Greensboro, Vermont

Reporter: Anson Tebbetts - Shat Acres Farm

A group of Belgian farmers is on an international tour to learn different techniques and they're stopping in the Green Mountains.

The visit for the group of 38 included a visit to Shat Acres Farm, a Highland cattle farm in Greensboro.

Thousands of miles and two herds are coming together, but this introduction almost didn't happen.

"I received an email saying that there was a group that wanted to come visit our farm from Belgian," said Janet Steward, the co-owner of Shat Acres.

The high ridge on Plainfield’s East Hill upon which Ray Shatney and Janet Steward’s Highland Scottish cattle munch sweet summer hay might be thought by some as a quiet place to retire and reflect. Ray and Janet, in whose diligent care these magnificent long-horned animals thrive, certainly have a plethora of reflections, but the many lovers of their unique beef — sold as “Greenfield Beef” — are hoping that retirement is a long way off.

Ray grew up on his grandfather’s farm in Greensboro, later moving to a smaller farm where his father brought the small Highland fold he had built, and where the majority of the herd resides. Grandfather Arthur legendarily had to go to Canada to marry Winona, a full-blooded Abenaki woman. This was, after all, the era of Henry Perkin’s eugenics movement to ‘breed a better Vermonter,’ which entailed the forced sterilization of native women.

PLAINFIELD — Gov. Phil Scott has declared August “Agritourism Month,” and he kicked the month off with a visit to a Plainfield beef farm known for producing award-winning highland cattle.

The governor held his weekly news conference at Greenfield Highland Beef, an American Scottish Highland beef business owned and operated by Janet Steward and Ray Shatney. The pair have been raising the brownish-orange cattle with long hair and big horns for decades. They were named the U.S. Small Business Association’s Vermont Family-owned Business of the Year in 2016 and have won numerous awards showing their cattle at national events.

Our humane method of fence line weaning of calves was featured in the Smithsonian Magazine. Read about how our momma cows and calves are separated when it is time to wean the calves in a way that is less stressful to both momma and baby than conventional methods.

WCAX Features 2009