The owner, Brad Huffines, a native of Ohio, greeted us as we left the bus and welcomed us with open arms. He answered questions about nutrition, retained ownership and various breeds. An interesting note about his ration is that he feeds no hay to his cattle. His rations contain a pellet that provides all the required fiber for their diet. Brad says he will join us for dinner tonight, where he wants to hear more about OUR farms in Alabama.
The next stop was Wagner Vineyards in Lodi. A tasty tour of the winery, which opened in 1979, was interesting. We learned how the grapes are grown, harvested, fermented, aged and bottled. Touring the wine cellar was interesting as well - lots and lots of beautiful wooden barrels. And of course we saw huge vats of grapes being crushed. They smelled very much like our scuppernong grapes back home, and personally, they smelled lots better than the actual wine. I'm not much of a wine drinker - okay, I can't stand the stuff - but I was a good sport about it, sipping several varieties. Lucky for the winery there ARE members on our trip who enjoy the fruit of the vine. They liked the samples so much they purchased a few bottles to take with them. Medicinal purposes, I'm sure.
Today, the winery was crushing Niagra grapes, a local variety. An interesting fact - from 2 tons of grapes you get 155 gallons of wine.
The tour was followed by a wonderful lunch with a spectacular view of Seneca Lake - simply gorgeous. We could have been in the south of France just to look at us. Lunch on the terrace overlooking the vineyards and the lake - wow!
On the way to Lisa Compton's farm, we noticed some Amish farmers working in their fields. Such hard working folks and neat farms. I admire then, but don't aspire to BE them. No air conditioning - are you kidding?
Arriving at Compton Charolais Farm in Ovid, NY it was easy to see we were at the right place - beautiful white and smoky cattle were grazing on lush green pasture with the Seneca Lake as a picturesque backdrop. Breathtaking.
Lisa and her dad, Richard, were so hospitable. Their farm boasts the largest CoverAll building I've personally ever seen. It was 60 X 220 feet - a monster! It was erected in 2006 and still looks brand new, however Lisa said it was still a work in progress. Their cows were so gentle that even with our crowd they were curiously friendly and for the most part kept right on grazing. Some of their cattle are HUGE but the Comptons say they try to moderate the cows' large frame by breeding to smaller frame bulls. One of their herd bulls is an American International Charolais Association Top-10 show bull. Quite impressive.
Lisa does a lot of the work on the farm, so a gentle disposition is a must in their herd, she said. "I'm not that big so if one of these guys challenges me, I don't stand a chance," she said. "If they act the least bit upity, they're out of here."
A special note on the Compton farm, right across the road from their driveway is a deep gorge. At the head of the gorge is a tall waterfall - the tallest on the lake, according to Lisa. It was spectacular!
The all-natural farm of Tina and Bob MacCheyne of Trumansburg, NY was our next stop. At High Point Farms, they specialize in grass-fed beef, pasture pork, free-range chicken and eggs and turkeys. They have a small herd of mixed breed cattle that includes Scottish Highland Cattle. It was a warm afternoon and evident some of these long-coated cows were quite hot, but I imagine when there's three feet of snow on the ground here, they are the most comfortable of the herd. They also were very gentle, but then again they are handled at least three times a day when they are moved from cell to cell. The farm has one 15-acre pasture that is divided into 45 - that's right 45 - cells for about a dozen cows and calves. A simple system of black plastic pipe laid along the electric fence lines provides water to the cows for drinking.
The MacCheynes are very involved in Community Supported Agriculture. For those not familiar with CSAs, participants pay a monthly fee and for that they get a selection of meat and eggs each month. Cuts and weights vary, but the farm has a waiting list of participants. They sell a dozen eggs for $4 but in New York they receive $6 a dozen.
The MacCheynes also have a portable fence system that holds about 1,200 chickens. The fence system allows them to move the birds to various pastures. A chicken coop on wheels provides them shelter. By the way, a mature, pasture-raised hen sells for $15 to $20 each and the demand is good, they say.
Their all-natural beef averages $7.50 per pound (that includes all cuts). The all-natural hamburger meat fetches $6 per pound. They don't raise any of the pork on the farm, instead it's purchased from another local farmer who has a similar operation to the MacCheynes. They also purchase all-natural beef from other farms to meet consumer demand.
Our group was a little funny looking as we tromped through the pastures at High Point Farms because each of us were wearing bio-security boots (plastic covers over our shoes). Because we had been to other farms on our tour, the MacCheynes wanted to make sure we didn't bring anything to their farm from the others we visited. Photos will be posted to the Alfa Farmers Facebook page.
Read more about High Point Farms at http://highpointfarms.net.
We enjoyed a delicious chicken barbecue dinner with the Seneca Beef Group in Ovid, NY. It was quite a spread. The food was only surpassed by the great hospitality - believe me, you hear a lot about Southern hospitality, but these northerners can hold their own when it comes to making someone feel right at home.
There were two presentations by one of the Seneca Beef Group members following dinner- one on DNA benchmarking that was funded by a state grant - where nearly 700 head of cattle were identified for markers of feed efficiency, marbling and tenderness. The second presentation was a statistical comparison that proves the importance of measuring performance in beef cattle, particularly herd sires.
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