural resources of these plants into a very healthy food product for people to nourish themselves with. In the case of RAW milk, we offer a boarding service to people who share in the ownership of a dairy herd.

It is no secret that Americans are not as healthy as yesteryear. Similarly, America’s environmental and socio-economic health and strength as a nation has experienced a similar decline. At Pasture’s Delights our farm business model is one that positively addresses these issues.

Animals raised outdoors where they can get sunlight, fresh air, and eat healthy grass have remarkable potential for providing a higher margin of health attributes as compared to their conventionally raised counterparts. Also, on a well run organic grass-fed farm the animals should literally be HAPPY. Compare the happiness factor of our animals with those of a confinement system and you will see the difference. When people eat well they can think better and are more energetic, allowing for a more effervescent society! Furthermore by capturing sunlight, a renewable resource, with grass and allowing a variety of different animal species to economically harvest that grass we add real value (wealth) to our community which further serves to strengthen our country.

Operating any business is fraught with challenges. What gives us the ability to overcome these challenges is our sincere belief in what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. Pasture’s Delights is the real deal offering the same to the people who work here and to our customers.

Mark is the founder of Pasture’s Delights. Raised on an east-central Indiana farm he attended Purdue University where he milked cows at night while taking classes and flight lessons during the day. He gained valuable organizational leadership experience in different capacities as Purdue University Flight Team coach and an airline captain. For the past 15 years in his “spare” time he has been studying various farming methods as well as progressive ethical business practices. As a child he remembers the RAW milk experience and the not-so-wonderful experience of drinking the milk at school. Possessing a real enthusiasm for farming, business, and the ideals of our Founding Fathers he combines these 3 interests for a powerful vision in Pasture’s Delights.

 

Andy Alig – Poultry Farmer

Andy acts as business adviser for Pasture's Delights and leads the development of various pastured poultry enterprises. He was raised on an east-central Indiana farm and has fond memories of growing broilers as a young boy. He is employed by J&M constructing grain wagons and contributes his valuable fabrication skills making various items for the farm operation. With a personal heightened awareness for health responsibility he is an avid supporter and marketer for the mission of growing healthy, great-tasting food.

 

Mark Sheets, Jacob Schmidt, Pat Wellman – Dairy Farmers

An enthusiastic willingness to learn combined with a great work ethic and high standards are what make these the people you want taking care of the your dairy cows, providing you with REAL milk. All have previous farm experience and now desire to learn about organic, grass-fed dairying.

It all starts in the soil. At Pasture’s Delights we take the cliché “you are what you eat” literally, beginning with the soil atoms. Since you desire to be healthy by eating healthy food from Pasture’s Delights it is imperative that the animal also eat healthy food. We make that possible by growing nutritious grass/legume pasture on healthy, living soil.

We do NOT use soil-killing biocides (fungicides, herbicides, insecticides) all of which have direct and/or indirect harmful ramifications for people or the environment at some point. Since farming and producing food is biological in nature killing soil life does not make much sense to us. With an emphasis on soil biology we are able to manage our fields to minimize soil erosion, maximize carbon sequestering all the while producing competitive, albeit more nutritious, yields.

Managing at the atomic level of our soil is where we begin to grow the best food for you! With soil test results in hand, we fertilize only with manure and natural fertilizers. Since every single mineral that exists affects gene expression in our DNA, and hence our health, we place an emphasis on re-mineralizing our soils fully so that when you eat Pasture’s Delights you are getting a fuller compliment of minerals that will enhance your health.

Grass is the only plant capable of assimilating all the minerals in the soil therefore we want to make sure there is at least some grass in all our fields for the animals to eat. We also include legumes, such as alfalfa and clover, which are also very beneficial to the animals and produce nitrogen which allows us to sustainably and economically grow grass for the animals. Incidentally, clover a significant component of our pasture increases an animal’s cancer-fighting CLA content up to 30%. Since we are what we eat, if you want to be healthy then you need Pasture’s Delights!

We select for animal breeds that have genetic traits favorable for a productive life out in the pasture field and produce nutritionally superior food. In doing so we also look for the type of animals whose final food product is going to provide the kind of delightful eating experience our customers and herd-share owners desire.

With the animals being outside and on pasture they are generally very healthy. On the rare occasion when an animal is injured or is suffering from poor health we may treat it using only natural products, except in the case of the dairy cows where we may have to use some conventional therapies to treat a sick cow until we are fully skilled at using natural remedies. We are proactive concerning our animals’ health by minimizing stress and using natural solutions and methods to minimize impact from environmental pathogens.

All of our animals are cared for and handled properly by our people.

On our farm we will graze a variety of different animals; all providing our customers with many delights… tasty, nutritious pasture’s delights.

We are 100% Grass-fed dairy with the idea of producing the purest, healthiest milk possible – not only following close to organic practices but also going one step further by requiring the cows to be 100% grass-fed.

 

At Pasture’s Delights the cows have been given access to fresh pasture with 100% pasture (forage) diets and absolutely no grains. For a proper lactating dairy cow diet we do offer supplemental molasses when the energy in our forages is lacking. (This has no negative impact on the animal or the milk.) Being on pasture ensures that the cattle are raised in a low-stress environment with plenty of fresh air and sunshine.

Many dairy producers, including “organic producers”, may offer their cattle some pasture but also supplement them with grain. It is important to understand that the health attributes of being Grass-fed decline rapidly when a cow eats grain.

NO Hormones or Steroids
Milk comes from animals that have been raised on our farm without the use of hormones, steroids, growth stimulants or animal by-products.