1. Name of farm: Rebel Pastures
2. Farmer’s/Farm Family name: Justin and Jennifer Bajema
3. Street address: 8750 10 Mile Rd Ne
4. City: Rockford
5. State (2-letter abbreviation): MI
6. Zip: 49341
7. Phone number: 6168187198
8. Email: jenni@rebelpastures.com
9. Website: www.rebelpastures.com
Type of Farm/Farm Practices
10. Are you Certified Organic? No
11. Are you Certified Biodynamic? No
12. If you are not Certified Organic, do you use organic production methods? Yes
13. Do you use synthetic fertilizers? No
14. Do you use any of the following: nonorganic pesticides, herbicides, parasiticides, or fungicides? We do not use any nonorganic pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. We do use parasiticides on our animals if necessary. We use them sparingly and individually. We do not use apply them broadly. Our goal with farming regeneratively is to raise healthy animals on healthy soil so we no longer need to use them. Each year, we get closer to this goal.
Animal Husbandry
15. Do you keep livestock? Yes
16. What animals do you keep?
Chickens (list breeds): Cornish cross(meat), Isa Browns (layers), Other various egg layers.
Ducks (list breeds):
Turkeys (list breeds):
Other Poultry (list type and breeds):
Cows (list breeds): Red and black angus & Akaushi.
Pigs (list breeds): Heritage breeds, Berkshire.
Sheep (list breeds): Katahdin.
Goats (list breeds):
Other Animals (list type and breeds):
17. Do you use antibiotics? On occasion with cattle, sheep or pigs, if it will save the life of an animal. We do not use antibiotics broadly, only individually. It is a rare occurrence most often to treat pneumonia in a young animal. Chickens do not receive any antibiotics ever.
18. Are the animals pasture-fed? Yes
19. How much and for how long: Our meat chickens are moved daily to fresh pasture. Layers are moved weekly,
20. Do you practice managed grazing? Yes
21. Do you apply compost or compost tea? No, because we rotate our animals throughout our pastures, they are our fertilizer. We have no need to spread anything on our pastures.
22. Do you apply other soil amendments? No, our goal is to use our animals to create a healthy, resilient ecosystem that does not need synthetic or additional inputs.
23. Do you use supplemental feed? Yes for chickens and pigs.
For poultry (list type): Non-GMO Grain
For cows, sheep, and/or goats (list type): None-100% Grassfed and finished.
For pigs (list type): Non-GMO Grain
Raw Milk
24. Do you supply raw milk? No
25. Do you keep your barn and milk room clean? Yes
26. Do you keep the cows clean/teats washed? No
27. Do you thoroughly wash your milking equipment after every milking? No
28. Are cows with mastitis or other health problems excluded from milking? No
29. Are cows tested for disease? No
Which tests, and how often: We do not have dairy anything.
30. Is the milk routinely tested for pathogens, coliform count? No
Which tests, and how often: We do not have dairy anything.
31. Is the farm water routinely tested? Yes
32. Are milk and milk products kept well chilled? No
33. Other/Explain (list any other routine practices, or explain any of your answers above? We have our water tested (including for PFAS).
Butchering Practices
34. Do you sell milk? No
35. Meat butchered at a USDA-certified or state-certified abattoir? Yes
36. Meat butchered on the farm? No
37. Describe or explain any butchering practices: Our poultry is processed at a small, family owned USDA processing plant. Our lamb, pigs and cattle are slaughtered under USDA inspection and processed at Byron Center Meats.
38. Please check off the products you sell and list current prices:
All prices are available through our website rebelpastures.com
Beef, eggs, lamb, pork, chicken, seafood, bison.
39. Do you only sell animals that are raised on your farm at the address listed?
No
39a. Details:
We work with several small, individually owned farms to provide us with meat. We know each of our partner farmers and visit each farm before we work with them to verify their practices. We continue to meet with them each year to ensure transparency and support their enterprises. They raise animals at the same standard or above the standard we raise animals on our farm.
40. Are the animals born on your farm at the address listed? Yes and no.
40a. Details:
We raise our own beef cattle. We source from other farms to acquire feeders for hogs and lamb.
Our partner farms often breed and raise their own stock, but some also source feeders from local farms.
41. Do you ever purchase animals from auctions or from your processor or do you ever buy parts from your processor (whole pork bellies…)? No, we would never source meat this way. We absolutely must know the farm and farmer to source from them.
42. Do you personally attend to your animals at least once a day or do you hire help or farmers to do that for you? Both, we care for our animals and also use help to care for them.
43. Do you purchase pre-mixed feed from an elevator or do you grind your own? Purchase
43a. Details:
[textarea farm_43a]
44. Where can customers find you? (check all that apply):Â
We offer local pick up in Rockford, MI – Order ahead and pick up.
We also ship our meat to the lower 48 states.
Everything is purchased through our online store, we do not have a retail location.
