Hey Friends,

Welcome back to another Sunday morning update from the pastures here in Lowrys, South Carolina.

Summer has definitely arrived, and around here, that means our daily rhythm revolves entirely around heat management and intensive pasture rotations. When the mercury climbs, keeping the cow herd comfortable, hydrated, and moving onto fresh ground isn’t just a chore—it’s an art form.

This past week, we turned the herd into some incredible summer pastures that have been completely rested for over three months. Walking out ahead of the cattle, the biodiversity was stunning. We counted dozens of unique plant species growing side-by-side, including a massive patch of native milkweed that was absolutely buzzing with thousands of native pollinators.

One of the highlights of this specific paddock shift was seeing a beautiful stand of volunteer johnsongrass. If you talk to a conventional cattleman, they might look at you funny for being excited about johnsongrass, but in a regenerative, long-rest system, it’s absolute gold.

When cattle are allowed to continuously graze a pasture without boundaries, johnsongrass doesn’t stand a chance. The cows love it so much that they will seek it out and eat it down to the roots until it’s completely grazed out and dies. But when you give the land a 90-plus day vacation, these high-sugar, deep-rooted volunteer grasses get the chance to capitalize on that rest, exploding into premium, energy-dense summer forage.

Hey Friends,

As we head into the middle of June, we have some bittersweet news to share with our Watson Farms family. Our wonderful team member, Melody, will be leaving her role at the end of the month. We are incredibly grateful for all her hard work, dedication, and the welcoming presence she has provided to everyone who interacts with our farm. She is going to be greatly missed, and we wish her the absolute best in her next chapter!

With her departure, we are looking to fill a position that is absolutely critical to our day-to-day operations and pivotal to keeping our Farm Store running smoothly: Farm Store and Marketing Coordinator.

Because our community means so much to us, we would love to find the right person from within our own pool of contacts—someone who already knows, understands, and loves what we do here at Watson Farms—before we list the position publicly on standard job boards. If you or someone you know has a passion for regenerative agriculture, excellent customer service, and digital marketing, please check out the full job description and apply today:

Watson Farms Job Openings

Check Out Our New Homepage Features!

In addition to team transitions, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to make your online experience with us even better. If you haven’t visited our website lately, head over to watsonfarmsbeef.com to see some of our brand-new homepage additions:

• New Reviews Section: Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what your fellow community members are saying about their experiences with our grass-fed meats.
• Cold Shipping Section: Curious about how we safely get frozen products to your doorstep? We’ve added a clear breakdown of our reliable UPS cold shipping process.
• Comparison Section: We’ve made it easier than ever to see exactly how our 100% grass-fed beef, pastured pork, and pastured poultry stack up against standard, store-bought alternatives.
• Build a Bundle Launch Graphic: A brand-new visual guide highlighting our latest and most customizable way to fill your freezer.

Product Spotlight: Father’s Day & Custom Bundles

Rain for the Grass, a Big Birthday, and Keeping it Cool

We hope you’ve had a wonderful week!

We just caught a beautiful, much-needed soaking rain here near Lowrys! We measured about 2.5 inches of rain between Friday and Saturday. Around here, we don’t just see rain as weather—we see it as the fuel that drives our entire regenerative system. This moisture is exactly what our summer grasses need to kick into high gear, ensuring our 100% grass-fed beef cattle have the highest quality forage to graze as we make our daily paddock shifts.

Speaking of those daily cattle moves, today marks a massive milestone for our family. Our son, Noah, is turning 10 years old! If you’ve ever been out on a wagon tour or seen our updates, you know Noah is a huge part of the crew around here. He’s a tremendous help on the farm, especially when it comes to shifting the herd to fresh grass every day. Happy double-digits to our hardworking 10-year-old!

Cool to the Touch: Our Summer Shipping Standard

As the southern summer heat starts to rev up, we often get asked: “How do you safely ship frozen, pasture-raised meats to my doorstep when it’s 90 degrees outside?”

It’s a great question, and the answer lies in our Cool to the Touch shipping standard. We partner with UPS to deliver across the eastern United States, and we have engineered our packaging to withstand the summer heat through three specific layers of protection:

• 1.5-Inch Thick Eco-Insulation: We don’t use standard styrofoam. Instead, our boxes are lined with 1.5-inch thick, high-performance insulation panels made entirely from upcycled shrimp casings from the North Carolina shrimp industry. They provide world-class thermal protection and are completely biodegradable.
• Reflective Foil Barriers: During these hotter months, we add an extra layer of defense by placing your orders inside a specialized foil bag. This reflects radiant heat away from your meat, creating a vault-like environment inside the box.
• Calibrated Dry Ice: We carefully calculate the exact amount of dry ice needed based on your specific geographic zone and the predicted days your package will spend in transit.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms who are often the ones doing the daily work of sourcing healthy food for your families. We are truly honored to be the farm you trust to help nourish your loved ones. We hope you have a beautiful day filled with much-deserved rest and celebration.

10 Differences Between Grocery Store Pork and Watson Farms Pastured Pork! 🐖

Welcome to this week’s edition of Pasture Posts!

Tomorrow will be the weekly “moving day” for the two groups of pigs we have in the paddocks right behind the Farm Store. It’s a busy morning for our team. We head out with two tractors: one equipped with a loader to move the heavy self-feeder and the drinker, and another pulling the Grain-o-vator. If you’ve never seen one, it’s basically a tractor-powered feed truck that we use to refill the feeders with our non-GMO feed once they’re settled in the new paddock.

Here I am filling a feeder back in July 2019. 

The pigs are always excited when they see the crew; they know fresh pasture is coming! Once we do a final check on the perimeter fence to make sure everything is just right, we open the gates. They run through into the new grass. 

That paddock has had about 4 weeks rest since the last time pigs were on it, which is the “secret sauce” to our operation. That rest time allows the grass to recover and the soil life to thrive—it’s the core of how we regenerate this ground that was once starved for fertility.

The Great Pork Comparison

We believe all pigs should be raised like that. Unfortunately, that is not how 98-99% of U.S. pigs live today. While we work with a small network of trusted partner producers for the farrowing (birthing) side of things, they adhere to the exact same regenerative standards we do.

Here is the stark contrast between how we do things and the industrial “norm”:

Innovation in the Broiler Field + Ag+Art Tour 🐓☀️

Hello friends,

April is wrapping up here in Chester, though it’s looking a little more dusty than vibrant lately. We are staring down a significant drought, so the pastures aren’t exactly the lush green we’d hope for this time of year. That said, the grass is holding its own and the cattle are doing just fine. We’re just staying observant and hoping for a good soaking rain as we head into May.

🎨 Mark Your Calendars: The Ag+Art Tour is Next Saturday!

We are thrilled to announce that Watson Farms will once again be a featured stop on the South Carolina Ag+Art Tour for Chester County!

The tour takes place Saturday, May 2, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

If you aren’t familiar with the tour, it is the nation’s largest free, self-guided tour of farms and markets that features local artisans at every stop. It’s a wonderful opportunity for you to see first-hand where your food comes from, watch artists in action, and enjoy a day in the country with the whole family.

What to expect at Watson Farms:

• Wagon Rides: We’ll be running the tractor and wagon to give you a front-row seat to our regenerative grazing practices.
• Meet the Animals: See our grass-fed cattle, pastured pigs, and our newest flocks of broiler chickens in action.
• Local Artisans: We will have several talented local creators stationed at the farm showcasing their work.
• Farm Store: Our store will be open and fully stocked with your favorite pasture-raised meats, honey, and more.

It’s a “rain or shine” event, so grab your boots and come see us! You can find the full map of Chester County stops on the official Ag+Art website.

🏠 New Chicken Houses: From Construction to Deployment

If you remember back in Pasture Posts #264, we shared that our team was in the middle of constructing two brand-new pasture broiler houses. We are happy to report that these houses are officially finished and deployed!

Our team did an incredible job with the assembly and setup. Seeing these structures out on the pasture—especially knowing they travel through fields that are just a stone’s throw away from the old, empty confinement turkey barn—is a constant reminder of why we transitioned to this regenerative model.

The birds are already moved in and are loving their “salad bar” of fresh grass and bugs, with the houses being moved to a fresh patch of ground every single day.

🚿 High-Tech Comfort: The Solar-Powered Sprinkler System