RBR News | August 1, 2014

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Around the Ranch
Farmers around the country may be the only people that begin planning for Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of July, but in order to get enough veggies and turkeys to everyone’s table on November 27, we need to plant seeds and hatch birds amidst the heat of midsummer.

Rock Bottom Ranch has been raising 40 little turkey poults (baby turkeys) for the past several weeks. We selected the Broad-Breasted Bronze breed, a fast growing and, as the name suggests, busty, meaty bird. When they are older they will have black feathers and a copper-colored bronze band covering much of their body. The turkeys are a blast to have around as they are curious and friendly, always running up to peck at your shoes or nibble your shirt. At this young stage, they are living indoors where they are safe from predators and can stay cozy under the heat lamps (turkey poults need a temperature of between 90-100ºF during the first several weeks of life). In about three weeks, once they’ve developed their outer feathers, we will send them out to pasture to follow a similar pasture-management plan as our chickens. On pasture they will have access to shelter and shade structures, non-GMO grain and water, and, most importantly, free-range access to fresh grass full of yummy bugs and other treats.

It generally takes about 20 weeks from when the poults hatch until they reach our target weight of about 15-25 pounds. If all goes according to plan, we will have this small batch ready just before Thanksgiving! Reservations for this year’s turkeys will begin in a few weeks, so keep an eye on the blog and ACES email communications for information on how to reserve your Rock Bottom Ranch turkey!

Available Products:
Rock Bottom Ranch has a full inventory of chicken, pork, lamb and Crystal River Meats beef. No salad mix this week, as we are transitioning from the first planting to the second. Sweet Genovese basil and mint will be back this week.

Pasture-raised whole chickens are available, as well as our delicious non-GMO, Animal Welfare Approved chicken and duck eggs.

A full pork inventory is available including chops, ribs, bacon, smoked hams, fresh ham roasts, and several flavors of sausage.

Lamb cuts are limited this week, so if you are looking for lamb, come early.

Purchase RBR products at:

• Rock Bottom Ranch Ranch | Monday – Friday, 9AM-5PM and Saturday, 9AM-1PM
• Basalt Farmers’ Market | Sundays, 10AM-2PM.
• Hallam Lake (limited supply available) | Monday – Saturday, 9AM – 5PM.

~ Harper Kaufman, Agriculture Assistant

Join us for Farm Tours Monday – Saturday at 11AM! For questions about Rock Bottom Ranch please email Jason at jsmith@aspennature.org