From Pasture to Plate | Good Food Starts At The Source

Over the years, our owner Charles Back recognized the value of making a farm and running a business that is self-sufficient. Not only is this more cost-effective from a business perspective, but by being involved in every step of the value chain, it enables us to offer the highest quality food possible to our visitors – both at the Goatshed Restaurant and through our Fairview Deli & Shop.

For the last two years, Charles and his team have dedicated countless hours towards educating themselves on how to rear free-range animals that live a good quality life to ultimately  give us good quality meat. He wanted to ensure that our livestock are all grass fed, that we use the whole animal and that our meat is hormone and antibiotic-free, organic, and A-grade. This has been a carefully researched journey for us, with experts guiding the way and Charles ensuring no stone (or blade of grass rather) is left unturned.

Today, the result is that Fairview is now able to offer our Western Cape residents some of the highest quality beef, lamb and pork around at the best value. After all, our goal is always to make quality accessible. While we appreciate that the truth behind your meat is sometimes a bit hard to read (even if you are a meat-eater), we believe that being honest about where your meat comes from is important if you choose to eat it. After all, in a society where some children think bacon is a pre-packaged product made in a factory, if you make the conscious choice to consume animals, take the time to educate yourself about all the facts so you can make informed decisions. It may well impact the kind of meat you chose to buy!

OUR COWS

When it comes to beef, Angus is the best choice for quality meat. They are a calm breed, do not have horns, calve very easily and require minimal human interaction – best for both parties involved. We currently have some 105 Red Angus cows roaming our pastures located all around the Fairview Cheese Factory, with a few Black Angus meandering about for good measure. Our beef has been certified as Free-Range by SAMIC (South African Meat Industry Company) and by the Angus Association. This makes us one of only two herds in South Africa to become certified, with the other farm being our friends over at Boschendal! All our cows are fed on spent grain and barley from our brewery and munch on Kikuyu green pastures under the sunshine. The meat is 100% hormone free.

OUR SHEEP

Our sheep are also certified Free-Range by SAMIC, and lamb twice a year. We currently have 600 sheep on the farm of the ‘Dormer’ breed – a breed specially developed at Elsenburg for the wet Cape winters, ensuring the animals are less prone to “vrot pootjie” (rotten foot) disease. As the ‘Dormer’ breed is the fastest growing breed, the sheep take 3 months from birth to be slaughter-ready. But don’t worry – we allow our sheep to live a happy life as possible under the sunshine and in the fresh air.

OUR PIGS

With 100 porky pigs bred and reared on the Fairview stead, our pigs spend their day rolling around in mud and eating probably the finest diet available to pigs – anywhere! They get to enjoy spent grain from the brewery, whey from our cheese factory, cocoa husks from the chocolate factory, fruit and vegetable preparation offcuts from our Goatshed restaurant and acorns! This rather delicious diet means we have some of the richest quality pork available, with our pork also being certified Free-Range by SAMIC.

This Heritage Day, as we celebrate all things that make us quintessentially South African, including braais, biltong and brandy, Fairview invites you to pop into our Fairview Deli & Shop located on our Paarl-based farm to enjoy our specials and sample a variety of our pasture-to-plate cuts!