This past weekend the North Carolina chapter enjoyed taking a farm tour at Ninja Cow Farm, a local family owned farm in Raleigh, NC. According to the farm owner this farm is the closest large animal farm to downtown Raleigh. On the tour, we got to learn about some different alternative agricultural practices. The farm claims they’re unique because they don’t use commercial feed for their animals and instead takes the produce that the State Farmers Market used to throw away and uses that to help feed their array of animals. The many animals they have on the farm include free-range pigs that are not confined and raised in the woods; Hereford-Angus cross beef cattle; some Holstein dairy cattle; and a few chickens. The farm’s goal is to produce beef and pork in a sustainable manner by feeding recycled produce from the Farmers Market. They even have an on-site store that also serves as a hub for other local farms to sale their products. At then end of the tour we got to sample and purchase some of the locally produced products in addition to getting to feed some of the cows. We were able to enjoy each other’s company and learn about some alternative agricultural practices that we otherwise might never have learned about in class.