Elaine Moore Farm: 1st Stop Gate to Plate Tour
Yesterday, I told you about the cool Gate to Plate Farm Tour I was on last month. In telling you about the adventure, I wrote that we toured two farms. Today I am sharing with you the first stop on the Gate to Plate Tour the Elaine Moore Farm.
When we arrived at the farm, I was taken aback by how beautiful her farm was. It is nestled in Stanly County in North Carolina. She is the first stop on the cattle industry food chain. The farm has been in her family for over 200 years. She is the last in the line of cattle farmers.
Before climbing on the hayride, Lynda Loveland, the communications director of Farm Bureau, introduced everyone that was involved with putting the tour together.
As we rode on the hayride, touring the farm, I was amazed at how well kept it was and how the cows were basically enjoying their best life. We were taken to several different pastures. The first pasture was where they had penned up the younguns’ so we could see them. These were the calves that were born a little over a year ago.
When we were looking at these beauties, we were told that Ms. Elaine does what is called fence line weaning. Basically, the mama and the baby cow are separated by a fence line. It reduces the amount of stress on the mama and the baby because they still get to see each other. ( You know us mommas are protective of our young.)
Then we started off to another pasture, where Ms. Elaine got the cows to come out to see us. She was totally badass on her horse as she was getting them to come out. But because it was such a hot day, they wanted to stay in the shade, I totally don’t blame them for that.
While we were watching the cows, Ms. Elaine told us that these cows are her babies and her passion. She likes to keep their stress level as low as possible. One thing that that stood out to me was how Ms. Elaine was a woman cattle rancher. You Go Girl.
After a few minutes, the hayride began again, and we came across two donkeys. Aren’t they cute? I honestly didn’t think anything of this until I started following other ranchers and saw that they had donkeys with their cows as well. I was curious, so I asked my friend, Emily, why that was so. She told me that donkeys are natural protectors and they tend to scare away predators. How cool is that?
Once we passed the donkeys, we went to see what Ms. Elaine calls her baby making factory. 😉 These were the cows that she uses as her breeding stock. I can say that you could tell how well they were treated. They didn’t shy away from people, and they just stared at us like what are doing here and why are you disturbing us right now? I had to laugh there was one pregnant cow who was standing in the water staring at us like we were interrupting her day at the spa.
This farm was breathtaking, and we saw that the animals were treated with tender, loving, care, which made my heart happy. Check back again when I share our visit the Harward Sisters Farm and all the things we learned there.
