Meet the Farmer: Noggle Farms

Meet Noggle Farms at Acorn Farmers’ Market & Café this week.

This Friday, May 6, at 5:30pm, Noggle Farms will join us at Acorn Farmers’ Market & Café to tell us a little more about themselves, the history of their farm, and their farming practices. Farmer Matt will also dive into cattle nutrition, calving, farming, and more. Come with your questions and be ready to learn!

Farmer Matt Noggle tells us a little about Noggle Farms …

“Noggle Farms is located on the edge of the beautiful Irish Hills of southeastern Michigan. Our family has been taking care of this land since the 1860s, raising a variety of field crops and livestock. Our farm has been focusing its efforts on beef cattle since the 1970s. We currently have a commercial Simmental Angus cow-calf operation as well as a grain finishing lot where we finish around 400 head of cattle each year. We purchase high-quality cattle for our feedlot from other farmers and they are generally Angus or Simmental influenced.

We are very proud of our land, our cattle, and our practices. All of our cattle are moved naturally on horseback or on foot. We pride ourselves in our humane handling. We believe in the phrase, ‘If you want to move cattle fast, you have to move them slow.‘ We rotationally graze all of our cows to properly manage our pastures while getting the most use out of them each season as possible. Once our calves are weaned from their mothers in the fall, we finish them on a mixed ration of cracked corn, corn silage, distillers grains, and mineral. They also have access to free-choice hay and water. All of the hay and corn that we feed them, we grow ourselves. We work very closely with a beef cattle nutritionist to ensure that our animals have a well-balanced diet while also growing more efficiently.

We want to keep raising cattle and farming this land as long as we can with the hopes that our children will continue after we are gone. It is important to us that we are good stewards to our land and to our cattle so that future generations can be successful.”

You can purchase Noggle Farms beef through:

• Beef shares (quarters, halves, and wholes)
• Acorn Farmers’ Market & Café
• Saline Farmer’s Market (every Saturday)
• Through their online store: https://app.barn2door.com/e/QVJ8Q
• At the Manchester Market Butcher Counter
  • Their beef also supplies Grand River Brewery and Veritas Steakhouse

Want more Noggle Farms?

You can find them at their website: www.nogglefarms.com; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoggleFarms; or at their Instagram handle, @Nogglefarms

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.