Animals

If there is one area of agriculture where our family roots are particularly deep, it is animal agriculture. Steve & Nancy both had youth livestock projects through FFA and 4-H during their childhood in the 1970’s and 1980’s; Katie and Joey both had animal-based 4-H projects, with Katie being active in beef cattle and horse projects while Joey had sheep and poultry projects. Ultimately, these projects lead us to where Cedar Ridge Farm’s farm animal involvement is now.

Currently, Cedar Ridge Farm’s primary livestock enterprises are meat sheep and pastured chickens and ducks for egg production. These enterprises work hand in hand to help us work towards a more sustainable livestock operation that has minimal dependence on synthetic fertilizers. Our poultry coops are moved regularly over the sheep pastures. The scratching, digging, and droppings of the birds help to improve soil health and fertility, which helps us have high-quality grazing for the sheep. Tongue in cheek, but truthfully, I often tell people, “We are fertilizing our pastures one bag of chicken feed at a time.”

Of course, a farm needs dogs and we have three that help with our livestock. It would be impossible for us to have sheep without our livestock guardian dogs, Tasha and Henry. Blue is our herding dog who has a lot of desire and instinct and is learning the ropes of herding sheep. We will share more about them in our farm news articles.

We are pleased to currently offer free-range chicken eggs for sale year-round. Our free-range duck eggs are usually available, though they are much more seasonal by nature. Our sheep are available to purchase as live animals for processing or breeding stock, when available. Currently, we only sell live animals. Our plans include returning beef cattle to the farm animal mix and having retail meat cuts of beef, lamb, and poultry available. Keep a watch here and on our social media for these changes and new offerings.