Cookeville Farmer’s Market: Where’s the Meat

If you don’t grow your own fruits and vegetables, cattle, chickens, pork or sheep, there are small farmers who do. If you want farm-to-table home dining choices, farmers markets of the Upper Cumberland can most likely supply menu choices for your daily meals and special occasions.  

This week the Highlands Insider is highlighting meat and poultry farmers you can find at the Cookeville Farmers Market. When choosing what to include on a menu, it’s always best to choose the main course first: Lamb, chicken, turkey, beef, pork?

Mike and Lyn Vaugns farm is located in Walling, TN. “I grew up on the farm, and as an adult, I have always been a part-time farmer, owning cattle and helping my dad when I could,” Mike said, explaining the farm has a 150 year old family story.

Mike’s said, “My dad developed and patented Vaughn’s Bermuda Grass. It is a hybrid grass that my dad developed and patented. He planted some Bermuda seed, and it crossed with an old variety that had been planted about 100 years ago. He recognized that it was something different and transplanted it to a bigger plot. He was able to get the new variety patented as Vaughn’s #1 Bermuda Grass. After seeing other farmers using that grass for grass fed and grass finished beef, we decided that we could do the same.”

Mike and Lyn were part-time farmers until he retired and his dad passed away. Then he became a full-time farmer.

Whether you are grilling the Vaughn’s steaks, slow cooking in a stew, or baking a savory roast, you are serving those who sit around your table beef “raised entirely on grass with NO grains, steroids, antibiotics, or additional hormones,” Mike explained. “We are certified Master Beef producers and strive for a contented, stress free, and well-fed herd.”

While they’ve been selling “grass-fed and grass-finished Angus beef” at the farmers market for 13 years, both Mike and Lyn have been working on their farm getting their cows ready for market.

“We usually have around 100 head of Angus beef which includes bulls, cows, and calves on our 140-acre farm,” Mike said. “Our calves are born and raised on the farm and are 100% grass fed. We usually process them at around 2 years of age and 1000 pounds.”

As a full time farmer, Mike said his days on the farmer are never the same. “There’s always things that need to be done,” he said, listing some of the chores part of his daily schedule, “Checking on health of cows, checking on newborns, feeding hay, baling hay, checking on water that is pumped from the spring and maybe repairing pump, fencing, cleaning fence rows, repairing tractors, taking calves to the processor, going to markets.”

HalfJack Farms is a family-owned farm in Monterey, Tennessee. Chris and Sarah Jack will tell you that HalfJack Farms is truly a combination of both of their backgrounds.

  “After college and nearly 20 years in corporate America, Jack wanted a change and felt drawn back to his agricultural roots. He wanted work that was more meaningful and connected to the land, while building something lasting for his family and community,” Sarah said, further explaining that she grew up in the suburbs but “fell in love with the idea of producing healthy food while caring for animals and improving the land for future generations. It is that combination that has built HalfJack Farms.”

It isn’t just raising them that is part of their mission statement. It is how they raise them. “We specialize in pasture-raised lamb, poultry, and farm-fresh eggs, raising our animals in a way that emphasizes animal welfare, healthy pasture management, and producing nutritious, flavorful food,” Sarah explained.

Making a big-lifestyle change can be daunting, possibly even filled with, “Did I do the right thing?” “One of the biggest confirmations has been hearing from customers who tell us our chicken tastes like the chicken they remember growing up with. Many say it is the best chicken they have ever had,” Sarah said. “Those conversations make the long days worthwhile.”

Selling directly to their customers, Chris explained, “Allows people to know exactly where their food comes from and who raised it.” You can find HalfJack meat, poultry and eggs, and dog treats at the Cookeville Farmers Market, Walnut Street Market, Hill Hollow Market, and farm pick-up.

You’ll find Cornish Cross broiler chickens, Broad Breasted White turkeys, Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys on their farms for meat production. Chris said, “For eggs, we raise a mixed flock that includes Brahmas, Easter Eggers, Barred Rocks, and Rhode Island Reds. These breeds provide us with a beautiful assortment of brown, blue, green, and tinted eggs.”

Some of their daily chores ensure poultry health. “Our poultry is pasture-raised. The meat birds live in mobile pasture shelters that are moved regularly to fresh grass. This provides them with clean ground, sunshine, fresh air, and new forage while naturally distributing nutrients across the pasture,” Sarah explained, adding, “Our laying hens also spend their days on pasture where they can scratch, forage, dust bathe, and express their natural behaviors.”

Besides raising poultry, HalfJack Farm also raises Katahdin and Dorper-cross sheep for meat production, a hair-sheep Chris describes as “hardy, efficient grazers, well-suited to our pasture-based management system. Hair sheep naturally shed rather than requiring annual shearing, and the Katahdin and Dorper influence produces animals known for good maternal traits, adaptability, and high-quality meat.”

“Our sheep are rotationally grazed on pasture throughout the year whenever forage conditions allow,” Chris said. 

Lambs are processed at eight to 12 months old, “depending on pasture conditions, growth, body condition, and how each animal develops,” Chris said.

Like most farmers, Chris agreed, “No two days are exactly alike. Depending on the season, we may be moving chicken tractors onto fresh pasture, checking sheep, collecting eggs, maintaining fences, mowing, hauling feed, repairing equipment, caring for young animals, or preparing for farmers markets.”

“Farming is not an eight-hour job. It is a lifestyle that requires flexibility, problem-solving, and dedication every day,” but it is a lifestyle about which Sarah and Chris are passionate. Together, they are building a family farm focusing on “transparency, responsible land stewardship, and producing food we are proud to feed our own family.”

Stawley Sheep Ranch, owned by Will and Rebecca Stout, is a family farm repurposed for sheep. Will’s mother and father, Taylor and Evelyn Stouts bought the farm, located in Double Springs, TN in 1960, raising purebred Charolais cattle. 

“After careers in education and real estate, my wife and I moved back to the farm in 2017.  The farm had been used in soybean and corn production for almost 20 years.  The soil was in very poor health, deplete of micro-nutrients.  We became interested in restoring the soil health using regenerative techniques, as well as a healthy protein source raised on NON GMO feed, with no growth hormones and no antibiotics,” Will said, explaining, “We are dedicated to preserve the land for healthy regenerative farming within our family for future generations. Our toddler grandsons are already digging, building, bottle feeding lambs, and claiming herd-boss status.”

Sheep were the solution to restoring the poor soil. Will said, “Sheep offer a mechanism to utilize the pasture land while restoring its bio-diversity.  Also, we harvest our sheep around 100 pounds of live weight, quite a bit less than a 1,500-2,000 lb. steer, so they are much easier for us to handle/manage and offer the folks who purchase an affordable way to give their families quality protein.  When we first started there were virtually no worms, moles or other signs of healthy soil.   Today, digging will reveal living soil.”

Will and Rebecca chose Dorper sheep to raise. They also raise Dorper sheep, a hair sheep that doesn’t produce wool. “They are also a very muscular breed that offers rapid growth and great source of protein,” explained Will, explaining they run about 50 sheep on their 17 acres. “We like to harvest between 85-100 lbs. for the most tender meat,” Wills aid, explaining, “Our lambs typically reach that weight between six to nine months of age.”

While Rebecca teaches 2nd grade at New Colossus Academy, is a water-color artist with an art gallery at the farm, Will’s day “starts with a cup of pour-over fresh ground coffee and a bite to eat.  I then check the sheep, make sure they have water, and if needed, rotate pasture.  During lambing season, March and April, I pay close attention to ewes that may be having trouble lambing or lambs having trouble latching on to momma.  After sheep are attended to there is always work to be done fencing, barn repair, tractor work (bushing hogging)” and other farm chores.

Mayberry Custom Slaughter in Cookeville or Underground Slaughter, LLC in Sparta processes their lambs.