Peaking a steep, rutted soil way that goes through the rises of Huntington, Vermont, I’m welcomed by the sight of energetically beating wind turbines and twelve dark cows apathetically munching on the moving pasture. In an exertion to consume provincially and all the more reasonably, I’ve driven the 25 miles from my home in Burlington to Maple Wind Farm to get a request of grass-bolstered meat, guaranteed by the ranchers that the dairy animals had used their whole lives expending just their mother’s drain and grass.
Adolescent and energetic, ranchers Bruce Hennessey and Beth Whiting oversee this enhanced animals and vegetable operation. Formerly a teacher and mountain guide, Bruce stumbled into farming by chance. It was an impulsive purchase that transformed their lives.
After a discouraging attempt to clear the overgrown brush from the land, the couple started with a small herd of 13 cows. That herd has now grown to approximately 90 Angus-Devon-Hereford-cross cattle, who share the pastures with sheep, pigs, chickens, and turkeys.
Interestingly, as a young man, Bruce had been a vegetarian for seven years. He had decided to give up meat due to concerns about the unsustainable land and energy resources required for conventional cattle farming, as well as the negative health effects of fatty meat. “But the more I read about grass-fed meat and explored the benefits, both environmental and the sustainability of cattle raised on carefully managed pastures, I realized that this is something I could consume,” he explains. “We even provide meat for recovering vegetarians.”
During the grazing season, the farmers move the cows to fresh pastures daily, following a farming system known as Management Intensive Grazing.
