Some Farm Questions Answered

Meet our new Assistant Farm Manager Laura Noell!
Our front desk receives lots of questions about the farm.  Here are the most common inquiries are our responses:

Right now, about 850 chickens reside at RiverMeadow Farm. They sleep in three portable eggmobiles. Each eggmobile is surrounded by electric poultry netting, giving the hens room to roam, munching on bugs, grass and other delectable treats. They are then moved every few days giving them new pasture to feast on. The hens are ready for bed by dusk and have usually all wandered into the eggmobiles by then and the ramps are closed, to be opened again at dawn. The nest boxes are accessible from the outside and eggs are gathered each afternoon. The Farm does have an automatic egg washer but even so, to gather and wash the 700+ eggs laid daily, takes a little under three hours!

Capon’s Scottish Highland cattle herd has grown from around 46 in 2017 to around 72 right now. Scottish Highland cattle are a very hearty, healthy breed, not requiring the vaccinations, antibiotics, etc. that other breeds need to stay healthy.  Their meat is very lean, and the cuts are smaller.  Sam’s plan is to begin breeding them with a Hereford/Highland cross bull, creating a slightly larger framed animal with slightly more fat content in the meat.

With a focus on animal production and infrastructure, the vegetable production has been put on hold for now.  We do still harvest rhubarb in the spring but otherwise, produce is sourced locally or through our venders.  (With all the rain this year…. it’s a good thing we didn’t have a garden in…. nothing would be growing… We have standing water in the fields where vegetables would normally be growing.)

Capon’s farming operation is spread over three different locations.  Rivermeadow Farm, located at Yellow Spring, has 176 total acres. The acreage is split between pasture, vegetable fields, and a managed timber program. The hens and many of the cattle reside there now. The original barn at Rivermenadow was built in 1861 and was primarily a sheep and livestock barn.  It is built into a bank. The hay and grain were stored on the upper level, allowing the farmer to “throw down” feed to the animals below. Renovations to the barn began in 2014 and were finished in 2016. The barn now is primarily used as equipment storage and the occasional workshop. (Our eggmobiles were constructed there.)

Hilltop Farm is located off Milk Road. There are approximately 200 acres there, including an abandoned airstrip.  Sam has overseen the recent timbering operation there with the goal to reclaim pasture land that had slowly over the years been encroached upon and reclaimed by the trees.  There are two ponds at Hilltop, with plans to enlarge and renovate one and possibly add a third, which we hope to stock with fish! These ponds will primarily water our livestock, but we see some possible hiking and biking trails there in the future so stay tuned!

And our third farm is Hog Heaven!   Hog Heaven, about 6 acres was originally part of Grover Stevens’ farm. Old fencing and a house foundation are still slightly visible through the underbrush. More visible is the rock wall along the creek by the new bridge.  Imagine stacking all that by hand!  His ingenuity is also visible in the upper field up on the bank where he captured a wet spring to use for watering his animals. Old time farmers were amazing!

And if you have been to Hog Heaven this year, you can see that a major renovation is taking place. The plan has the improvements taking place over several seasons, with the goal to be guest friendly and usable for different animals: fence heights, loading ramps, watering locations, and ability to easily house animals in the winter. Stay tuned for more news and updates about this project.