Let's talk about buying local from a family farm versus organic from big box stores...
We see all the labels touting organically raised, humane, ethically sourced, but all you're doing is reading those labels. You can't meet the farmer that feeds those animals daily, most likely because it's either automated or done by minimum wage workers, and you can't see the conditions in which those animals are being raised.
My eleven year old even pointed out that those labels stating "no antibiotics" and "no hormones" usually comes with an asterisk where in tiny print gives a disclaimer about using if needed. While I don't actually know of any hormones given to goats for milk production, I wouldn't use that anyway. It degrades the health of the animal. As for antibiotics, I will use them if necessary. I refuse to watch an animal suffer when antibiotics could help their condition. If used however, I will follow the recommended withdrawal times for both milk and meat. In the past 5 years though, I have only given antibiotics to 1 pig and none of my goats have ever had them while in milk.
When you come to my farm, you can greet each animal by name, you can read the ingredients of each feed bag and if you come at the right time, you can even help us feed! My husband still works a 9 to 5 to pay for our house, clothes, food from outside the farm because the farm can't sustain itself yet. I make and sell soap, tallow balm and goat cheese to buy the feed and supplies needed for the animals. All so we can know where our food comes from. Its so much more important to know where your food comes from - really know - than to get stuck on some organic, non-GMO, greenwashed label. Trust me, I've been there. Before we moved to the farm, I wanted all those things. I wanted to raise animals on organic grain handpicked by someone and then mixed (also by hand) to create the perfect wholesome food. Turns out, it's not sustainable. I tried. I bought all organic grains, mixed them painstakingly by hand and then ended up sweeping most of them to the chickens after the goats picked through what they didn't like. I couldn't even maintain the feed bill for that let alone feed the chickens, pigs and other fowl an organic feed. I've since settled in that gray area that most city folk want to chastise. I feed my goats a well balanced feed from Kalmbach. I like the way it looks and smells. Yes it has corn. Yes it may have some GMOs. But the milk tastes wonderful, and I can afford to supply them with alfalfa hay (which to me is more important than grain). Because of this, I have been able to feed the chickens a non-GMO feed *also from Kalmbach* and it makes them lay the most amazing eggs. The pigs still get a conventional grain because its $13/bag versus nearly $35 that I was paying for non-GMO corn and soy free (not even organic). We currently have 10 pigs. That $35 doesn't seem like a lot until you multiply it by the 10-12 bags we use monthly.
While my animals may not eat "organic" feed, they are loved. I know their personalities and can call them each by name. I check on them at least twice daily if not more, and know they are living their best lives. The does (female goats) aren't shoved through a turnstile to be milked, their kids are taken away at birth to be bottle fed so the moms can produce milk from the start. The pigs live with sunshine, dirt and grass not an artificially lit metal box on concrete floors that need to be hosed down to drain the excrement away from their feet. They forage on grasses, brush and bugs, whatever they can reach with their snouts. They are given ear scratches and belly rubs right up until we harvest. And that never gets easier. I tend to put it off for months because the idea of bringing them somewhere in their last moments breaks my heart. We aren't yet equipped to process ourselves, but that is the goal. If you buy from a local farmer, they can tell you more about that animal than you'll likely care to know, but you know they were well loved and cared for. The same can't be said for store bought meat or dairy.
Is it more expensive to buy local? Sure, but most factory farms are subsidized so that price in the store isn't even the real cost of raising that animal. And yes, even those organic chicken breasts at Costco came from a factory farm. So while we can delude ourselves with the notion that organic is better, in reality, its not. Its just a label.
Photos by Gabby Chapin Photography