The story of Horstmann Hills Farm can be traced to Queens, New York City in the 1970's when Laura Cripps and Robert Horstmann both developed a love of animals and the outdoors. They met when they attended John Bowne, a NYC high school with a specialized vocational agriculture program. While at John Bowne they both experienced farm life and participated in activities such as FFA. This exposure to agriculture and farm living eventually resulted in the purchase and establishment of the family farm in 2004. At its onset the farm was a "hobby" that started with 8 commercial grade Angus cows and several horses. They quickly learned that farms are more of a way of life then a hobby and in 2008 they moved to Candor New York and decided that the farm would be at the center of their lives. By now they had 3 daughters - Jamie, Jacquelynne and Carolynne. A simple definition of what ANY farm is can be almost impossible to put into words but if we had to describe what we are I would start by saying that we are a family owned and operated business that prides itself on the involvement of our family, the welfare of our animals, the care of the land that we have been fortunate enough to become part of and and the development of a high quality product. In the first year as a family farm we experienced how much better tasting the beef and pork that we grew ourselves tasted. At that particular point in time there were far too many news stories about recalled beef and the possible deleterious effects of growth hormones and other feed supplements being given to production animals for meat. We were confident that the meat that we produced was delicious but we were very aware of exactly what went into the animals that we produced and therefore we were certain of what we were eating. We have tried to create an environment that minimizes stress to the animals that we raise We do not feed our animals growth hormones and we know exactly what they are eating. From the time they are born our young stock stay with their mothers and grow on a combination of pasture and mothers milk. The entire herd's diet is predominately grass that they either harvest themselves while they are on pasture OR we grow and store for them as hay. For the animals that we finish we will supplement this grass with a combination of locally grown gains that we have blended including corn, wheat and soybeans. We do this to add calories and some marbling to the meat end product. We do not rush this process and let them mature naturally. It is our opinion that by doing this you end up with the best possible product and we are sure that you will taste this when you eat our products. They are home grown, naturally raised, grass fed beef, pork and lamb. The way it is supposed to taste.