Family Run
Regenerative farmer Sheldon Frith (with help from some friends and family) is raising these goats on pasture land at Zocalo Organics (organic vegetable farm) in Erin, Ontario. If you would like to come see the goats and the grazing operation, or if you have any questions, please contact us.
Sarah Nicholson gets her farming experience from her work on organic farms and landscaping companies as well as by growing her own food in fields and city balconies. As the sister of Sheldon, she has helped him with his farms over the years, including raising turkeys on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
She has just completed her master’s in mechanical engineering – with a focus on geothermal technology to be used as a sustainable thermal energy source while mitigating permafrost thawing. Sarah’s passion for environmentalism, soil health, farming, and ethical meat motivated her to start this farm with her family.
When not working with the goats, Rony is completing his master’s thesis in Building Science, using machine learning to detect faults in HVAC equipment.
Rony Shohet, has experience growing food with his family, learning from generations of self-sustianable growers and farmers.
Happy Animals
Our job is to ensure the animals that die for our food had the best lives possible and the most humane deaths possible.
There is no way for humans to feed ourselves without killing animals. Even the best organic vegetable farmers kill animals with their machinery, fences and habitat destruction.
Our goats are allowed, every day of their lives, to have rich social lives as part of a herd. They always have space to run and play. They always have fresh, clean grass to eat, and clean water. We do not dis-bud (remove horns with a hot iron when they are kids) our goats. Their loving guard dog, Izzy, ensures they never have to worry about being attacked by predators. They have shelter from the rain and cold, and the shelter is moved through the pasture with them so it does not become soiled. Their neighbour, Josh, even built them structures to play on!
These are happy animals.
And when it comes time for slaughter we ensure these goats have the most painless and stress-free deaths possible, at a local abattoir (so they don’t have to ride in a trailer for very long).
We believe that our goat meat is produced in the most ethical way possible. If you think there is any way we could do better please contact us.
Healthy Environment
Did you know that goats, if properly managed, are not only good for the environment, they are actually one of the most powerful tools for environmental restoration available?
It’s all because of how we manage them. We follow what’s called Holistic Management and Holistic Planned Grazing (a.k.a. mob grazing, cell grazing, rotational grazing, management intensive grazing, regenerative grazing, adaptive grazing, etc). This means that our goats and kept in a herd and moved to new grass frequently (every 1-4 days), and they don’t return to an area until it has recovered from their previous grazing.
This roaming-herd behaviour has been a natural part of our ecosystem for millions of years, until it was recently disrupted by humans. We have lost the original vast herds of North America, but thankfully we can use goats (and other livestock) to achieve the same effect. And when the herds are restored, the land starts to heal. I have personally measured a 50% increase in plant growth after a single season with nothing but a few animals and carefully planned grazing movements.
For more detailed information on the environmental benefits of properly managed grazing animals CLICK HERE.
Our goats are not only grazing sustainably, they are actually IMPROVING the land. They are sequestering carbon, building soil, increasing plant diversity, improving wildlife habitat, preventing water pollution, and improving ecosystems in countless other ways.
Besides our regenerative grazing management, we also:
- source our goat kids from local Ontario dairy goat farms.
- practice predator-friendly farming (our livestock guardian dog ensures we don’t have to kill or trap any predators)
- use portable electric fencing so that 90% of the land is always available for wildlife
Gourmet Meat
You’ve never tasted goat meat like this before. We go beyond standard organic, 100% grass-fed and finished meat….
Our grazing management (see above) ensures that our goats are eating only the highest quality forage, all summer long. The way grass-fed goats are traditionally raised the quality of the plants they are eating declines significantly towards the end of the season, which is the most critical time for the end quality of the meat! Due to our holistic pasture management our goats eat the equivalent of new spring grass right up until the day they are killed. Also, we don’t take shortcuts by supplementing their diet with grain, corn, hay, silage, etc (which would improve our profits but be bad for the health of the animals and the quality of the meat). They only eat the mix of grasses, herbs and shrubs that grow in their pasture (supplemented with milk-replacer in April, 2020 while they were too young to digest grass). We have also chosen our slaughter date carefully to ensure the best possible meat quality; grass quality unavoidably declines with the cold weather in October.
The way animals are killed, the way they are cleaned and butchered, is also extremely important for meat quality. To that end we have chosen our abattoir and butchers very carefully, and will be working with them closely to ensure this amazing meat reaches its full potential.
