In our first year, we laid the groundwork…

Additions:

• 13 highly productive layer hens with one resident rooster

• 100 cornish cross meat chickens

• A starter flock of 6 Katahdin hair sheep

• 2 giant angora rabbits

• 2 livestock guardian dogs to keep the farm safe.

• Raised one bottle-calf that was gifted to us on Christmas by a neighbor. With that experience, we decided cattle are not for us, and that sheep and chickens are where our livestock interests are.

Infrastructure:

• Fenced in 10 acres in the main pasture area

• Converted our detached garage into a sheep barn,

• Purchased shelters: chicken tractors, brooders, sheep shelters, dog houses, and a small Amish chicken coop to get us started.

• Added an old 50s Allis Chalmers Tractor as our first big farm equipment addition to the farm.

Output:

• Resulting in a dozen eggs a day

• Freezers full of broiler chickens processed on the farm

• 7 lambs were born from our first 4 ewes.

In our second year, we continued our growth…

Sheep:

• Grew from 4 to 10 ewes.

• Brought in a fully registered ram (Kronos).

• Tripled our breeding operation, bringing us 19 lambs for our 2023 lambing season.

Poultry:

• Brought in many more chickens, totaling 50 chickens, with a small flock of Bantams (small chickens) included - to expand our egg production.

• In the summer of 2022, we did another round of meat chickens, but with a little less birds (80).

Infrastructure:

• Converted an old camper into a camper coop to house our influx of chickens.

• Bought a run-in shelter to create a second winter housing area for the sheep.

• Brought home a Gravely to help us maintain our fence line.

These numbers continued to grow in our third year…

Sheep:

• For the 2024 lambing season, we used two breeding groups, with the addition of a second registered Katahdin ram purchased at the KHSI Expo (Atlantis).

• Growing from 10 to 15 ewes bred, we brought in 26 lambs.

Poultry:

• Up to just under 100 layer chickens (bantams included), continuing to increase our egg production, with a large demand for pasture-raised eggs.

• Decided to do two batches of 35 meat chickens versus doing one large batch (and prefer this route).

Infrastructure:

• Purchased a brand new 1835m Massey tractor with a bucket, brush hog, and manure forks to help us maintain the pastures and clean out the barn with some extra muscle.

• We also added a second camper coop to support the additional egg layers and built a small chicken tractor for the smaller meat chicken batches.

In our fourth year, we are focused on pasture improvement and investing in infrastructure…

Sheep:

For our 2025 lambing season, we will have two breeding groups:

• February lambing group will be sired from our top ram lambs from Atlantis (our 2024 main sire)

• The spring lambing group will be sired by our new registered Katahdin ram (Rainier), purchased from Heavenly Oaks in Illinois.

• Grew from 15 to 24 ewes, holding onto 10 ewes lambs from 2024 to add to the flock.

• Expecting upwards of 40 lambs in 2025.

Poultry:

• Considering trialing a different meat chicken breed in the summer of 2025, moving away from the standard cornish cross broilers.

• Added quail to the farm.

Infrastructure:

• Adding formal lambing jugs and gates to optimize our maternity ward

• Expanding the run-in corral area to house more animals over winter.

• We will build a large pole barn in the summer of 2025 to expand our sheep operation, as our current “barn” has reached capacity.

• We will also build additional meat chicken tractors as we continue to do smaller batches in 2025.