Big Oak Farm
All-natural, free-range, USDA-inspected beef & pork.
Vendor Story
Mike & Dawn Smith
Staying true to tradition is harder now than in bygone days, but Mike and Dawn Smith of Big Oak Farm are committed.
“My family has been in agriculture for almost 200 years,” says Mike.
Big Oak is practically a founding member of the Davidson Farmers Market. They have been stalwarts since Year Two, just as they ramped back up beef and pork production following the drought of 2007.
The commitment between Big Oak farmer and Big Oak customer runs both ways.
“My best recollections are when we have had inclement weather and how many of our customers are there to support us,” Mike says of their 15 years at the market.
The Smiths have had to make some changes to stay true to their traditions. A few years ago, in the face of rampant development in the Charlotte region and a farm operation scattered across seven leases in addition to their home farm in Cabarrus County, Mike and Dawn made the hard call to pull up stakes. They sold the family farm and moved to Harmony, in northern Iredell County. No more carting hay from a land lease on Beatties Ford Road through Birkdale to Kannapolis!
“It was the best decision I ever made,” says Mike.
In Harmony, hayfields and pasture are of a piece, under the hoofs of a meticulously tended, closed herd of Charolais/Angus brood cows and Angus bulls. Last spring, they purchased a Murray Grey bull, a breed known for docility, excellent feed conversion from grass to pounds, and good milk production. Big Oak has pigs, too. Both cattle and swine live open-air lives in, well, Harmony with nature.
“All our cattle roam and graze freely in abundant, rolling pastures and wander into the woods and graze on berries, acorns, and assorted leafy plants,” reads their website.
Mike notes that all their formerly leased farmland in the Charlotte area has sold to developers in the few years since they moved. Harmony is the new family farm.
“We are following in the footsteps of both my grandfathers,” says Mike.
