Say Hello to our Farm Animals, They Create Regenerative Magic.

We’d like to introduce you to our farm animals and what their purpose is on our Farm. Each plays an important role, even if it’s as a pet.

by Chad Steiner

In February of 2023 I wrote a blog (here) about why we’re bringing animals to The Farm. Wow it feels like so long ago as I re-read it preparing to write today’s post. I think it’s worth a read if you missed it – February 2023 blog. What hasn’t changed is how convinced we are in animals’ ability to work in synergy with farming. It feels like magic – crops grow, animals can mow and fertilize and provide their own produce – meat, eggs and textiles (think clothing). This is where the farm can really connect to the winery – e.g. the sheep graze and fertilize the vineyard. In the spirit of finding a way to articulate these concepts efficiently, I’m going to use kind of a bullet format. I’ll kind of talk about each of the animals we have and their purpose in our operation. Please keep in mind, we’re a small farmer by today’s standard, meaning most if not all the work is done by us and a small (but mighty) team. Ok, let’s talk animals.

• Sheep.
  • Who are they? We have 8 momma ewe’s and now 8 baby lambs (7 boys, one girl). We often get asked if they have names. And we don’t really. They all look similar. So outside of calling one – “Oh, she’s the wild one.” Or “she’s the small one”, we mostly refer to their ear tag numbers. All of our sheep are Hampshire’s which are a meat breed. All our sheep come from our wonderful High School FFA teacher, Mr. Pile’s. He’s been working on his flock for years. These gals are beautiful. I’ve loved having sheep on The Farm more than I thought I would. Because of their size, we’re able to handle them vs. cattle. Our Farm really isn’t big enough for cattle.
  • Their purpose: As ruminants (read Sheep have 4 stomach’s blog), sheep have the ability to eat, digest and get energy from things we can’t, i.e. grass. Sheep then can replace our mower, meaning, they can eat, create manure fertilizer, turn grass into energy and we don’t have to mow. Magic. We’ll also be able to eat them and sell their meat. It looks like local 4-H and FFA’ers are going to get some really nice lambs to show as well.

• Chickens.
  • Who are they? We have about 70-80 chickens. We haven’t counted recently… best time to count is when they’re roosted at night. During COVID is when we decided to jump in to raising chickens. A “quick” update to an existing building turned into a never-ending chicken coop (I call it a Castle, i.e. chicken castle) project. Our foundation breeds that we have the most of is – Rhode Island Red’s and New Hampshire Red’s (I feel like the N.H.’s are a little nicer). These two breeds are consistent egg layers, hardy and kind (light brown egg layers). We then curate a mix of Black French Copper Maran’s (super dark brown egg) and Ameraucana’s (blue eggs). Hatch a female chick from these two breeds mixed and you get an olive egger – we have those too. Names… we only have a few names for the chickens, like “the hat chicken” or Sven (b/c he’s from Sweden) or Toker (named in honor of a good friend).
  • Their purpose: chickens have incredible eyesight. They can eat tiny insects we can’t see. They also love to pick through other animals’ manure to find larvae. Our chickens are free range – but kind of in a limited area. Our plan is to get them mobile. With their mobility will come their ability to fertilize and eat more insects. For now, we really enjoy providing amazing farm fresh eggs.

• Ducks.
  • Who are they? We started with 4 ducks we picked up opportunistically from someone we bought some goats from. We then found them a husband (Fred) – now we have close to 20 ducks. And, for some odd reason, many of them look like wild ducks… since we have not lid on their home – we think a mallard paid a visit. You can find the ducks frolicking and looking for their next puddle.
  • Their purpose: You’ve probably seen some good examples of ducks being good at eating slugs. Yep. They also go about eating insects in a unique way. Not totally sure how they’ll fit into the rotation around The Farm – we’ll see. So, for now, we’re enjoying their eggs.

• Goats.
  • Who are they? Meet Mickey and Hank. Our two wether’s. Meaning, they’re really just pets. They’re sweet boys. Love pets and following you around to see if you have any food or to chew on your clothing.
  • Their purpose: Well, for us they’re just pets. We have explored using them grazing with the sheep – but they’re interesting animals and very curious. They’ll look up to eat and end up teaching the sheep to eat the trees. I think they can be incredibly good bush clearers.

• Dogs.
  • Who are they? Meet Angel, Bingo and Jade. Angel and Jade are both livestock guardian dogs. Not herding dogs or “cow dogs” but dogs meant to be with the heard full time and “protect” them against predators. Angel is an Anatolian/Great Pyrenees mix, she’s 7 years old and often the greeter when the tasting room is open. Jade is 5 years old and a registered Karakachan (a breed from Bulgaria). Her herd is the boys, so she’s mostly at the house. Then Bingo, he’s our pet and labradoodle whose 7 years old and sitting next to me in my office as I write this. He’s known for giving lots of love, being very forward for his request for “pets” and sometimes known for trying to bite the gator tires.
  • Their purpose: I kind of described it above. Two of our dogs have purpose. And because we have livestock and livestock guardian dogs it’s also why we decided not to allow dogs. Livestock guardian dogs are an amazing breed (read prior blog here). Many of them are 1,000’s of years old. Fascinating how they’ve evolved alongside livestock animals and their caretakers. I heard it said some of these dogs can remember 1,000 faces. Angel is our patroller and Jade sticks close to home. These girls will be very valued when momma sheep and their baby’s start venturing out to graze. The coyotes are always active around our farm.

• Cats.
  • Who are they? Well, cats have come and gone on our farm. We currently have 3 cats. Atlas, Bear and Blackout. Blackout is our real farm cat. We count our blessings each day we get a big hug from him. His original home was by the chickens. But he’s figured out how to wonder home each night and live the good life. Atlas and Bear, well, we’re still waiting to see if they can fill our favorite kitty (RIP) Jack’s shoes. If they don’t, well the resident rodents will be celebrating the good life. We heard Jack’s reputation was interstate – he was an incredible mouser and super friendly – we miss him.
  • Their purpose: I think we all know what cats can do. But we didn’t want to poison. Poison has the potential to get into birds of prey via rodents… and we’ve had some great luck with Kestrel’s coming back to our area. So, the cats main purpose is mousing. And Jeana isn’t the biggest fan since a couple of them have weaseled their way into the house. And I’m still not convinced cats know their name… they know who we are, but don’t budge when their name is called lol.
• Bee’s.
  • Who are they? The Steiner Bro’s started raising bee’s two seasons ago. They haven’t been able to give them all names, but have definitely gotten to know them. Their honey has been so yummy and they’ve loved sharing it with all of you.
  • Their purpose: It’s been all over the place the last few years what value the bee’s bring our planet. And not only are they great for our Farm, but this will be the first year we don’t have to bring bee’s in from an outside source. The Steiner Bro’s have raised enough bee’s to help pollinate our apple crop with “local” bee’s. So far the hives are doing ok this winter. Their excited to get going this spring.

For a more intimate intro to our animals and some cool photo’s – check out this reel we put together for y’all.

Hope you enjoyed the intro to our animals. We’re delighted with how they contribute to our regenerative approach.

Cheers,