Here’s the weekly roundup from Watson Farms and your direct connection to your farmer. Enjoy the latest edition of Pasture Posts!

A Tribute To Two Great Team Members

We wanted to take a moment with this week’s edition of Pasture Posts to highlight two wonderful people that have been critical in keeping things running on the production side of Watson Farms this year. They are Elena Hernandez and Lupe Lopez, and they came to us from Mexico through the federal H2A program. Their time with us this year has come to an end, but they will be returning when our pastured broiler production ramps up in the spring.

Even though the program is expensive and has a lot of red tape, it is well worth it to have quality workers who are happy to be at work each day, rarely miss work, are a pleasure to work with, and don’t mind manual labor in all kinds of weather.

Here’s the weekly roundup from Watson Farms and your direct connection to your farmer. Enjoy the latest edition of Pasture Posts!

Here’s what we’ve been up to!

Things are changing around the farm right now. New work patterns are emerging as we go into winter. For most of our cattle this means transitioning to a diet of mostly hay, but for a select few this means being turned onto some recently-sprouted winter annuals.

Yesterday, we sorted out 32 of the heaviest cattle and allowed them to spread out on a 35 acre field that we planted about 5 weeks ago. We finally received some significant rainfall which this grass was patiently waiting on. So now that this winter annual mix of rye, ryegrass and clover has some moisture to work with, it was time to turn these lucky cattle onto it to graze it lightly.

We also received 75 calves in the past week that we purchased from a few different producers. These calves will become very accustomed to paddock shifts and finding their way around the farm in the coming 12-18 months that they will be under our care. Here’s a shot of them as they were turned out onto some fresh pasture. They were a bit excited.

Our broiler production is winding down and we will be processing our last birds of the year this week. Our team has done a wonderful job growing, tending, and processing all of our pastured broiler flocks this year!

Here’s a group of 13 pigs that have made a couple rotations around the pig paddocks in the 6 months or so that we have had them. What better life can a pig have than to root, wallow, and lay around after eating their fill? These pigs never saw concrete or the inside of a confinement house like 97% of all the other pork produced in the U.S.

Product Spotlight

Don’t miss out on some great discounts! Whether you use Watson Farms Home Delivery or UPS, check out our Build-a-Bundle Products that are on sale!

Build-a-Bundle (WFHD or Farm Pickup)

Build-a-Bundle UPS

Order Deadlines and Store Hours

Here’s a friendly reminder to get your orders in by the deadline. We have changed our workflow some to help reduce errors, so we have to begin the process of staging orders for the next day’s delivery very soon after the deadlines below. Help us serve you better by ensuring your order is placed in time!

Charleston Area: 12 noon Mondays

UPS Orders: 12 noon Mondays

Columbia Area: 12 noon on Tuesdays

GSP: 12 noon on Wednesdays

Charlotte/Fort Mill/Rock Hill Areas: 12 noon on Fridays

Farm Pickup: Please wait until you receive an email stating that your order is ready to be picked up (usually 1 business day from when you place your order). Farm pickup is done during store hours:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10am to 6pm
Saturday: 10am to 2pm
Closed Sunday and Wednesday

A quick note about pets at the Farm Store

While we are dog lovers, (we have four Great Pyrenees that protect our chickens and we have a whole category devoted to pets) we have had numerous incidents over the last year with customers’ pets that require us to instate a policy restricting personal pets from exiting your vehicle when you come to the Farm Store. Thank you.

Tell a Friend!

It’s now easier than ever to Give $15 and Get $15 through our Referral Program. We don’t spend a lot of money of advertising, but rather we focus on producing products that people love and are willing to tell others about. So we depend on word of mouth to find new customers and ultimately to heal more land.

So in an effort to streamline this process we have made it easier to tell others (via email, Facebook, or Twitter) about Watson Farms. And it’s all automated on the backend, so you don’t have to rely on us to issue the store credits manually. Just head over to our Referrals Page and start sharing!

Did you know that we have a webpage that displays all the reviews we have received?  

Check it out!

Check out this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review:

“I just made burgers last night with the ground beef that we purchased a couple of weeks ago at Watson Farms and was absolutely blown away by how much better it was than store bought. It was literally like eating a chopped up steak rather than just a homogenous meat. I’m sold!”

We would greatly appreciate it if you would be kind enough to leave us a review.  It helps first-time customers purchase with confidence.

Thanks again for being partners in this endeavor of local, pasture-raised proteins that has truly transformed our farm.  We look forward to continuing this transition while serving you long into the future.

Sincerely,
The Watsons

Pasture Posts is written by Matt Watson.

Here’s the weekly roundup from Watson Farms and your direct connection to your farmer. Enjoy the latest edition of Pasture Posts!

How Imported Beef Can Be Labeled “Product of USA”

We touched on this topic back in Pasture Posts #27, but it recently hit me again how deceptive labels in the grocery store can be as I was listening to an interview with Will and Jenni Harris of White Oak Pastures where they touched on this around the 14:30 mark.

By simply passing through a USDA plant where “value” is added, imported beef can actually be labeled “product of USA.” This value-adding can be re-boxing, slicing, grinding, etc. But the cattle were born, raised, and slaughtered in another country!

Here’s an excerpt from Pasture Posts #27:

There’s a few loopholes that the federal government has provided that allows greenwashing by not-so-honest meat companies.  One of the most significant loopholes came from the repeal of country-of-origin-labeling (COOL) in December 2015.  This allows red meat to be imported from other countries but still be labeled “Product of the USA”.  Distributors across the globe were quick to begin taking advantage of the growing consumer demand for grass-fed beef by importing large amounts of cheap foreign grass-fed beef and charging consumers like you a premium for it.  

This imported grass fed beef accounts for about 75-80% of total U.S. grass fed beef sales by value according to a report by the Stone Barns Center.  This presents a huge obstacle to Watson Farms and other farms like us.  Consumers cannot distinguish just by looking at the label which products were actually raised on U.S. farms and which ones might have come from Australia, Brazil, or a host of other foreign countries.

So what can you do to make sure you are not deceived? Know your farmer!

Family farms don’t have the volume necessary or often the access to the necessary capital to import container loads of beef. Grocery chains and large retailers more than likely do, and they can purchase foreign beef cheaper than American beef. By shopping with your local farmer you can help pull the rug out from under the schemes of the federal government and huge food corporations.

Product Spotlight

We’ve got a great lineup of holiday items this year. Check out these festive offerings!

UPS-Eligible Holiday Items

Modified Delivery Schedule and Deadlines for Thanksgiving Week

We have made a few modifications to our weekly deliveries and Farm Store hours for the week of Thanksgiving. The two delivery selections that are affected are UPS and Greenville/Spartanburg.  Modified Farm Store hours are below as well.

All other delivery areas will be served on the usual day of the week.  

UPS – Order by noon on SUNDAY November 19th and it will ship MONDAY November 20th

GSP – Order by noon on TUESDAY November 21st and it will be delivered on WEDNESDAY November 22nd

Modified Farm Store Hours for Monday, Nov. 20 – Saturday, Nov. 25:

Monday, Nov. 20: OPEN 10am to 6pm
Tuesday, Nov. 21: OPEN 10am to 6pm
Wednesday, Nov. 22: CLOSED (as usual for Wednesdays)
Thursday, Nov. 23: CLOSED
Friday, Nov. 24:  OPEN 10am to 6pm
Saturday, Nov. 25:  OPEN 10am to 2pm

A quick note about pets at the Farm Store

While we are dog lovers, (we have four Great Pyrenees that protect our chickens and we have a whole category devoted to pets) we have had numerous incidents over the last year with customers’ pets that require us to instate a policy restricting personal pets from exiting your vehicle when you come to the Farm Store. Thank you.

Tell a Friend!

It’s now easier than ever to Give $15 and Get $15 through our Referral Program. We don’t spend a lot of money of advertising, but rather we focus on producing products that people love and are willing to tell others about. So we depend on word of mouth to find new customers and ultimately to heal more land.

So in an effort to streamline this process we have made it easier to tell others (via email, Facebook, or Twitter) about Watson Farms. And it’s all automated on the backend, so you don’t have to rely on us to issue the store credits manually. Just head over to our Referrals Page and start sharing!

Did you know that we have a webpage that displays all the reviews we have received?  

Check it out!

Check out this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review:

“I just made burgers last night with the ground beef that we purchased a couple of weeks ago at Watson Farms and was absolutely blown away by how much better it was than store bought. It was literally like eating a chopped up steak rather than just a homogenous meat. I’m sold!”

We would greatly appreciate it if you would be kind enough to leave us a review.  It helps first-time customers purchase with confidence.

Thanks again for being partners in this endeavor of local, pasture-raised proteins that has truly transformed our farm.  We look forward to continuing this transition while serving you long into the future.

Sincerely,
The Watsons

Pasture Posts is written by Matt Watson.