Steve and Tammy McPherson

Snow Camp, NC

Steve and Tammy McPherson run Triple Tree Farms, one of our suppliers of pasture-raised beef. Steve has worked with cattle his whole life. He’s been a full-time farmer since 1994. Tammy has worked with cattle since 1983; previously, she worked as an engineer, but is now on the farm full time.

Their 100 acres are the original, sixth generation family farm. They also rent hundreds of acres to have more pasture on which to rotate the cattle. Rotating depends on the time of year and the age of the cattle. Younger cattle need the most grass to meet their nutritional needs. If the weather is dry, they’ll move to the field with the best water source. Mothers with calves are kept closer to the house, because of coyotes. (The McPhersons use donkeys, which are territorial and chase coyotes, to protect the cattle.) The cattle are on pasture their whole lives, a mix of grasses and clover. They get supplemental feed when necessary, like in the winter when they need a little more energy; this can be a homemade blend of corn gluten, soy hull pellets, minerals, and haylage, or a “molasses block.”

Like most NC cattle producers, Steve used to raise cattle destined for Midwestern feedlots for finishing. “Raising cattle as a commodity didn’t allow us to focus on quality, and it meant accepting the really low and often variable prices we’d get at the auction barn,” Steve said. In 2007, he started finishing cattle on grass. Steve and Tammy both love being home on the farm and enjoy working with the animals.

Read a longer interview with Steve and Tammy at the Weaver Street Market website. Watch a video about the farm below.