This week, we are thrilled to offer a limited supply of grass-fed heritage beef raised on certified organic pastures.

While it might seem a bit odd to be this excited over cattle eating grass, the fact is for the vast majority, grass is a rare delicacy. The typical bovine spends less than half of its increasingly short life out in the pasture before being fattened up on a foreign diet of grain in an accelerated process that is hard on their digestive systems and the planet. Indeed, the dominant cattle breeds we have now have been bred specifically for their ability to fatten-up quickly and tolerate a grain diet.

Dexter cattle, in contrast, are small, slow to mature, and true herbivores. Consequently, they are poor candidates for industrial farming - a factor that undoubtedly contributed to their near extinction -but well-suited to small-scale farming - a factor that has allowed for their recent revival. At Hope in Aylmer, these cattle play an integral role in the rhythm of small-holder organic farming. While happily fulfilling their biological niche of converting forage into rich fertilizer, the cows and bulls also build the soil of fallowed fields, enriching later crop yields.

Photo Credit: Scott Wilson