White Egret Farm is a Grade A Goat dairy specializing in providing drug-free, healthful goat dairy and meat products directly to the consumer. We believe fresher products, or products that are handled only one time are more healthful, and we feel it is important for our customers to have direct access to these types of products. We stand in contrast to products from the supermarket, which have traveled an average of 1,500 miles, and have passed through brokers, jobbers, and distributors, before they are purchased. We produce unprocessed goat milk in a way that preserves all the health-giving bioactive components Nature meant you to have. This wholesome product is also the basic ingredient in our probiotic cheeses and yogurts. Our milk is never heated to high temperatures. Even so, the fresh milk maintains a low bacterial count that is equal to or lower than that of pasteurized milk on the grocery store shelf. In its natural state fresh goat milk, like breast milk, contain powerful antibacterial components. That is one of the reasons it has been famous for thousands of years as "the next best thing" for babies. We simply provide the cleanliness necessary for the milk to do its job. It is this high quality milk that gives all our cheeses and yogurts their unique, clean flavor. All the products at White Egret Farm are carefully handmade in small batches to preserve their functional qualities as probiotic foods. That means that they contain the "good bacteria" people need to promote a healthy digestive system. The farm produces several varieties of yogurts, and soft chèvres, as well as hard-aged and marinated cheeses. These products are both good and good for you! White Egret Farm integrates several livestock species into its operation. We use the feeding patterns of different species to create a symbiotic whole, in which each type of animal thrives off the products or grazing habits of others in the system. All our animals are fed by hand, and are on pasture daily. This means a more healthful, drug-free meat product for you. By practicing sustainable and organic agricultural methods, White Egret Farm is both considerate of the environment, and mindful of the health needs of our customers.

Grass-Fed Meat Animal Management
At White Egret Farm we raise our beef, pigs, and turkeys in the time honored small farm tradition. We feed, water and attend our animals by hand. Our animals are not fed hormones, antibiotics, growth promoters, or sulfites, and our turkeys are not injected with self-basting additives. Our meat animals graze organically managed pastures and their manure is returned to our fields in a cycle which replenishes the organic matter in our soil and supports the growth of the natural bacteria that are responsible for mineral cycling. Fields rich in microbial growth resist the effects of drought and erosion, and provide essential nutrients for our forage plants. By consuming forage plants, grazing animals return vital minerals, nutrients, and microorganisms to the soil for the next growth cycle. Without the aid of grazing, essential minerals can be "locked-up" in dead plant material for years, especially in dry climates. In addition to recycling the manure, all the whey from our cheese making process is fed to our pigs. This whey contains millions of probiotic bacteria, which create healthy pigs who then need no medication to enhance their growth. As a result, our meat products are much more flavorful, juicy, and healthful than comparable products mass-produced in crowded feedlots.

Meat Safety and the Direct Producer
Much has been written about meat safety in the last few years. Yet, no one has linked the production and distribution system to the problem of microbiological contamination. No where is this more evident than in ground beef. Gill, et al., publishing in the International Journal of Food Microbiology (1993) studied the commercial process for ground meat production, from the collection of meat plant trimmings to the retailing of consumer packs of ground beef. The process they studied included plants operating under what is called current Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). They found that the meat was stored for up to 18 days before grinding, and that most of the trimmings developed a flora of spoilage bacteria, of up to 10 million bacteria/gram. Numbers of coliform type bacteria and of Escherichia coli on stored trimmings did not increase significantly, until the product was moved to the retail level for display. The scientists said that the increase in total numbers of bacteria in display cases indicated a loss of control of the temperature of the packaged product. The authors concluded that the need to store a product, taking into account the unpredictable fluctuations in supply and demand, will inevitably result in ground beef carrying large numbers of spoilage bacteria. Furthermore, they said, the currently accepted GMP in the retail handling of ground beef does not adequately control either spoilage or the growth of pathogenic bacteria. This is not the case with meat produced by a farmer, who sells directly to the consumer. In the case of the farmer, the meat processing is likely to be done in a licensed plant that does not run 24 hours a day, giving ample time for cleaning of equipment and the facilities. The break in production activities slows or stops the growth of spoilage bacteria, and the packaged meat is usually rapidly frozen within 24 hours of being cut. These factors increase the safety of farmer produced product, and increase the shelf life of the meat in the customer's refrigerator.