GRASS SEED AND COMPOST

Anderson Ranches Oregon Lamb has other farming endeavors that compliment the sheep business. We grow grass seed that is sold to the Chinese. The forage type grass that we grow is favorable for the Chinese fish farmers who grow the grass and cut green chop to feed their fish. The grass we grow is planted in the fall and is grazed with our sheep all winter until May. We then take the sheep off and let the grass grow up for a seed crop. We harvest the seed in late July. We then bale up the straw to make compost. The unusable parts of the butchered lambs are composted with the straw and spread back on the fields as fertilizer. Absolutely nothing goes to waste.

SUSTAINABLE SHEEP GRAZING

Our hill pastures that are not farmed grow pine and fir trees. The sheep are pastured there in the summer. They eat the weeds and noxious plants that cause problems for our trees, they also keep the fire danger down. We also use our sheep to eat other crops for other farmers, to control excess growth and unwanted weeds. This cuts down on the farmer’s use of fuels and herbicides.


LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT

Anderson Ranches has a low carbon footprint. Our sheep are grazed in the Willamette Valley in a radius of a few miles. Trucking to our processor is only 30 minutes from the ranch. Mohawk Valley Meats, our processor, started processing Anderson Ranches Oregon Lamb in 1998 with 4 people. They have grown with us and now employ 16 people. We used to have to send all lambs to California for processing, 500 miles away, because all of the processing plants in Oregon and Washington closed up.

CONSERVATION PRACTICES

Reed Anderson was awarded the Linn County Soil and Water Conservationist of the year in 2007-2008. We are dedicated to using conservation practices for fertile soil and clean water for the healthiest and best lamb in the world.