We live on a small 30 acre farm in Northwest Washington. Nestled between the Cascade Mountain Range and the Pacific Ocean, we live in an area that we are convinced is as close to heaven on earth as we can get.
We have opted to live a particular lifestyle, a rural lifestyle. We have no intention of becoming a large producer of livestock. We are enjoying the opportunity to raise our children to appreciate and care for what G-d has given to us and to use our resources to benefit our family. We implement sustainable farming practices wherever we can and really enjoy raising happy and healthy animals – and children.
Our Cattle
We started with just two bred cows and one heifer in 2001. Our intent was to increase our herd year at a time with our own calf crop. Our wonderful neighbor, who is a large scale Hereford breeder, rents his bulls to us every year so we are able to maintain a good calf crop each year. We are seeing a third generation of cows calving here at our farm this year.
All of our Hereford cattle are strictly grass fed. They graze through a series of pastures in rotation while the grass is growing and in the winter months they eat hay that is grown just down the road from our house earlier in the year. In the summer they have pastures of rolling hills dotted with groves of trees for shade. In winter they reside on a hillside pasture that keeps them out of the mud and where they have access to several acres of woods and a barn for shelter. These are pampered and happy Herefords, to be sure!
At the end of each growing season we have grass-fattened cattle to sell for meat. If you are interested in quality grass-fed beef, contact us for more information.
Our Sheep
Our oldest daughter started raising sheep for her 4-H project when she was 8 years old. Now several of our children have entered the shepherding business with her. They selected the pastures they wanted for their sheep, built the fences and barns, and care for all of their sheep. They have their own breeding stock for market lambs, which are coming into a higher demand as the years progress. Some of the sheep (the show ewes and lambs) are fed a grain ration and the rest are fed strictly grass, alfalfa and hay. In the past several years their lambs and breeding stock have won Overall Champion, Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion at the Northwest Washington Fair and at Skagit County Fair.
At the end of each growing season we have wonderful grass-fed and grain finished lambs to sell for meat. If you are interested in quality lamb, contact us for more information.
Poultry
We also raise our own chickens and turkeys. Granted that we do buy them as chicks as opposed to hatching them on our own, but maybe one day soon we’ll start raising our own chicks too. We have between 12 and 36 chickens at a time with the majority of them being laying hens. Our turkey numbers vary throughout the year but we try to keep between 6 and 12 turkeys through the summer months. They are allowed to roam freely around the yard and through the pastures and woods during the day and in the evening they are always found inside their hen-house waiting for us to close their door and keep them safe from the predators outside. They produce an abundance of eggs for us each morning, which we sell to friends and neighbors. These eggs are higher in Omega-3 and other sought after nutrients because they are able to range freely eating grass and bugs as opposed to being cooped up in a barn all day eating only layer feed. We do offer layer feed to our laying hens, but they much prefer the “all natural” options they have. When it comes time to put the birds in the freezer, their meat is juicy and tender and they are always quite plump.
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