Summerfield began with Jamie Nicoll's dream of raising the finest milk-fed veal and lamb without the use of confinement or drugs. He believed that traditional farming methods could produce a superior quality product.

Following descriptions found in old cookbooks by Escoffier and Larousse, his first step was to raise the calves on cow’s milk in stark contrast to the “modern method” of powdered milk and the lambs were raised outside in a free-roaming environment.