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Summer is still holding on strong here in Lowrys, but despite the heat, the pastures are tall, green, and thriving. We have a lot of exciting farm updates this week—including a brand-new product we’ve been eager to share, a full beef restock, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we train new cattle to join our regenerative grazing system.
Brand New: Watson Farms Ground Chicken Has Arrived!
If you caught Kelly’s note earlier this week, you knew something exciting was in the works. On Friday, we ran our very first batch of Watson Farms Pasture-Raised Ground Chicken!
We’ve had requests for clean, pasture-raised ground chicken for a long time, and we wanted to make sure we got the texture and flavor just right. We ground this initial batch using a wholesome blend of boneless skinless breast meat and rich, deboned dark meat from our pasture-raised chickens.
Zero additives: No added water, no sodium solutions, and no fillers.
100% pasture-raised: Clean, nutrient-dense poultry raised outdoors on fresh forage and sunshine.
Kitchen versatility: Perfect for homemade chicken burgers, meatballs, white bean chili, tacos, or quick weeknight lettuce wraps.
Inventory from this first run is limited, so grab yours while this debut batch lasts:
Real food, real people, and why the source matters
Over the past week, headlines about Argentine beef recalls and imported meat controversies have driven a massive surge in folks looking for clean, dependable meat from someone they can actually talk to. It’s always an encouraging reminder of why we do what we do: when the industrial supply chain stumbles, people realize that knowing your farmer isn’t a luxury—it’s peace of mind.
Early morning on the pasture. Mobile chicken shelters in the distance with a few wild egrets dropping in to work the fieldas well.
At the same time, this week has served as a sobering reminder of the difference between an automated corporate machine and a family farm. We aren’t a sterile processing plant run by algorithms; we’re a small team of real people living life alongside our community.
Holding Jay and His Family in Prayer
Our hearts are exceptionally heavy this week. Our teammate Jay and his family suffered an unimaginable loss with the tragic passing of his 18-year-old son. Words fall short in moments like this. We ask that you join us in lifting up Jay and his loved ones in your thoughts and prayers during this time of profound grief.
Jay’s focus right now is entirely where it belongs—with his family. While the rest of our crew rallies to keep daily chores moving and orders rolling out the door, we appreciate your grace and patience if fulfillment takes just a little extra time this week.
Labor Day Orders & Thursday Beef Restock
Labor Day is just around the corner on Monday, September 7, and we want to make sure your grills and smokers are ready.
Labor Day Deadline: Place your orders by midnight tonight (Sunday) to ensure they ship this week in time for weekend cookouts.
Full Beef Restock: If your favorite cut has been out of stock over the past couple of weeks, good news—we have a large load of beef returning to the farm this Thursday. All cuts will be fully replenished just in time for your late-summer cooking.
Back in 2006, our family faced a critical crossroads.
For generations across the country—and right here in our corner of South Carolina—the standard playbook for a cow-calf operation was simple: raise calves until weaning, load them on a trailer, haul them to the local sale barn, and collect a check.
From that sale barn ring, those animals enter the commodity pipeline. They are auctioned off, grouped with hundreds of others, and shipped hundreds of miles away to massive, dusty feedlots out west to be fattened on grain and industrial byproduct feeds and injected with pharmaceuticals.
That year, we decided to break the mold: we held back our first small group of cattle to finish 100% on grass.
Here they are about a year later.
It wasn’t an easy decision. When you are a small family farm, cash flow is everything. Choosing not to take that immediate sale barn paycheck—and instead absorbing the risk, time, and pasture management required to graze those steers to full maturity over another year—was a heavy financial lift.
Why take that risk? Because we knew there were moms and families out there searching for something the industrial food complex simply doesn’t offer: clean, nutrient-dense, 100% grass-fed beef raised transparently on living pastures the way nature intended.
What began with just a handful of steers and heifers steadily gained momentum. By 2020, we achieved a milestone we are proud of: 100% of our cattle are grass-finished and direct-marketed to you. Not a single calf from our herd ever enters the commodity sale barn or feedlot pipeline today.
The Reality of Industrial Consolidation
To understand why small farms matter, consider what has happened to the American meat counter over the last few decades:
Beef: Just 4 multinational corporations (Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef) control roughly 85% of all fed cattle processing in the United States.
Pork: The top 4 packers control about 67% of the hog slaughter market.
Chicken: According to USDA data, over 99% of all broiler chickens in the U.S. are raised under production contracts with integrators (with just four companies controlling roughly 60% of the market). Under this rigid model, independent growers take on massive debt for confinement houses while corporate integrators own and dictate every aspect of the birds’ feed, medication, and life cycle.
Whenever visitors hop on the haywagon with us during a Farm Day tour, there’s usually a moment where someone points to the ground directly behind our mobile hoop shelters and asks, “Is the grass supposed to look like that?”
In the first 24 hours after our flock moves to fresh grass, the patch they just left looks brown, flattened, and scratched up. To someone seeing a rotational pasture for the first time, it can look like the soil was temporarily ruined.
But on a living pasture, that brief, high-impact disturbance is actually the spark plug for biological regrowth.
High-Impact Disturbance vs. Overgrazing
Our mobile shelters mimic the natural movement of wild bird flocks:
Intense Fertility Pulse: In just 24 hours, the flock leaves behind a concentrated deposit of rich, high-nitrogen organic manure.
Thatch Clearing: As they scratch for bugs and seeds, they clear away dead plant material so sunlight can reach the root crowns.
Rest & Recovery: Before any overgrazing or soil degradation happens, the shelter moves forward to a fresh patch of grass.
When a summer rain hits that disturbed ground a few days later, soil microbes go into overdrive. What looked trampled and brown on day one turns into the darkest, thickest, most nutrient-dense green forage on the entire farm by day seven.
Bird Flu, Confinement Barns, and the Power of Fresh Pasture
What Confinement Gets Wrong About Pathogens
If you follow agricultural news at all, you know that the industrial poultry industry is deeply terrified of bird flu (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza).
Before our family transitioned to pasture-based regenerative farming, we spent 24 years in the commercial confinement turkey business. We know that system inside and out. In the industrial world, the prevailing belief is that massive, totally sealed confinement barns are the only line of defense. The goal is complete isolation—keeping thousands of birds locked inside to prevent any contact with wild waterfowl that might carry the virus.
Yet, despite all the “biosecurity” protocols, USDA data shows that in 2025 alone, over 53.6 million commercial poultry birds in the U.S. were lost or depopulated due to bird flu.
The industrial model relies on isolation because tightly packed confinement environments leave birds incredibly vulnerable.
Life on Fresh Grass
Our approach on pasture couldn’t be more different. Our chickens live outside on fresh grass every single day.
They reside in floorless, screened-in mobile hoop shelters that provide plenty of space—vastly more room per bird than any industrial barn—while protecting them from overhead predators like hawks. Wild birds fly over and land on the pasture around them constantly. Our birds aren’t completely isolated from nature.
Yet, pastured poultry producers across the country—including veterans who have raised birds on pasture for over 50 years—simply do not experience the catastrophic, farm-wiping mortality events that plague commercial confinement houses.
While we aren’t microbiologists, common sense and daily observation tell a clear story:
Low Density & Clean Air: Our birds aren’t overcrowded or breathing in concentrated, fecal-laden dust 24 hours a day.
Fresh Ground: They move to clean ground daily, rather than living for weeks on top of their own accumulated manure.
Natural Nutrition: They have constant access to sunlight, bugs, and fresh green grass. Chlorophyll acts as a natural blood cleanser and immune booster.
When animals live in their natural environment with low stress, fresh air, and clean forage, their bodies build natural resilience to the pathogens that wreck industrial operations.
Resilience Across the Entire Farm
That same philosophy guides every animal on our farm:
Our Cattle: Moved daily to fresh pasture paddocks, harvesting clean forage and building soil health without feedlot stress.
Our Pigs: Rotated continuously through a dynamic silvopasture landscape, enjoying natural shade, fresh ground, and space to root around.
Product Spotlight: The Honest Harvest Chicken Sale
If you were to stand out on our fields early in the morning, you’d witness one of the most vital daily routines on our farm: moving our pastured chicken shelters.
Unlike the stationary industrial method—where tens of thousands of birds spend their entire lives confined indoors on dirty, built-up litter—our entire management model is built on mobility.
Every single morning, we hook up our 4×4 tractor to each of our six 50-foot mobile hoop shelters. It’s a carefully choreographed team effort: one person operates the tractor at a slow, steady crawl, while two of us work on the ground guiding the flock to ensure every bird moves along safely into its fresh space.
Because every feeder, drinker, and piece of equipment is suspended directly from the shelter’s frame, the entire house glides forward seamlessly in one motion. In a single shift, the shelter advances roughly 50 feet—the length of the house itself.
Over the 6 or so weeks that the birds are living their best life in one of these shelters, that shelter will be moved each day.
That’s 42 distinct days of fresh forage. As the birds step onto untouched pasture, they eagerly go to work consuming fresh grass and a plethora of bugs (we certainly have no shortage of grasshoppers in our pastures!). In return, they leave behind rich, natural fertility that feeds our soil and revitalizes the land.
It’s a system working in true harmony with nature—honoring the life of the animal, building soil health, and yielding a final product with clean, incredible flavor you simply cannot buy at a grocery store.
We put together a quick 1-minute video right from the pasture so you can see this setup in action:
Bringing Pasture-Raised Meat to Your Doorstep—Nationwide! 🚚
We believe everyone deserves access to food raised with this level of honesty, care, and respect for the land—no matter where they live.
Over the years, many of you who have moved out of our immediate delivery region—or who have family and friends living across the country—have asked how you could get our pasture-raised meats shipped to your home.
We’ve been working hard behind the scenes for months to make that happen, and we are thrilled to officially announce: Watson Farms now ships nationwide!
Whether you’re right down the road or on the other side of the country, you can now enjoy our pastured meats delivered straight to your door anywhere in the continental United States.
Announcing The Honest Harvest Chicken Sale
To celebrate this milestone and help you keep your freezer stocked with nutrient-dense, pasture-raised chicken, we are excited to launch The Honest Harvest Chicken Sale!
From August 2nd through August 31st, enjoy up to 20% off category-wide on chicken—both online and at our On-Farm Store.
For the first time ever, we’re offering two exclusive BOGO deals during this event!
We’ve set these up as special 2-item bundles priced at the standard single-item price—no coupon code necessary! Just click the links below or find them on our landing page, add them to your cart, and your free second item is automatically included.
On Wednesday evening, I was out in the field setting up a new paddock for the cattle. It was hot, humid, and dry. I was carrying a bundle of step-in posts, and every time I tried to step the steel probes into the ground, it felt like trying to push them into cured concrete.
The grass had that rolled-up, shriveled look it gets when it’s holding its breath, trying to conserve every last drop of moisture under the summer sun.
Farming on pasture means living in direct harmony with the elements. When it’s dry, everything enters a quiet holding pattern. The soil bakes, the forage slows its growth, and you spend your days pacing yourself—keeping livestock comfortable and checking the weather forecast.
Then came Thursday night.
3 Inches of Pure Life
When three inches of rain soaked into our pastures Thursday night, it didn’t just wet the dirt—it completely turned the farm on its ear.
By Friday morning, the entire landscape looked different:
The Pastures: That tight, shriveled grass uncurled and sprang back to a vibrant, deep green almost overnight.
The Soil: The ground went from rock-hard clay to soft, forgiving soil. Setting step-in posts for paddock moves now takes a fraction of the effort.
The Cattle: Cooler air and lush, hydrated forage completely shifted the mood of the herd. Content cattle grazing on fresh growth is one of the best sights (and sounds) on the farm.
The Workflow: The holding pattern is officially over.
Firing Up for Winter Feed
Perhaps the biggest shift after a good rain is what happens in the equipment shed. For the past several weeks, we’ve been servicing, greasing, and prepping hay equipment behind the scenes.
Now, with this surge of soil moisture accelerating plant growth, those tractors and implements are about to fire up to harvest haylage (baleage). The high-quality forage we break, bale, and wrap over the next few weeks will be the very feed that sustains our herd through the cold winter months.
One rain event triggers a massive domino effect: better soil moisture, faster grass growth, happier livestock, and a whole new workload as we pivot into forage harvest mode. It’s hard work, but after a dry spell, there isn’t a better feeling in the world than getting caught up in the rush of new growth.
Thank you for being part of this journey with us and for choosing to support pasture-based agriculture. Knowing that our hard work goes directly to feeding your families makes every hot afternoon and long evening worth it.
📦 Product Spotlight: Never Run Low with Subscribe & Save
With life on the farm shifting into full gear after the rain, we know how busy summer schedules can get for your household, too. The easiest way to keep nutrient-dense, farm-fresh meat on your family’s table is through our Subscribe & Save options.
Out on the pastures right now, things are moving right along. The cattle are rotating through fresh daily paddock shifts, the pigs are thriving in the shade of our silvopasture plots, and the chicken flocks are enjoying the best of the summer grass.
Here’s a look inside one of our 6 mobile chicken shelters yesterday morning.
But behind the scenes in our fulfillment room, our team is working through a classic mid-summer puzzle.
Lately, the demand for our 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef has been incredibly heavy. We love seeing how many of our steaks and burgers are hitting your grills this season! However, demand for our pastured chicken and heritage pork has been a bit lighter.
On a multi-species regenerative farm like ours, keeping our freezer inventory balanced is a constant chess match. When one protein moves much faster than the others, things get crowded quickly.
So, we decided to solve this puzzle in a way that helps us clear out space and helps you save some hard-earned money. We’ve taken seven of our popular multi-protein bundles—which are already discounted compared to buying individual cuts—and shaved an extra $10 off the top.
By pairing our high-demand grass-fed beef with our incredible pastured chicken and pork, you get the staples you’ve been craving while helping us keep the farm ecosystem running smoothly.
🌟 Mid-Summer Bundle Spotlights (Save an Extra $10 Each)
No coupon codes are necessary for this flash sale; the $10 discount is already applied automatically at checkout. Here is a quick look at the seven packages on sale this week:
The ultimate low-and-slow smoker package loaded with grass-fed brisket, pastured pork ribs, Boston butts, chicken wings, and local Carolina seasonings.
Build a massive freezer foundation with an even, convenient balance of our three most popular staples: grass-fed beef, pastured chicken, and heritage pork chops.
Take burger night to the next level with 16 pounds of premium ground beef, pork, and sausage ready for your own custom seasoning and patty shapes.
How to Shop
These savings are live on the website right now and will remain active while supplies last. If you want to maximize your savings, remember that all standard parcel orders over $199 qualify for Free Shipping straight to your doorstep.
Thank you for supporting regenerative agriculture and helping our family farm keep things balanced this summer!
As we look out over our pastures here in Lowrys, South Carolina, we find ourselves playing the familiar game of waiting and watching the skies for some much-needed summer rain. But while the clouds may be holding out, our 100% grass-fed and grass-finished cattle are doing just fine, steadily working their way through a large, high-quality stockpile of summer grass.
This safety cushion is only possible because we intentionally manage our land with a conservative stocking rate. Deciding exactly how many animals our pastures can comfortably sustain is always a bit of a guessing game each season. However, keeping our herd size conservative gives us invaluable options and peace of mind when the rains don’t come as often as we’d like. It’s a core part of how we look after the soil, the animals, and ultimately, the food we provide for your family.
Speaking of providing for your family, one of the biggest questions we get from folks looking to switch to pasture-raised meats is: “How do I actually utilize a bulk assortment without letting anything go to waste?”
To show you just how easy (and delicious) it is, we wanted to pull back the curtain on a recent 20 lb Pasture Picks Box we packed up and give you the ultimate month-long dinner blueprint.
⚠️ A Quick Note on Variety: Because we follow the seasons and practice nose-to-tail animal utilization, the exact cuts included in our subscription boxes will vary from month to month based on our current inventory. The list below is a real-world example of a recent random box selection to show you just how far a 20-lb assortment can stretch!
🗺️ The Pasture Picks “Meal Map” Blueprint
A standard 20 lb box packs a diverse, nutrient-dense punch. When you break down the raw weights, this single box yields roughly 40 to 50 individual protein servings, which easily translates into 10 to 12 complete, wholesome family dinners for a household of four.
The Meals: Split this up into two distinct family nights—a backyard smash-burger night and a massive skillet of grass-fed beef tacos. You get clean, high-energy protein that cooks in minutes.
Dinner 3: The Perfect Sunday Roast (1 Whole Broiler)
The Meal: Feeds a family of four with ease.
Recipe Idea: Rub the skin generously with butter, garlic powder, and fresh summer herbs, then roast at 425°F until golden brown and crisp. Save the carcass in your freezer to make a rich, immunity-boosting bone broth later!
The Meals: Two separate nights of pasture-raised chicken. Toss the wings in your favorite local BBQ sauce for a crispy grilled wing night. For the leg quarters, slow-bake them with root vegetables for a juicy, tender comfort meal.
Dinner 6: Marinated Steak Night (1 London Broil)
The Meal: A premium, lean beef dinner.
Recipe Idea: Because our beef is 100% grass-finished, it loves a good marinade. Soak it overnight in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and rosemary, flash-sear it on a piping hot grill to medium-rare, and slice it thin against the grain.
The Meals: Raised naturally in our silvopasture environments, our pork has incredible flavor and marbling. Toss the shoulder roast into the slow cooker or smoker all day. This yields a massive mountain of juicy pulled pork that easily covers two separate family dinners (think pulled pork sandwiches on night one, and loaded baked potatoes on night two).
The Meals: Pan-sear the thick-cut pork chops in a cast-iron skillet with a little butter and sage for a quick 15-minute weeknight meal. Use the hot sausage to elevate a Sunday night pasta sauce, and save the ground pork for a healthy “egg roll in a bowl” stir-fry.
I hope you all had a wonderful, safe Independence Day yesterday celebrating with family, friends, and hopefully some great food on the grill.
As the fireworks wind down and we head into the weekend, the holiday always gets me thinking about independence in a slightly different context—specifically, food independence.
A Tale of Two Systems
For decades, the modern food system has moved further and further away from self-reliance. We’ve become dependent on massive, highly centralized corporate supply chains. The vast majority of the meat in the supermarket comes from industrial feedlots, passes through a massive processing facility, and travels thousands of miles before it ever reaches a grocery store shelf.
To us, true food independence means breaking away from that fragile cycle and building a resilient, transparent food system right here in the Piedmont region of South Carolina.
To show you exactly what we mean, I wanted to share two contrasting pictures that represent these two entirely different worlds.
A commercial feedlot in Texas that Kelly and I saw during a trip in 2024. Thousands of cattle in hundreds of pens, stretching out as far as the eye can see.
A snapshot from yesterday on our farm in Chester, SC. Moving our herd into a fresh paddock of thick, green forage.
Every time you choose to fill your freezer directly from a multi-generational family farm, you are actively voting for the second picture. You are choosing absolute transparency, knowing exactly how your food was raised, from pasture to plate. You are choosing 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef, pastured pork, and pastured chicken raised with care. Most importantly, you are taking control of your family’s health, nutrition, and peace of mind.
Product Spotlight: The Best of Farm Bundles 📦
If you are ready to declare your independence from the grocery store checkout line, this week we are spotlighting our Best of Farm Bundles.
We have curated these boxes to feature a prime selection of our nutrient-dense, pasture-raised proteins, delivered straight to your door via our insulated parcel shipping. We offer two sizes to fit your family’s needs:
15-lb Best of Farm Bundle: Perfect for smaller freezers or giving our meats a try. (Note: Exact cut breakdown and pricing can be viewed directly on the website).
28-lb Best of Farm Bundle: Ideal for stocking up and ensuring you always have clean protein on hand. (Note: Exact cut breakdown and pricing can be viewed directly on the website).
Best of all, both of these bundles ship completely free!
Thank you for partnering with us to build a stronger, more independent food community right here in our region. We quite literally couldn’t do this without you.
