About Us

Meet Your Farmers

Welcome to Unconventional Acres! We are Melissa, Ben and Hadlee. 

Melissa and Ben are first generation farmers. Both born and raised in Southeastern Wisconsin, we met in Milwaukee in 2004. At that time, we both shared an interest in cooking, health, and all things food. After traveling across the country for both school and work, we purchased a small farm in Northern Colorado in 2014. Focusing on sustainable agriculture, we raised chickens, goats, pigs and a few cattle. After outgrowing the farm, we returned to Wisconsin to grow and expand Unconventional Acres, LLC. 

Unconventional Acres - Different For Good

Unconventional Acres’ operating principle is to combine traditional pasture based farming with modern technology. Our belief is that traditional pasture based farming creates the most rich and flavorful meat, while providing our livestock an opportunity to exhibit their natural behaviors. Growing quality meat with flavor takes time, but technology has helped us to develop efficiency, connect the farm to our community and improve on traditional pasture farming.

Cattle

We raise pure bred Scottish Highlands, Highland/Dexter and Highland/Belted Galloway crosses. These breeds come from Scotland/Ireland and are known for their hardiness and foraging ability. They are a medium framed breed with shorter legs, making them ideal grazers for our rough and hilly terrain. Although Highland cattle are a slower growing breed, they are a perfect fit for our pasture based farm. 

Over the past couple years, we have worked closely with our butcher to create a custom grass fed/grass finished beef program. Using a combination of beef age, dry aging, and USDA on-farm harvest has resulted in a delicious, tender and flavorful beef. As an added benefit, grass fed, grass finished beef has increased Omega-3s, CLA, and antioxidants. 

All of our livestock are raised without the use of antibiotics, steroids, and/or added growth hormones. All pastures and hay ground is free of herbicides and/or insecticides and all hay is produced by Unconventional Acres. 

Pigs

Our pigs come to us in the early spring as 40 lb. weaned piglets from a local farmer in Verona, Wisconsin that raises commercial crosses. The pigs are started on pastures planted with legumes, grasses and turnips and are transitioned to our forest pastures to finish in the fall. They spend the spring and summer months grazing on grasses, rooting for grubs, splashing in wallows, and lounging under shade trees. As fall approaches and the mast crop begins to drop, our hogs are turned out to over 10+ acres of wooded forest pasture to explore and forage the hickory nuts and acorns that fall from the trees. Raising our pigs in our rotational system provides them with a stress-free natural environment where pigs can be pigs.

The combination of a 9 month grow out and finishing our pigs on acorns and hickories adds superior flavor, texture, and additional nutrients to the meat. Hogs are harvested on farm (USDA inspected) and options for pork include whole, half and a variety of retail cuts. Taste the difference in our pasture raised, forest finished pork today!