Rehoboth Farms: How a Virginia Family Regenerates Land with Turkeys, Pigs, Cows
From DIY tractor fixes to on-farm Thanksgiving pick-ups, Rehoboth Farms shows what human-scale, regenerative livestock actually looks like in practice.
Rebels, every farm has its own rhythm and every farmer has a thousand small decisions that add up to whether animals thrive, soil heals, or systems collapse. At Rehoboth Farms in Virginia, those decisions are lived daily in the mud, the brooder, and the pasture. From fixing a 1970s tractor to hand-delivering turkeys for Thanksgiving, this family is proving that regenerative agriculture is viable.
What follows isn’t just a farm tour. It’s a look at how pigs, turkeys, cows, and sheep become part of a bigger design: rebuilding soil, reshaping food culture, and reminding us that flavor, resilience, and freedom still live close to the land.
Watch our full Farm Tour on Youtube →
“Engineered for the farmer”: Why old tractors still matter
Out by the brooder, the conversation starts with a 1970s tractor which was repairable, understandable, and designed for the person who owns it. A leaky petcock ($15) and a hand-primer pump ($40–45) aren’t catastrophes; they’re simple fixes the farmer can do himself.
“Because it is a ’70s model…they’ve engineered it for the farmer to actually be able to work on. Unlike modern John Deere.”
That contrast matters. When you can’t legally service your own equipment, resilience shrinks. In regenerative systems where timing (moving herds at peak grass, turning compost, hauling animals) is everything, the difference between a fix-it-today machine and a dealer-locked one shows up in pasture health and bottom lines.
USPS delays, fragile poults, and a better way to start turkeys
Rehoboth raises turkeys once a year specifically for Thanksgiving. After four years of worsening USPS delays, including a complete DOA batch and a “six hours by car, four days by mail” fiasco they changed the system: meet the hatchery truck themselves.
That switch saves lives in the brooder (and sanity in the schedule) because turkey poults are delicate.
What they’ve learned about brooding turkeys:
Grit early and often. Turkeys need more grit than chicks to get their digestion online.
Multiple waterers. Some poults don’t “get” nipples right away; add open options while they learn.
Engineer out avoidable deaths. Pouts will roost on buckets and fall in, so they redesign, block, or move hazards.
Timing matters. Keep them in the brooder ~5–6 weeks, longer if a cold, wet front is coming. They’re fairly hardy after ~8 weeks.
Compost floor = quiet heat. The deep bedding/compost underfoot gives off radiant warmth and reduces fuel costs.
All of this compounds. A small design tweak, like swapping traditional nipples for cup waterers, saves gallons (and hours) across 225 broilers or a field run. Scale that attention to detail across chores, and you reduce the mental load that pushes farms toward factory-style shortcuts.
On-farm Thanksgiving pick-up: Community is part of the model
Rehoboth requires turkey customers to pick up on farm, turning butcher day into an open-gate event. A friend sets up with seasonal produce (collards, sweet potatoes), and families get to see the systems behind their meal. People happily pay a premium for a holiday centerpiece when they can shake the farmer’s hand and read the land with their own eyes.
Compost, pumpkins, and the parasite puzzle
Regeneration is a loop. Wood chips and old hay become compost piles that heat the brooder and feed the fields. After Halloween, a local grower invites them to glean acres of pumpkins; the animals go crazy for them, and pumpkin seeds act as a natural anti-parasitic. One heavy week of pumpkin in fall often carries them through the winter with fewer issues. Some seeds end up in compost, and soon enough volunteer squash appear like gifts from the soil.
Pigs that act like pigs and pork that tastes like pork
If most shoppers have only eaten confinement pork, they expect white, bland meat. Rehoboth’s customers learn otherwise.
Breeds & behavior. The herd skews Duroc/Hereford which are docile, efficient grazers with serious foraging drive. First time on dirt, pigs immediately start rooting: “It’s in their DNA.”
Clean by design. Even in mud season, pigs keep a bathroom zone, a sleep zone, and an eating zone which are kept them separate.
From farrow to finish. They’re reaching 250–300 lbs in 9–10 months, butcher-ready at ~1 year.
Genetics adapt outdoors. Long-snouted, woodland-selected lines (like Tia, one of their breeders) manage litters well and avoid “crushing.” One sow farrowed 19 (15 live), and she’s a calm, attentive mother.
Mythbusting omnivores. Pigs are omnivores meaning they’ll eat greens, bugs, even the occasional snake. The outcome is flavor, not just “white meat that needs sauce.”
🧠 Pig Lesson: They’ll also show you where the minerals are. New groups gravitate to the same patch and dig it out (an living soil test with snouts).
Rotational grazing: Grass, legumes, and the 24-hour rule
Walk their pastures and you’ll see why they run cows and sheep together: different mouths, different plants, overlapping but not identical parasite profiles. They aim to hit grasses before they throw a seed head, then move quickly to keep the sward in its prime growth cycle.
How they size paddocks (practically):
Start with last rotation’s size as a baseline.
Observe and adjust, they want ~75% of grasses bitten or laid over after 24 hours.
In heat, the herd grazes more at night; evening moves can be better for animal comfort.
Want to double stocking density? Halve the time, but keep that 24-hour target to break parasite cycles.
Stocking example for this specific paddock:
~40 sheep + 8 cows for ~24 hours would likely hit the “right” graze (their estimate), with quick moves to avoid re-grazing.
Parasite management stack:
Move daily. Don’t let animals re-graze the previous day’s “hot zones.”
Multi-species. Some cow parasites don’t survive in sheep and vice-versa.
Minerals. Redmond salt + kelp on offer.
Water treatment a few times a year. A highly diluted natural soap (Basic H) in stock water (part of their integrated approach).
Cautionary tale. The only real parasite flare came when they stalled lambs indoors one winter; the lesson: get animals back on living ground as fast as possible.
Layers, dogs, and egg sanity
Rehoboth runs ~200 layers, staggering chick arrivals in Sept–Oct so peak laying hits late Feb–March. After two laying seasons, they sell hens live to backyard keepers.
Two Maremma livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) protect flocks without roaming as widely as Great Pyrenees. They’ll literally sit on an egg cache like dragon-guardians. Predation drops, and so does farmer stress.
Game-changer gear: Roll-away nest boxes (“Best Nest Box”) keep eggs exceptionally clean, cutting wash time to almost nothing making it pricier upfront, but better forever.
Joel Salatin hacks, nitrogen mapping, and the art of “enough”
Early on, they built pastured broiler shelters from Joel Salatin’s book, reverse-engineering a dolly from two photos and whatever was in the garage (including old compressor pipes). That “use what you have” ethos persists, but always in service to the land’s feedback.
They map nitrogen flows by observation. If a field grew thick but short (green but not leafy) they’ll run broilers there next. If hay-feeding added seed to a winter paddock, they’ll watch what germinates. The rule: don’t bring birds back over ground that’s already loaded, if you have room. Spread fertility. Grow height and leaf.
Water, glyphosate, and rural realities
Even in pastoral zip codes, rural water can carry agricultural residues. Rehoboth filters at home, including for glyphosate. It’s a quiet nod to the invisible realities that surround small farms, and to why so many regenerative producers install serious filtration, for the animals and for themselves.
Hair sheep and grass genetics: the next 24 months
Their sheep are a hair mix (Katahdin, St. Croix, Dorper) so they shed instead of needing shearing. Fiber drifts into bird nests and soil life; labor stays on pasture.
For cattle, they’re excited to fine-tune grass genetics which crosses that add frame and finish on forage alone. The herd is docile, the bull is respectful, and the system feels like it’s clicking after “18–24 months of failing forward.”
“Our systems are established. We’ve failed enough to know what works here, on this land.”
Why it matters
Repairable tools = resilient farms. The old tractor isn’t nostalgia; it’s sovereignty.
Logistics kill (or save) poults. Driving to meet the hatchery changed survival rates and schedules.
Design beats drama. Cup waterers, roll-away boxes, LGDs (boring upgrades that compound across years.
Animals as agronomists. Pigs locate minerals. Cows and sheep graze different species. Turkeys and broilers deposit nitrogen exactly where it’s needed.
Community is the value-add. On-farm Thanksgiving pick-ups aren’t stunts; they’re the economy we actually want.
Field Notes: What you can copy tomorrow
For turkey starts
Add grit from day one.
Redundancy in waterers for training.
Audit for drowning hazards (buckets, corners, roost points).
Hold in brooder through weather windows, not just calendar dates.
For pigs
Plan paddocks by impact, not just days.
Keep sizes/ages separate to avoid growth setbacks.
Use pigs to target weak trees and stumps, and to mineral-map.
For grazing
Chase the 75% rule: 24 hours, most grasses bitten or laid.
Evening moves in heat.
Pair species to diversify bites and break parasite cycles.
For eggs
If you can swing it, roll-away nest boxes will pay you back in time.
Credits & Thanks
This story was captured on-farm at Rehoboth Farms (Virginia) during our recent video field tour: Regenerative Turkey and Pigs in Virginia. Big thanks to the team for opening gates, coolers, and notebooks so we could learn.