Our Animals
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Lamb
We raise sheep, lamb, chickens, turkeys, ducks, quail and occasionally a steer or two on our little farm. We raise lamb for meat, and for the fun of raising sheep! We love sheep. They are relatively easy livestock to keep, are generally pretty mellow, and let you know when they are not happy. They all live together, and our lambs live with their mother ewes their whole lives. We have 3 generations of sheep living on our farm, and it is so wonderful to see that mother-daughter-granddaughter seek each other out and lay down to sleep together at night. Our lambs live happy lives and are a very tasty meal, too. We raise Dorper/Suffolk crosses with a little bit of Katahdin mixed in, too
Chickens
We raise chickens for eggs and meat. All of our birds are free range. We keep a few roosters around the farm so that we can hatch our own chicks. We have moved to mainly Rhode Island Red and a few specialty layers. My daughter also raises several different breeds for 4H. We also love being around birds. They are so unique. I truly enjoy hatching my own chicks, and look forward to being able to breed my own egg laying stock.
Turkey
We primarily raise heritage breed turkeys on our farm. We mostly raise them for Thanksgiving meat birds, and sometimes sell a few poults in the spring. We hatch almost all our own turkeys here on the farm, and my daughter loves showing birds at the 4H Fair!
Duck
We started raising ducks several years after the farm started. I prefer Welsh Harlequins and hatch our own replacement flock, and sell many ducklings each spring. We raise them mostly for eggs, but when the drakes get to be too many, we will process a few for meat. We've added Pekins for Shannon's 4H program, as well. In 2023, we added Silver Appleyards to our flock, to try them out.
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Pigs
In 2019, we added pork to the farm. We love raising pigs. They are a delight to have on the farm. Not only do we pasture raise them, but they help us till up weeds, and garden areas. They will rotate around the farm helping us establish better soil, while eating weeds and mowing the lawn!
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Cows
Beef comes only once or twice a year. We raise a few beef cows each year. We purchase calves from local farms, usually steers, and raise them up for meat.
Livestock Guardian Dogs
All of the above free-ranging animals are not safe on their own. We have a local pack of coyotes who live adjacent to our field, as well as hawks, eagles, owls, foxes and skunks. All of the above can be harmful to our animals. We keep livestock guardians and they do a GREAT job of protecting our animals. Without them, our chicken flock would be decimated in a matter of days. We appreciate them for all that they do. We also keep a dog or two purely as pets around the house.
Barn Cats
We also maintain an array of barn kitties. We have found barn kitties from the Longmont Humane Society and the Northern Colorado Friends of Ferals. The one in the picture there is Boo, one of our best barn kitties. They keep the mice out of the barn, and if they are smart, they sleep in the barn, shed or the house, so that they, too are safe from coyotes.