The demand for meat from local, humane farmers is growing so quickly that sometimes it is hard to keep up, they say. “Actually, we could keep up,” says Kim Coulter, “but it would mean compromising quality.”

“And we will not compromise,” says her husband, Bill Coulter.

The couple and Nina Luchka, Kim Coulter’s sister, own Stoney Hill Cattle Co., a 150-acre farm in Charlestown that produces beef, pork, turkeys and eggs. They sell their meat and eggs at the farm and at five farmers’ markets.

And they are making a profit.

“We can’t live on it at the volume we’re doing now,” says Bill Coulter, “but it’s our goal to retire young and we plan to have this supplement our pension income so we can be comfortable and enjoy something we enjoy anyway.”

The Coulters and Luchka were among a handful of farmers who founded the Rhode Island Raised Livestock Association 20 months ago.

The idea was to pool their resources so they could transport livestock to a slaughterhouse approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They also created the “Rhody Raised,” brand to market local meat in the future. Initially, Kim Coulter took their cattle in a trailer to a slaughterhouse in Vermont.

“This is a business of skeptics,” says Bill Coulter. “The idea of shipping animals 250 miles was a tough idea to sell. The first year, we didn’t exceed 50 head of cattle, and we didn’t exceed 10 people participating.”

In March, the association started to talk with a newly approved USDA slaughterhouse in Johnston and a meat processor in Westerly.

Now, cattle, hogs, and sheep (and soon goats) are slaughtered in Johnston, and the meat is trucked to Westerly where it is cut, vacuum-packed, flash-frozen and labeled.

Membership in the livestock association has soared to 72 farms in Rhode Island and nearby towns in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Some farms are selling meat on their property and farmers’ markets, and others are also selling to restaurants.

The most frequent question consumers and chefs ask, the Coulters say, is “How are your animals raised?” Some customers actually visit the farms to see for themselves. They find animals that are free to roam in pastures or roomy enclosures on clean ground. Some animals, such as those at Watson Farm in Jamestown, eat grass only. Others, such as the ones at Stoney Hill, eat grass with grain supplements.

None of the animals receives growth hormones or antibiotics, the Coulters stress.

“The quality of the meat has a lot to do with the lifestyle of the animal,” says Noah Fulmer, of Farm Fresh Rhode Island, an advocacy group for farmers and local foods. “The flavor depends on whether they’re grazing and getting variety in their diet or whether they’re being stuffed [as in a crowded industrial feedlot]. We’re not a feedlot state. These are all family farms.

“Consumers can certainly taste that in the meat and that’s why they’re willing to pay a bit of a premium.”

“The second thing new customers say is ‘This doesn’t look like the meat I buy in the supermarket,’ ” says Kim Coulter. “And I, in my diplomatic way, answer, ‘It better not!’ We don’t use dye or gas to make our meat look fresh. It’s fresh when it’s frozen so it always tastes fresh.”

“Aquidneck Beef is a new operation on Aquidneck Island,” says Fulmer. “Chefs, like Bill Tillinghast at New Rivers, are just thrilled with their beef. It’s perfect for his taste buds.”

Poultry falls into a different regulatory category than red meat.

Fulmer says local farms such as Baffoni’s Poultry Farm, in Johnston, and Casey Farm, in Saunderstown, are supplying local restaurants. Fresh poultry is also available at Baffoni’s farm store and the Coastal Growers farmers’ market at Casey Farm.

As the demand for local meat increases — along with the cost of doing business — Bill Coulter says that he, his wife and his sister-in-law are being cautious about raising their prices and growing Stoney Hill too quickly.

“Our goals,” he says, “are to keep our prices where they are, maintain our quality and forego huge profits.”

A directory of growers — and what they produce — in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut is available online at www.farmfreshri.org.

tmeade@projo.com