ROCK Farmhouse Farm Partner
Windy Meadows Family Farm
Campbell, Texas
For more than two decades, Mike and Connie Hale have raised pasture-raised poultry on their family farm in Campbell, Texas. Their birds move across fresh pasture, their feed is intentional, and the people making the decisions are never far from the flock.
Windy Meadows Family Farm at a Glance
Farmers
Mike & Connie Hale and family
Location
Campbell, Texas Hunt County
Established
2001
Known For
Pasture-raised poultry
Pasture
Regular movement onto fresh ground
Current Feed
Soy free · Corn free Non GMO for chicken sourced through ROCK
Processing
On-farm USDA inspected poultry processing facility
Where Our Sourcing Begins
Before the Chicken, There Is the Farmer
It is easy to reduce better food to a checklist. Pasture raised. Soy free. Corn free. Non GMO. Those questions matter. We ask them too.
But after years of sourcing food for our own family and the families who trust ROCK Farmhouse, we have come to believe there is a more important question underneath all the others:
Who is the person making the decisions?
A label cannot tell you whether the farmer notices when something is not working, whether they are willing to change course, or why they chose to farm this way in the first place.
That comes from knowing the farmer.
Meet the Farmers
Mike & Connie Hale
Windy Meadows Family Farm began in 2001 with something remarkably ordinary. Mike and Connie wanted better chicken for their own family.
What began around their own table grew into a family farm that has now spent more than two decades raising poultry for other Texas families.
Mike and Connie built Windy Meadows alongside their children. Over the years, family members have taken part in the many pieces required to keep a working poultry farm moving, from caring for birds and moving pasture shelters to processing and preparing poultry for customers.
There are names behind the food, a family behind the farm, and people who remain responsible for what leaves it.
More Than Two Decades of Paying Attention
Farming is not a formula. Much of what makes a good farmer cannot be printed on a package. It comes from years spent watching the animals, the pasture and the seasons.
The Birds
Watching behavior, comfort, health and the changing needs of each flock.
The Pasture
Paying attention to ground conditions, forage and when it is time to move.
The Feed
Continuing to evaluate what goes into the birds and what could be improved.
The Seasons
Adapting husbandry to Texas heat, weather and the rhythms of a working farm.
Good farmers learn. They adjust. They notice.
We are looking for people who are still paying attention.
How the Birds Are Raised
Raised on Pasture.
Moved With Purpose.
At Windy Meadows, pasture is not scenery around a chicken house. It is part of how the flock is managed.
Once the birds are old enough to live outside safely, they are raised in movable shelters on pasture. The shelters provide protection while allowing the chickens to live over grassy ground where they can scratch, forage and experience fresh air and sunlight.
The birds are moved regularly onto fresh ground, giving the flock new pasture while previously used areas have the opportunity to rest.
That is what we want the words pasture raised to describe: not a photograph on a package, but a way of farming.
Learn More About Our Pasture-Raised Chicken →Good Husbandry
A Chicken Should Still Be Allowed to Behave Like a Chicken
A chicken is not simply a machine for turning feed into meat. It is an animal with instincts.
Chickens scratch. They peck. They forage. They investigate the ground beneath them. They seek shade and shelter. They respond to weather and to the world around them.
Giving birds access to pasture allows more of those natural behaviors to remain part of their lives. Regular movement also gives the flock new ground to explore and spreads their impact across the pasture rather than concentrating it indefinitely in one place.
Raising an animal well begins by respecting what kind of animal it actually is.
Know What Your Food Ate
Feed Matters Too
Pasture-raised chickens still require supplemental feed. We believe families should be able to ask what went into the animals that became their food.
Soy Free
Corn Free
Non GMO
The meat chicken currently raised by Windy Meadows for ROCK Farmhouse receives a soy-free, corn-free and non-GMO supplemental ration. The birds also forage as they move across pasture.
But feed is part of why we trust Windy Meadows. It is not the entire reason.
From Pasture Through Processing
Responsibility Stays Close to the Farm
One unusual part of Windy Meadows Family Farm is that poultry processing takes place on the farm in the Hale family's USDA inspected poultry processing facility.
That keeps another important part of the food chain close to the people who raised the birds. The family responsible for the flock remains closely connected as poultry moves from pasture to a finished product prepared for other families.
The shorter the chain, the easier it is to know where responsibility lives.
Beyond the Checklist
The checklist matters.
The farmer matters more.
We care about pasture. We care about feed. We care about husbandry, processing and the inputs that go into the farm.
But none of those things exist independently of the person making the decisions.
Farming is made up of thousands of choices that will never appear on a certification or label. That is why we want to know who the farmer is, why they farm the way they do, what they have learned and whether they are willing to keep asking difficult questions.
Why This Relationship Matters
Why ROCK Farmhouse Partners With Windy Meadows
There are farms that can give us the right answers on paper. For us, that alone is not enough.
Experience
Mike and Connie have spent more than two decades learning poultry, pasture, weather, feed and flock management.
Responsibility
The family remains closely involved from raising the birds through processing rather than allowing accountability to disappear into a long supply chain.
Transparency
We can ask questions about pasture, feed and husbandry and know the people who are actually making those decisions.
Willingness to Learn
What matters to us is not claiming that a farm never changes. It is knowing the farmer continues to observe, evaluate and improve.
What Local Food Means to Us
Bring the People Behind the Food Back Into View
Somewhere along the way, food became strangely anonymous. We learned to recognize logos and certifications while forgetting the names of the people actually raising what we eat.
When a ROCK Farmhouse family brings home chicken from Windy Meadows, we want them to know that it came from Campbell, Texas; that Mike and Connie Hale are behind the farm; and that their family has spent more than two decades raising poultry.
Local food is not simply about fewer miles.
It is about fewer degrees of separation.
From Campbell, Texas to Families Across Dallas–Fort Worth
Windy Meadows Family Farm is located in Campbell, Texas, east of Dallas in Hunt County.
Through our relationship with Windy Meadows, ROCK Farmhouse helps families throughout Dallas–Fort Worth and North Texas connect with pasture-raised chicken from a Texas family farm whose people and practices we know.
ROCK Farmhouse is a private North Texas farm collective. Our role is to make relationships with independent farms and producers easier for families to maintain without making the farmer invisible.
From Their Farm to Your Family
Pasture-Raised Chicken From Windy Meadows Family Farm
From whole birds to everyday family cuts, the Windy Meadows chicken available through ROCK Farmhouse leads back to Mike and Connie Hale and their family farm in Campbell, Texas.
Explore Windy Meadows ChickenKnow the Farm Behind Your Food
Good Food Has a Story.
We Believe You Should Know Who Is In It.
You do not have to become a farmer to care about farming. But we believe you should be able to know who raised your food, where it came from and something about the decisions that shaped it.
Mike & Connie Hale
Windy Meadows Family Farm
Campbell, Texas