Big university chooses local farm for egg supplier

SKANDIA — A big university has formed a new partnership with a local farm.

Northern Michigan University Dining Services has formed a new partnership with BSB Farms in Skandia. BSB Farms produces free–range, cage–free, pasture–raised chicken eggs. They currently have around 4,000 chickens that produce roughly 320 cartons of eggs per day. The farm is located only about 15 miles from NMU’s campus.

“Northern is getting eggs right off the belt the day the eggs are laid,” said Luke Bell with BSB Farms, “they’ll come off of the belt you see there, into the flats, and we put them in boxes. Sometimes they don’t even make it into our coolers, they just go right into their coolers.”

The chickens are fed grass in the summer and hay in the winter with an effort to feed them as many greens as possible. Bell stated that the care of the chickens is something they take a lot of pride in, basing the care of the animals on the standards set by the Marquette Food Co–Op.

“Clean fresh water, fresh food, and dry soil, access to the fresh air and the sunlight, and the natural lights. Our mortality rate on this farm is almost zero. The birds are very healthy, very happy, and you can taste it in the egg.”

In addition to the taste, several studies suggest that grass–fed, free–range, chickens produce eggs lower in cholesterol and saturated fats, with more vitamins A and E, omega–3 fatty acids and protein.

For more information about BSB Farms click here.

Next week we will be speaking with a chef at NMU about this new partnership.