You'll see the word "organic" on a lot of labels. You'll see "natural" and "free-range" too. But when we describe how we manage our land at England Ranch, we use a term you probably haven't heard before: '-cide free.

What '-Cide Free' Actually Means

Any word that ends in "-cide" means "to kill." Insecticide kills insects. Herbicide kills plants. Fungicide kills fungi. Pesticide is the umbrella term for all of them.

When we say our ranch is '-cide free, we mean none of these products touch our land. Specifically:

No insecticides — we don't spray for bugs on our pastures
No herbicides — we don't spray for weeds
No fungicides — we don't spray for anything
No commercial fertilizers — we build soil with rotational grazing and natural manure

That's it. No fine print. Nothing was sprayed on the ground your food was raised on.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Most people focus on what an animal eats — and that matters. Our cattle and hogs eat 100% certified organic, no-soy feed, and our Dexters are 100% grass-fed and grass-finished on top of that. But what's under their feet matters just as much.

Conventional farms routinely spray pastures with herbicides to control weeds and apply synthetic fertilizers to push faster growth. Those chemicals don't just disappear. They soak into the soil, run off into waterways, and get taken up by the plants that animals graze on.

When you buy meat from a conventionally managed farm, you're trusting that the chemical residues in the soil and forage don't end up in your food. We'd rather just not have the chemicals there in the first place.

How We Manage Without Chemicals

The honest answer is: it's more work. Without herbicides, we manage weeds through rotational grazing, mowing, and accepting that a pasture doesn't need to look like a golf course to be healthy. Without synthetic fertilizers, we rely on our animals to do what they've done for thousands of years — graze, move, and fertilize the ground behind them.

We practice no-till management, which means we don't tear up the soil structure with plows. Healthy soil is alive with organisms that break down organic matter, hold water, and cycle nutrients. Tilling destroys that. Chemicals destroy that. We'd rather work with the biology than against it.

Is it slower? Yes. Our pastures don't grow as fast as a chemically fertilized field. Our Dexter cattle take three full years to finish on grass. But we're not in a rush. We're building soil that will be better in ten years than it is today, and raising animals on land we'd feel good about letting our grandkids play on.

Why Not Just Say "Organic"?

Organic certification is a USDA program with specific rules, inspections, and fees. It covers a lot of ground — literally — but it also allows certain approved pesticides and inputs that we choose not to use. We're not knocking organic certification. It's a meaningful standard. But '-cide free goes further in one specific way: nothing gets sprayed. Period.

We also feed 100% certified organic feed and practice no-till, no-GMO, no-soy management across the entire operation. You can see all of that summarized on any of our product pages. But '-cide free is the piece that's hardest to find anywhere else, because most farms — even good ones — spray something.

What This Means for Your Family

When you buy from England Ranch, you're getting meat from animals that were raised on clean pastures, ate clean feed, and were never given antibiotics or growth hormones. That's what we mean by Eat With Confidence — you know exactly what you're getting because we don't have anything to hide.

We invite every customer to visit the ranch and see the operation for themselves. Walk the pastures. Meet the animals. Ask us anything. That kind of transparency is only possible when you're not worried about what someone might find.

See for Yourself

Our beef, pork, and chicken are all raised under the same '-cide free standard on our ranch in Edmonton, Kentucky. If you've been looking for meat you can trust — really trust — we'd love to earn your business.

Reserve Your Beef → Reserve Your Pork → Reserve Your Chicken →