Coulter Farms is located between State College, PA and Harrisburg, PA... to get to our farm from Harrisburg and
Points East:

I 83-North to RTE 322-West

RTE 322-West to 75-South at the Port Royal Exit

Follow 75-South for about 15 miles to RTE 850 at Honey Grove

850-West for 2.1 miles to 1st stop (Gray Baptist Church across from Stop

Turn right at Stop to stay on 850-West

Proceed 1.3 miles… When 850 veers sharply to the right, turn left on Willow Run Rd.

Go 0.1 miles to the first left (Dirt Rd.) onto Price Rd.

Go 0.6 miles, when Price Rd. turns sharply to the right, turn left into our drive

(You will see high tensile fence wire on both sides of drive)

Go 0.4 miles to our house. (a white two story w/ green shutters house. from price rd, all you can see is our large red pole barn.)

From other Points, CALL: 717-734-1072

Our 'free range' eggs started out as a byproduct of our organic fly control efforts in the summer.  The "Eggo" is a mobile hen house that carries 200 laying hens.  They spend their days sanitizing our pastures after cattle and sheep are rotated out.  They eat bugs and grass and scratch out the 'pies' which accelerates regrowth.  We require that our birds be raised from pullets with intact (unmutilated) beaks and outside on green grass.  This produces layers that are voracious foragers...which improves the egg quality and saves on the feed bill to boot!

Our hens feast on a mash which is custom blended for our farm.  It is soy free (Weston Price friendly) and GMO free...Omega 3's and CLA...naturally high in free range eggs...is enhanced by fishmeal and alfalfa meal in the feed.  The mash is milled in a water powered mill in Central PA that is over 200 years old...talk about a small carbon footprint! 

If you have never had a free range egg (a real one from a hen on green grass, not brown hard dirt) you are in for a surprise.  The taste and color bear no resemblance to any other egg you can buy.  Eggs are $4.00/ dozen and keep for 60 days or longer.  They taste fresher at 60 days than any grocery store factory produced egg.  All eggs sold at the farm have been in our refrigerator for 7 days or less.  If you want to gather your own eggs, warm out of the pasture, be our guest!

Coulter Farms harvests about 75 Lambs per year.  The ewes are Katahdin Hair Sheep.  This breed is known for its shedding coat (like a dog...no fleece shearing, YAY!)  These days, you must pay someone to shear and then find someone to take the fleece for free.  The hair sheep are much more comfortable in the summer than wool sheep.  Also, they put their efforts into producing more meat...good for a sheep farmer who gets paid by the pound of meat.  These animals are wonderfully pleasant to work with.  They lamb effortlessly (well, almost) on pasture in April and produce an average of 1.5 to 2,  90 lb lambs by November per ewe.  The costs for our lambs are shown below.    Please remember, individual animals will weigh slightly more or less and the cost will be adjusted accordingly...

 Our beef herd consists of Charlaois, Hereford,  Red and Black Angus Cows bred to a fine, purebred Hereford bull.  The Hereford bull provides us with more docile offspring (important to our children) while giving two other genetic advantages.  First, we benefit from 'hybrid vigor' which gives improved growth rates and health advantages over a 'purebred' calf.  Secondly,  the Hereford phenotype, while not a darling of the commercial feedlot factory beef model, gives a slow growth effect.  This intensifies the flavor of the beef and gives us some more time to 'finish' the animal properly.  This issue of 'finishing' is the 'Achilles Heel' of the grass fed beef model.  Animals that grow too fast (think pine tree vs oak tree...faster growth but poorer quality lumber) have lots of weight (after all, we producers get paid by the pound) but lack taste and tenderness.  Our family has decided that the higher quality beef is worth the time and expense of not harvesting our steers until 26 months of age.  The finest European beef is not harvested until 32 months of age.  Only in America, with our amber waves of grain, would anyone try to grow out a steer in less than two full years. Cattle are ruminants, created to eat grass. In our opinion, grain is for pigs & chickens.

Our pricing for beef is listed below...please understand that animals may vary slightly in size and the cost will be adjusted accordingly.

Why should I buy 100% Grassfed meat...what do claims like 'grassfed', 'pastured' and 'grass finished' mean?We have stopped using the word 'Grassfed' without '100%' attached to it.  We have surveyed a lot of people selling meat with 'grassfed', 'pastured', 'high omega3' claims at farmers markets and have found (anecdotally) that less than one in four would qualify as true '100% Grassfed.'  Some are marketing animals that they produced from birth on their own farm.  Many are purchased with little or no info about how they were managed since birth.  Some people are marketing dairy culls (infertile, worn out or possibly medicated animals from the dairy industry), or dairy steers as opposed to true 'beef type' animals.  Many are feeding grain and justifying the 'grassfed' claim by the fact that they eat some hay or do some browsing on pasture.  Some buy conventional, GMO grainfed animals that are fully grown and just put them on hay for a few months.  Overall, we have been disappointed with some producers' lack of transparency in these matters.  Without explaining the entire grassfed/grainfed debate, here, suffice it to say that the vast majority of grainfed animals are getting GMO grains in their corn or soy and that feeding grain to ruminanants, while producing faster growth, produces a less healthful meat with less true beef flavor.

OK, OK, I'm convinced...how do I buy meat from you?  You are welcome here at the farm Monday thru Saturday during daylight hours(...but call before you come.)   We have a large walkin freezer and usually are able to keep beef and lamb and eggs in stock.  We don't need a deposit and we will take PA checks...we would prefer cash for out of state purchases.

How is your meat packed?  All of our meat is processed in a USDA certified facility.  It is frozen in clear cryovac plastic and will keep in 'fresh frozen' quality for up to 2 years.  Most meat is packed in 1 lb packs.  Steaks are normally 1 to 2 to a pack and their weight varies.  Roasts are 2-3 lbs. 

What is the compostion of my beef order?  You can expect about 25% ground beef, 20% steaks, 25% roasts and 30% 'other' cuts

But, what kind of cuts will I get in my beef order?  You can expect steaks like:  Delmonico (Ribeye) steak, T-bone steak, Porterhouse steak, Sirloin Steak, etc.  Roasts will include: Round roast, Arm Roast, Chuck Roast, London Broil...etc.  Some other types of cuts to look for:  short ribs, shank, meaty neck bones, stew cubes, minute steaks, skirt steak, brisket, as well as organ meats (ask for these, many don't want them) and some processed meat cuts.