Lakefield Herald Special Report

Locally raised beef at the Lakefield Farmer’s Market

by Jamie Steel

The smell is unmistakable. This is a cattle farm.

Actually, it’s a beef farm, but that’s something the odorous manure doesn’t specify.

This is the Leahy Stock Farm, run by Bernard and Lise Leahy and their three children Patrick, 18, Clara, 16, and Daniel, 13.

They’ve been at this farm, east of Lakefield, near Douro, since 1997 and in the last two years have started selling their beef direct to consumers at the Lakefield Farmers Market.

“It’s been very positive and people really appreciate the opportunity to buy local food,” says Bernard.

“I think they want to make that direct contact to know where it comes from.”

Though selling directly to the consumer is still relatively new for the Leahy farm, Bernard and his family aren’t strangers to the farming life, or to the area, for that matter.

“The Leahy family has been in the Douro area since they settled in 1825,” Bernard says, who grew up on a family farm.

His wife, Lise, is from the Ottawa area but Bernard says she has a bit of a background in agriculture as well.

Together, with their children, they maintain a 100 acre farm plus an additional 150 acres they are renting for pasture.

This year they will be breeding 50 cows.

The Leahys raise Shorthorn and Simmental cattle using rotational grazing practices and a gravity flow water system.

Bernard says this water system helps keep the pond clean and the animals hydrated.

“Environmentally it’s positive as well.”

Every Thursday the Leahy Stock Farm is represented at the farmers market, selling their hormone-free beef, which Lise says tastes “so much better” than what’s found in the supermarket.

One of the things Bernard likes the most about being at the market is hearing from his customers.

“It’s important to get that feedback,” he says.

Leahy Stock Farm will also be supplying beef to the Lakefield Local Harvest, coming up Sunday, August 14.

Business in agriculture does pose its challenges, however, as farmers struggle to balance the cost of farming with the price they sell their product for.

Also, Bernard adds, it can be difficult to keep young people interested in farming.

His children, however, already have plans for the family farm.

“They’re all actively involved in different ways. The 4H program has been very beneficial for them.”

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