Beef gone beyond organic
Alec and Sarah Bradford join a growing list of small family farms across the New River Valley that use environmentally conscious practices to raise their livestock.
By Tonia Moxley
ALLEGHANY SPRING -- Alec Bradford stood in muddy boots on a recent Thursday morning, huddling against a cutting winter wind as he surveyed his herd.
His quiet voice was almost drowned by the bang-clang of cow horns against metal poles as the world's oldest cattle breed ate from a round bale feeder.
The wild white cows of Celtic lore, today called Ancient White Park, paid little mind as the clean, sunny smell of good hay eddied around them in the frigid air.
Two years ago drought dried up pastures and hay prices hurtled into the stratosphere, Bradford said.
But he and his wife, Sarah, held on to Leaping Waters Farm, using her salary as a physician to help them over the worst.
Despite today's deepening economic recession, the demand for the farm's "beyond organic" heirloom beef is much higher than the family can supply, Bradford said.
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