Braswell Family Farms began as Boddie Milling in 1943 when E.G. and Joe Braswell purchased the mill from G.M. Strickland, whom they had worked for, for several years. The brothers produced corn meal for more than 20 years at this location before purchasing a mill in the heart of Nashville, NC and starting Braswell Milling Company. E.G.’s sons, Gene and Ronald, continued to run the feed mill and began raising immature hens known as pullets, eventually leading to the egg production side of the farm. Through the leadership of Ronald’s son, Scott, the company became one of the leading egg and feed producers in the country, known as Braswell Family Farms.

Today, Braswell Family Farms is in its fourth-generation under the leadership of Trey Braswell, who continues to move the company forward. He oversaw the addition of Braswell’s first pasture-raised farm that began production in the spring of 2018. “The creation of our pasture-raised farm allows us to supply a growing area of the egg market that is important to our customers,” says Trey. Braswell Family Farms’ second pasture-raised farm began producing eggs in February of 2019. The family farm plans to continue its expansion into free-range and pasture-raised farming.

Braswell Family Farms provides the utmost care for its hens. A flock supervisor is assigned to oversee and care for each flock. They begin by raising the hens from baby chicks (pullets) at only a day old. The pullets are fed a special formulated feed, which is made at the company’s very own feed mill. This provides a high nutrient content to the pullets and is essential for their growth. Around 16 to 18 weeks of age, the pullets are transferred to their designated farm to lay eggs. These eggs are collected and sent to Braswell Family Farms’ processing facility to be packed and sent customers, such as Lowes Foods, Food City, America’s Food Basket, and Weis Markets.

Braswell Family Farms not only strives to provide the safest, highest quality eggs to consumers, but it also strives to produce the feed for its hens in the same manner. Braswell Family Farms operates one of the largest organic feed mills on the east coast and is proud to supply other like-minded producers with nutritious feed for their livestock.

Braswell Family Farms is committed to environmental stewardship, animal welfare, food safety and quality assurance. In addition to being Certified Humane, the family farm has the following certifications: American Humane, United Egg Producers (UEP), Safe Quality Food (SQF), Organic, OU Kosher and ISO 14001.

Drake Family Farms, Ontario, California. Where every goat has a name!

“Addy loves to be scratched on her back. Violet has a long back. They are like a herd of dogs with all different personalities, some are laid back, they all want to be in your face all the time,” commented farm owner and veterinarian, Dan Drake, of Drake Family Farms, of Ontario, California.

Drake Family Farms cheeses are both “farmstead,” and “artisan.” “Farmstead,” means made on the farm with milk exclusively from the farm’s own animals. According to the American Cheese Society, the word “artisan or artisanal,” implies that cheese is produced primarily by hand, in small batches, with particular attention paid to the tradition of the cheese maker’s art, and thus using as little mechanization as possible in the production of the cheese.

The secret to making the best cheese is to use only the highest quality milk. The best quality milk comes from happy healthy goats. Dan Drake is the veterinarian who has been overseeing the health of the Drake Family Farms goatherd for the past 26 years. All the goats have names and are registered with the American Dairy Goat Association. The goats are housed in open housing with indoor and outdoor areas and allowed to go wherever they please. They do not eat corn or soy, but do delight in the greenest alfalfa hay you have ever seen. They are our pets!

Drake Family Farms are currently producing fresh chevre at the farm. They use the finest French cultures. It is incubated for twelve hours and then drained in bags to give it a wonderful smooth texture and taste. All of our chevre cheese is packaged in tubs, which make great storage containers so you can eat a little bit of and snap the lid back on to keep it fresh for the next day. We recommend everyone have a few tubs in the freezer in case you have a goat cheese emergency!

Our raw goat milk cheese are made from real raw goat milk. We take raw goat milk from the goats on our farm and then make the cheese. We do not add preservatives or mold inhibitors. We do add salt to the cheese, which has a preservation effect. As long as the cheese stays vacuum-sealed, you can keep it in the fridge for months or even years! Visit us on Facebook to see events, our farm store and join a tour at Drake Family Farms Goat Dairy California. DrakeFamilyFarms.com

Chew’s Agriculture Pte Ltd: the first Certified Humane® Egg Producer in Singapore

Humane Farm Animal Care is pleased to announce expansion to South East Asia and welcomes the first egg producer in Singapore to the Certified Humane® Raised and Handled Program. Chew’s Agriculture Pte Ltd began in Singapore as a family farm focused on various aspects of poultry and egg production. 30 years later, Chew’s Agriculture Pte Ltd remains a family-owned and family-operated business and joined the Certified Humane® program to meet a growing consumer demand for products labeled with verifiable animal welfare claims.

Chew’s Agriculture Pte Ltd was already using cage-free management systems for laying hens when they first reached out to the Certified Humane® Program through contacts at Humane Society International.  “We are a family of farmers and have always worked closely with our animals. They are like family too so of course their welfare is very important to us,” says company director Edvin Lim. “We already had a cage-free product so it was only natural that we joined the Certified Humane® program to bring our system to an international standard.”

In 2014, Chew’s Agriculture Pte Ltd predicted that there would be a demand for humane products in South East Asian supermarkets and began investing in the latest and best techniques for cage-free systems which allowed birds to have enough space to express natural behaviors such as foraging, interacting with other hens, and dust bathing. Chew’s Agriculture Pte Ltd believes that allowing the birds to behave this way keeps them happy and healthy, which improves the egg quality and in turn helps the company market cage-free eggs to its consumers.

Each cage-free egg is individually picked and labeled to guarantee that product has been subjected to strict quality controls. Chew’s Agriculture Pte Ltd cage-free eggs can be found at large supermarkets in Singapore, hotel chains, and online shopping sites such as Redmart and Amazon Prime. “Our aim is to bring ethical products which are respectful to the environment and animals, “says Lim. For more information about Chew’s Agriculture Pte Ltd cage-free eggs, visit https://www.chewsegg.com/about.html.

Toh Thye San Farm, named for its founder Toh Thye San, began in 1979 as a small family farm and wholesaler located in Loyang, Singapore. Two generations later, Toh Thye San Farm remains a family-owned and family-operated business, now headquartered in Singapore with Certified Humane® broiler chicken farms located in Johor, Malaysia. “Toh Thye San is actually the name of my grandfather,” writes owner Kenny Toh. “Back then he started the farm in our own backyard with the whole family working hard on it. As it grew and age came on, he passed the baton to my father who, with the same family spirit and integrity, brought it to where it is today.”

As Toh Thye San Farm evolved, first as a farm and supplier to local markets in Singapore, and then again to meet environmental changes, Toh wanted to make sure that broiler chicken production continued to reflect the values upon which his family’s business was founded. “Certified Humane® is one of the names that came up on our radar immediately as it is an international certification with presence in the most countries and equipped with really strong animal welfare standards,” says Toh. “Both the Certified Humane® program and our philosophy are built on responsible and ethical farming, putting superior animal welfare and best practices as its core. We are the number 1 fans of our own produce and we have a conviction that ethical and responsible farming translates to the best tasting meats.”

Today, Toh Thye San Farm, and management company Gesing Group Sdn. Bhd, supply Certified Humane® chicken products to restaurants and food production facilities throughout Singapore.  “We believe in going back to basics when it comes to farming, however we adopt modern technologies to help raise the quality of the product and also to reduce manpower requirements so that the products will be more consistent,” says Toh. “When you come to our farms, you will notice that the chickens would walk towards you and crowd around you. This actually translates to the chicken being really comfortable with humans because they have been really well taken care of by the farmers and that is something that we are really proud of.”

Certified Humane® chicken products from Toh Thye San Farm can be found in fine-dining restaurants throughout Singapore. “We are delighted to be serving the best restaurants in Singapore,” writes Toh. “This is a testament to our product quality and its suitability for every type of cuisine. Our customers are critically acclaimed and are recognized internationally with the receipt of awards such as Top 100 best in the world, of which we are proud to be supplying 2 out of the 3 inductees from Singapore.” For more information about Toh Thye San Farm products, visit their website at www.oeo.com.sg.