Grass Corp., a pasture-based farm located in Perry County, Ind., is officially making bi-weekly deliveries locally with its first Owensboro pickup location at Gene’s Health Food. Customers are able to pre-order products directly from their farm with deliveries every other Monday at 4:30 p.m.
But Grass Corp. has prided themselves on more than just the label of “grass fed.”
“Our goal is to really take advantage of the pasture we have to raise the animals humanely and in the sunshine when possible. There really is a difference in the flavor and quality of the meat,” said Samantha Cavender, the daughter of owner/operators Stan and Martha Steckler.
All of the Steckler’s eight children play an active role on the farm. Cavender, who moved to Owensboro to attend Brescia University, has since married and made Owensboro home and is hoping to continue to be involved in the family business. She oversees the farms marketing and public relations while exploring new avenues of growth such as the expansion of their Owensboro pickup location.
“In 2005 our family actually moved from the Ferdinand area to Perry County,” Cavender said. “It was a big change for us in that it was another step away from a large commercial dairy operation to a small farm. In 2007, we sold our big dairy herd and have since moved to what we’re doing now, a wider product offering and able to sell directly to the customer.”
All Grass Corp. meats are hormone and antibiotic free. The family utilizes holistic management to restore the soils under their care in an effort to grow high-quality pastures to nourish the many animals they are raising.
“An animal that is raised on the pasture where they get sunshine and eating grass that they are intended to, they are healthier and really don’t need those antibiotics,” Cavender said. “If you go to Kroger or Walmart you’ll find things that are labeled as organic or grass fed on the label, but a lot of those cows are only actually on grass for part of their life so they are actually not 100 percent grass-fed oftentimes.”
Cavender and her family believe in the differences seen in pasture-raised animals versus those raised in a commercial setting, stating their animals aren’t sick all of the time like they once saw in a commercially grown operation.
“We started then with just a few cows and no more commercial dairy, but direct marketing to our customers now instead. That allowed us to incorporate pigs, sheep and poultry,” Cavender said. “The chickens do receive grain as they are chickens and are designed to, but they are raised on the pasture and they are moved every single day to fresh pasture as they are naturally homebodies.”
Grass Corp. welcomes visitors to the farm for customers to see first hand how the animals are raised. To schedule a visit or to view all their product offerings, visit the Grass Corp. website.
