Zatkovich Pastures, LLC
Dan, Leanne and Afton Zatkovich – and Tom
17050 Kane Road
17050 Kane Road
Stockbridge, MI 49285
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Visit us at the Chelsea Farm Market on Saturdays from 8-noon! Park Street, downtown, just east of Main Street.
Current products:
- Free-Range Heritage-Breed Eggs – $4/dozen
- Pastured dinner chickens – First batch of 2013 sold out!. Next batch of chickens will be available approximately July 4. Contact us to reserve your birds.
- 100% grass-fed Dexter beef – available approximately July 8. We are taking reservations for bulk orders now up to a quarter steer. Click here for the 2013 beef price list.
… more information about our products …
100% Grass-fed Premium Dexter Beef - Our Dexter steers, a heritage breed originating in Ireland in the 1800s, are calved here in Michigan and fed nothing but grass for their entire life – no grain, no sweet feed, nothing that isn’t green and leafy. We use an intensive rotational grazing strategy, which makes the best ecological use of the land we have. The cattle are supplemented with a loose mix of organic kelp meal and sea salt, which gives them needed vitamins and minerals. No antibiotics, no hormones, no medications, no insecticides. We obtain them as grass-fed calves from a Michigan breeder and raise them for two years here in Stockbridge. Available in bulk orders (whole or half beeves, 10- and 25-pound family boxes), or by-the-cut. All beef is flash-frozen and vacuum-packed in cryogenic wrap.
Pastured Chickens - We raise our dinner chickens in floorless “chicken tractors”, which are moved daily to a fresh slice of pasture, where they eat the grass, pick the clover, scratch for bugs, and chase insects. The chickens are hatched in Zeeland, MI and sent to us hours after hatching. Their feed is 100% organic* and non-GMO grains and organic supplements (kelp meal, some probiotic mix) which is entirely grown and sourced within Michigan. Available by the whole bird or in bags of pieces (breasts, thighs, legs, or wings), and all are vacuum-packed, frozen, and ready for your kitchen.
Free-range Eggs - Our free-range flocks (Orpingtons and Rhode Island Reds, both heritage breeds) are fed, in addition to what they forage in the pastures, trees, woods, etc, the same feed as our pastured chickens – 100% organic* and non-GMO. The eggs are $4/dozen, and are available year-round.
… Our Principles …
- Animal welfare is paramount at Zatkovich Pastures. We do everything we can to ensure our animals are physically healthy and comfortable; free from stress, hunger and crowded conditions; eat a natural diet free from GMO products, animal by-products or any other adulterations; and, most importantly, are respected and loved.
- We are a grass-based farm and, accordingly, everything revolves around grass. We use symbiotic strategies wherever possible to maximize the permaculture, biodiversity, and fertility of the pastures. We are stewards of the land we are using, and as such, we add to it, not take away. Instead of manure being a pollutant, as is the case on a feedlot, every bit goes back into our soil, one way or another. We use rotational grazing strategies to avoid over-grazing any areas. Ranging chickens, following the cattle, add their own manure and help control biting flies. We compost everything possible and add it directly to the pastures. It’s a big, synergistic dance that results in happy animals, fertile soil, and rich grass.
- Neither of the first two principles matter without transparency and honesty. We invite questions, interrogations, skepticism. Come visit us. Take pictures, peer into the dark corners, see for yourself how we operate and how the animals live. Take a bit of chicken feed into your own hand and assess its integrity. Ask questions. Ask more questions. That’s how food decisions should be made. As our unwitting mentor Joel Salatin says, “Trespassers will be impressed.”
*A note regarding our chicken feed: it is non-certified organic, as one ingredient – the corn – is in “transition”, meaning that the corn fields used for our feed are in a waiting period until they can be certified as organic by a regulatory body. In all aspects – health, ecology, etc – it is as good, or better, than certified organic. We have personally walked the fields, spoken at length with the family that grows it, and are satisfied of its wholesomeness. More information can be obtained by asking; you should know what you’re eating and we’re glad to tell you.