We have had to make the difficult decision to temporarily suspend our beef production here at Two Coves Farm. For many years we have purchased yearling Belted Galloway “feeder cattle” from a couple of trusted sources here in New England, the vast majority coming from a farm two towns over in Freeport, Maine. However, that farm was sold in 2020 and since that time we have had a difficulty sourcing cattle that we felt were of similar high quality and temperament. 

We did search far and wide for some cattle to purchase, raise on pasture, and process to fill orders in 2023. We had two potential sales fall through and a third that would have meant going with a different breed and pushing harvest into 2024 as these were much younger animals. The long and short of it all is that it ended up just not feeling right. A lot goes into sourcing, transporting, raising, and then processing cows… We grew to feel like a large purchase this season would allow us to fill our orders but would leave us essentially in the same spot next year. While the push of momentum is great, we have felt in the last couple years like our model needs to shift. We need more control of our own animals, and want to manage production from live birth to processing. 

The flip side of this decision is that we hope to use our resources instead to establish our own herd of Belted Galloway allowing us to control our own destiny and create a beef program that fits our model and systems. We felt like the only way to get there, at least for the moment, is to hit pause and take a step back. Many factors are in play here for us personally and professionally, but the core of the matter is what has been explained here. We value our customers very much and its very disappointing to communicate this news, over the long term we feel this will make us a stronger long term source for premium grass fed beef.