Shuttleworth Farm

The Special
This week we are pleased to feature country style ribs, bacon, and lamb from Shuttleworth Farm of Westfield, Vermont. All this week, Chef Casey Graham will use naturally-raised Shuttleworth Farm meats in main dishes, appetizers, soups, and salads.

The Farm
Shuttleworth Farm is a family owned and operated farm located in the town of Westfield in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Their sheep, pigs, and poultry are raised on the lush pastures that grow in the shadow of Jay Peak and lie along the banks of the Missisquoi River. Most of the meat from Shuttleworth Farm is sold within two hundred miles of the farm to individual customers as well as fine restaurants and natural food stores.

Shuttleworth Farm

In the green meadows of Westfield at the foot of Jay Peak, a flock of Shuttleworth Farm sheep graze contentedly as clouds engulf the moutain above. The flock is guarded by three border collies and two Great Pyrenées who keep the lambs and ewes from straying too near the banks of the Missiquoi River. This graceful valley is home to Kelli Fogg and Todd Shuttleworth and their daughter Isla, along with a few other small farms and country homes. Shuttleworth Farm is one of the biggest lamb producers in the state of Vermont and part of the growing local foods movement. Most of their lamb, pork, and poultry products are sold within two hundred miles of their property.

I am visiting Kelli and Todd at their farm on a cool morning in June. Isla, their sixteen month old, shows me around the barn, fearlessly toddling up to the dogs and sheep. Like her parents, she seems a born farmer. Todd Shuttleworth has loved family farming since spending his childhood summers on the original Shuttleworth Farm in Canaan, New Hampshire, where his grandparents raised dairy cows and vegetables. “A little bit of nostalgia helps you get involved. It can also help you keep going,” he says.

Todd studied farming at the University of Maryland. After graduation, he moved to the Northeast Kingdom to try his hand at running the family farm. It was in Vermont in 2003 that Todd met Kelli, his real estate agent and a former marketing major at Alfred University. Their shared passion for family farming and naturally raised foods led them to purchase a small flock of sheep and the former dairy farm in Westfield. This new generation of Shuttleworth Farm is a wonderful example of how a combination of responsible farming practices, favorable market trends and modern advertising strategies can support and sustain a small family farm. The Shuttleworths currently have 150-250 ewes, produce up to three hundred lambs a year, and have nine sows.

Nostalgic it may be, but this old-fashioned, low-tech approach to farming in many ways works better and is cheaper, healthier, and more environmentally sustainable than industrialized agriculture. The Shuttleworths have successfully adopted many traditional practices on their farm. They keep their pigs in the Swedish manner, with lots of clean deep straw for bedding and a separate area for their manure. “Pigs are very clean animals, if you give them the choice to be,” Todd observes. His work with the dogs is both nostalgic and effective. “I like to joke that the dogs saved our marriage.” He smiles. “Before we got them it would take us hours to round the sheep up.”

The Shuttleworths are excited about the local food movement and the surge of interest in organic and naturally produced food, though they are realistic about its challenges. “It’s tough. It’s tough for us to get the attention of lawmakers. The dairy industry gets plenty of low interest loans and subsidies,“ Todd says. “Getting a bank to believe in you and your business plan, that’s tough. But I think that as the movement grows, and more people are successful, it’ll get better.”

Another challenge lies in educating consumers about the cost of producing healthy food versus the cost of producing cheap food. Though local and natural foods will often be more expensive, consumers should consider that they are also purchasing reassuring knowledge of where their food is coming from and how it is produced. The cost of producing of cheap foods is more hidden, funded by government subsidies and, ultimately, taxpayers. “I think that consumers can provide some of the most powerful oversight, environmentally and otherwise,” says Todd. “When you have to live in the community where you sell your food, if you were raising a poor product you’d have a bad reputation quick. But when your food comes from God knows where, it’s like this invisible curtain that everything is hidden behind. There’s no real accountability, there’s no liability.”

The purchase of Shuttleworth Farm meats and other locally produced natural foods contributes not only to the growth of strong communities and a safer food system, but also to a healthier environment. “You don’t want to create problems,” Todd says. “We accept responsibility for all of the food we’re producing, everything. All that grain for the animals, all the manure from the animals, that gets handled responsibly.” Their sheep are mostly grass fed, which reduces the use of the fossil fuels it takes to grow and ship grain, and Todd believes the meat is the better for it. “Keeping those animals healthy, and they grow quick on a low or no grain diet, produces a leaner meat, so it’s not greasy,” he says. “You don’t need the mint sauce. It’s very tender.”
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So of course, one of Todd’s favorite things about sheep farming is the opportunity for quality control. “I love it when a package breaks open and we have to eat it ourselves,” he grins. “I like everything grilled.” Kelli prefers roasting; she says that one of the family’s favorite meals is a boneless rolled lamb shoulder with Montreal steak seasoning, slow roasted in the oven.

The Shuttleworths have a wonderful website and farm blog at www.shuttleworthfarm.com. You can visit their website for information on ordering their products and to learn more about the family and their farming philosophy.

Shuttleworth Farm Mission Statement

People speak about sustainable agriculture as an ideal goal, but at Shuttleworth Farm, we think that sustainability is the least we can do. We are not about maintaining, we are about improving:

* Improving our soils with carefully planned rotations of sheep, laying hens, broilers, turkeys, pigs and hay that perfectly complement the natural growth cycle of our native cool season perennial grasses.
* Improving the health of our animals. Fresh air, sunshine, clean water, and lush green grass benefit all types of livestock, yet so much of modern agriculture denies animals these basic necessities. We let our animals eat and behave as nature intended them to.
* Improving the health of our consumers. Pasture-raised meats are much lower in fat, higher in heart healthy Omega-3 fatty acids and Conjugated Linoleic Acids (CLA's), and excellent sources of Vitamins A, B3, B6, B12, D and E (Jo Robinson, Eat Wild, 2006)
* Improving the health of our community. The average morsel of food in this country travels more than fifteen-hundred miles before it is consumed. (Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma. New York: The Penguin Press, 2006. 239p). We service our local markets. The vast majority of our meats are consumed within two hundred miles of our farm. This permits us to offer quicker time to market, reduced handling charges and huge reduction of the use of fossil fuels.