{"id":1965,"date":"2011-09-19T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmforward1.wpengine.com\/?p=1965"},"modified":"2022-11-02T22:01:22","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T22:01:22","slug":"butterfields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/butterfields\/","title":{"rendered":"Butterfields"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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This summer, the world\u2019s first restaurant serving only heritage poultry opened in Deposit, New York, a popular weekend destination among New Yorkers. It sells heritage meats produced by\u00a0Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch<\/a>\u00a0and is already generating regional buzz. Butterfields\u2019 opening is a milestone for proponents of humane, sustainable animal agriculture\u2014and it all started with a simple phone call.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to open a restaurant with healthy, humane menu options,\u201d said Butterfield\u2019s owner George Merich, \u201cbut I didn\u2019t know where to start. I browsed the Internet and found a place called Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch. Its owner, Farm Forward board member Frank Reese, picked up when I called.\u201d Merich grew up on a farm and is a self-described \u201canimal-loving meat-eater;\u201d but before talking with Reese he was only somewhat aware of the horrors of factory farming. \u201cI learned so much from that first phone call,\u201d Merich remembers, \u201cespecially about turkeys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reese, a 46-year veteran farmer, has raised turkeys since he was a boy and is a leading expert on the history of American poultry. Reese explained what sets his Heritage Turkeys\u2122 apart from the \u201cbroad-breasted White,\u201d the\u00a0industry\u2019s bird of choice<\/a> for mass production. Industrial turkeys are bred to grow at twice the rate of the turkeys of a generation ago.1<\/a> They are incapable of flying or mating naturally (the industry relies on artificial insemination) and are given antibiotics routinely<\/a>. As a result the turkey products available in virtually all grocery stores and restaurants (including free-range and organic brands) are often from sick, injured, and even dying birds who suffered throughout their lives.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Good Shepherd turkeys\u2014bred continuously from flocks dating back to at least 1917\u2014 grow at a natural and healthy rate, reproduce on their own, enjoy a humane and spacious environment, and can even fly. They are called Heritage Turkeys\u2122 because genetically they are the same hardy, healthy turkeys our grandparents and great-grandparents ate. The American Poultry Association designates them \u201cStandard-Bred,\u201d which means they meet the Standards of Perfection established in the late 1800s.2<\/a> These birds are never given antibiotics or other antimicrobials, and are meticulously cared for by Frank Reese and his network of compassionate farmers.<\/p>\n

The results of such a system are extraordinary: leaner, more protein-rich poultry that has been featured on the\u00a0Martha Stewart Show,\u00a0earned praise from celebrity chefs like Mario Batali, and won top honors in several taste contests including one organized by the\u00a0New York Times.<\/p>\n

Once Merich understood what made Good Shepherd\u2019s Heritage Poultry\u2122 so different, he flew out to Kansas to visit Reese and see his operation. He helped Reese take his turkeys to pasture in the morning and herd them back in at night. The experience left a profound impression. As Merich put it, \u201cWhen you actually hold a turkey and look into its eyes, it\u2019s a whole new game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Merich is bringing the care, expertise, and unrivaled animal husbandry he experienced in Kansas to Deposit, New York.<\/p>\n

Merich represents a new breed of entrepreneurship\u2014one that insists both businesses and consumers alike should benefit from healthier, hardier, and more ethically raised birds. Heritage farm animals combine good business with highest welfare in the same success story. \u201cWhat I love about working with farmers like Frank is not only that they are good people, but that they have a time-tested and humane business model that really works. I\u2019m not just supporting one good farmer but preserving the legacy of the best of American farming.\u201d True, entrepreneurs like Merich are preserving a part of American history, but their eyes are more on the future than the past: a future without factory farms.<\/p>\n

Sign up\u00a0for the Farm Forward newsletter to receive updates and important information about how you can get involved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Owner of the world’s first restaurant only serving heritage poultry visits Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch for a look into heritage farming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,20,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-system-solutions","category-animal-welfare","category-genetic-modification"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}