Directly from our farm to you
Skelton Farm is a Family Owned, Family Operated Farm
* Piedmontese Beef ~ lean & TENDER ~ Genetically unique breed of cattle
* 100% Grass fed and Grass Finished ~ Never Fed Grain only dry hay and fresh pasture
* Dry Aged 11-21 days for enhanced flavor
* packaged in clear cryovac packages
* Bred, Born and raised on our farm in Pennsylvania
* Never confined to a feed lot or closed barn
* Clean, Safe, nutrient dense
* Never given Growth Hormones
* No Antibiotics
* Pesticide and herbicide free
* Lower in Fat, Cholesterol & Calories than skinless chicken, Salmon, Swordfish & Bison
* High in Omega 3
* High in CLA
* Processed at a small, local USDA butcher
* Members of Pennsylvania Dept of Agriculture's PA Preferred Program
* Members of PASA ; Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture
* Members of North American Piedmontese Association
* "Local Harvest " Member
* "Eat Wild" Member
* Listed on Penn State University's "AgMap"
* "Slow Food" members
We now sell our beef by the box in 25#, 50# and 100# assortments, year round in our farm store. Please call for availability, we are only open by appointment or by chance, Please call 814-734-7008 We are taking orders for August Pick-up dates. Please check back often, more detailed info on Boxed assortments to come. Please see our FAQ page for more information.
We also sell beef by the 1/2 & whole
Whole steer weighs approx. 600 -800lbs and 1/2 weighs approx. 300-400lbs.
We are taking orders now for whole and 1/2 steers. For August pick -up
Grass fed is Best
Grass fed beef is a healthier, more flavorful and more nutrient dense product than grain fed beef. Our cattle have access to several pastures around the farm and are free to roam as they like in and out of pastures and over the wooded areas of the farm. The pastures are never over grazed, they even needed to be mowed in the summer of 09 because the cattle could not keep up with the growth! We feed only hay raised on our farm. We grow our hay without the use of pesticides and herbicides. We harvest it when the nutrient content will yield the highest quality hay. It drys in the sun and is baled and stored in our barns out of the weather to further ensure quality. They also have access to free choice * minerals in various feeders around the farm.
(*eat it when they need it)
Grass Finished
What is grass finished? ~ a frequent question we get here on the farm.
Simply put, all of our cattle eat nothing but grass; fresh pasture when available and dry hay during the winter months. Many farms feed grass during the early months of a calves life and feed grain during the last few months of a steers growth in order to put added weight and fat on the steer. This would be an example of a grass fed and corn finished steer. Unlike others advertising "grass-fed" our cattle are never fed grain and never confined to a feed lot.
Cattle are ruminants and as such are not equipped to digest grains. The ingesting of grains can weaken the immune system and can cause digestive upset. An all grass diet is as nature intended. As a result our cattle are much healthier than most feedlot beef and/or corn fed beef.
From Forbes Magazine 7/09
Forbes magazine rated grass fed beef as one of the top ten healthiest foods on earth; an excerpt from the article follows along with a link to the entire article.
Grass-Fed Meat
Meat from grass-fed cows has a much different fat profile than ordinary supermarket meat: high in omega-3s, lower in potentially harmful omega-6s and loaded with CLA, a kind of fat known for its anti-cancer activity. A superb source of protein and vitamin B12, it's also missing the antibiotics, steroids and hormones found in the meat that comes from feedlot farms.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/07/healthiest-foods-nutrition-lifestyle-health-healthiest-foods_print.html
For the past ten years we have raised our beef solely on pasture and sun dried orchard grass hay. We made this decision for many reasons, for more detailed information on the many benefits grass fed meats, please see "Eat Wild" web site.