Twisted Pines Farm in Black Forest, established in 2014, closed their doors to the public Feb. 11, because of rising costs and a lack of processing slots.Owners Grant and Alison Goldberg said they decided to start a farm after they became frustrated trying to find a local source for staple foods to feed their family.They started with laying chickens while living in Colorado Springs. A year after they moved to Black Forest, Grant Goldberg applied for and received a farmers and ranchersí loan from the local Farm Service Agency Office, and bought his first tractor.Goldberg said they had two goals when starting their farm. One, to make high quality, locally sourced food available to the community. They used non-GMO (genetically modified organism), corn and soy-free feed. ìIím in business to make money, not to lose it, but if I can make a good living producing quality food and still make it affordable for most people, that was goal No.1,î he said.Goal No. 2 involved educating people. They taught dozens of classes such as ìchickens 101î to discuss how to raise laying hens. Goldberg said he finds that when people decide to start eating locally, they often start with eggs. ìI tell people if you can take care of your dog, you can take care of chickens,î he said. ìItís a good introduction to start keeping livestock instead of just pets.î He also taught ìmeat 101î to explain how the industrial meat system works, where the beef in grocery stores comes from and why people should care. ìI thoroughly enjoyed teaching people. I feel like you can teach people without giving away the trade secrets of what makes your business unique,î Goldberg said.In 2014, they added boiler chickens and sold their product at various farmers markets for three years. Goldberg said in 2018, they fired up their pork and beef production and added lambs in 2019.Goldberg said pigs are his favorite animals to raise. ìI dearly love to raise pigs; for me they have the most personality. They have the cognitive ability of a 3-year-old so they know their name, they know the routine and they know what they can get away with from each caregiver,î he said. They started breeding their own pigs a few years ago. ìPiglets are some of the funniest critters youíll ever watch. It always amazes me how the mama sow, who is about 600 to 700 pounds, can keep track of 10 to 12 baby piglets that only weigh eight to 10 pounds each ó and never step on them,î Goldberg said.Last summer, the Colorado Department of Agriculture approved state inspected poultry plants on site, which allowed farmers to raise and butcher their own birds. ìNot only were we allowed up to 20,000 birds, but we could also cut them up to have wings, legs, breasts, thighs; sell them at grocery stores and restaurants; do all the things everyone has always wanted to do,î Goldberg said.He engineered his own facility and became one of two inspection plants in the whole state; the other plant was in Grand Junction, Colorado. Goldberg said the business grew exponentially.ìCOVID blew us up. From 2019 to 2020, we more than tripled our gross income; partially because of the fear factor when grocery stores ran out of meat,î Goldberg said. ìI think everyone went online and looked for where to buy meat. We had a lot of panic buyers.î He said people also started buying their own cows, and the local cattle market around the area went through the roof overnight.ìThe straw that broke the camelís back for us involved a threefold problem,î Goldberg said. ìI think we could have overcome any one of them, but with all three, we finally had to cry uncle.î He said feed costs went up 27% from December 2020 to January. ìI couldnít just say, sorry everyone weíre going to feed our animalís corn, soy and GMO feed,î he said. Then, Goldberg said the butchersí cost went up 30 cents a pound hanging weight.ìI knew the way to deal with all of this would be to triple my production, and I could do that; but the third problem was that all the butchers were booked for the year. And they were already booking into next year.î Goldberg said the same people who bought cattle earlier in the year and made butcher slot appointments were not showing up.Colorado is one of eight states that have a brand inspection law for cattle. ìToo many people were stealing cattle and taking them to the butcher shop; cattle rustling is alive and well in Colorado,î he said. The brand inspector has to go to each farm, rather than performing random inspections at the slaughter house as they did in the past. He said not only is the inspector responsible for inspections in El Paso County but several other counties, too; it can take about 10 days to two weeks to get an appointment. Once inspected, farmers have 10 days to get their cattle to the slaughterhouse. ìI understand why the rule was put in place, but it hurts the butcher and cattle owner,î Goldberg said.ìAll in all, it was a great experience; and Iím glad we did it. We believe there is no higher calling than to feed people.î He said they will keep some cattle for themselves, family and friends and continue to raise a few pigs. ìI just canít imagine going back to the grocery store after doing this,î he said.
