Grateful Life Farm

The Grateful Life Farm is husband and wife team Shawn Witherup and Leah Wilson. We raise broiler chickens, laying hens, meat rabbits, and heritage breed Thanksgiving turkeys on pasture and grow vegetables using natural methods on 43 acres in Rockland Township, Venango County. Our passion is exceptional animal husbandry, which is the foundation for all of our livestock systems and practices. All of our livestock are raised outdoors on pasture. Our Cornish Cross broilers are housed in open bottomed pens from 3 weeks of age to slaughter, moved daily to clean pasture (twice daily in their last week.) Our laying hens and Standard Bronze turkeys are confined to a mobile shelter at night and range inside portable electric net fence during the day. Our meat rabbits are raised in a combination of stationary hutches and portable pasture pens, moved daily, depending on the season and on their reproductive status. Our systems are designed to improve our soils and pastures, provide shelter, predator protection and a hygienic environment, and allow our animals to express their natural species tendencies. All feeds are non-GMO, and our laying hens' feed is also soy-free. To spare our livestock the stress of transport to a slaughter facility, we have recently constructed a PA state inspected facility for on-farm slaughter. We are able to control our product from start to finish, offering our livestock gentle and low-stress handling, and ensure the highest degree of cleanliness and food safety. We also produce a limited variety of vegetables including head lettuces, greens, and garlic, using all-natural methods. Compost and fish meal are used for fertility. We discourage weeds through the use of tarps, fabrics, and hand-pulling, and pest control is accomplished through methods such as row covers, traps, and sparing use of natural insecticides such as spinosad.