Our Farm

Cattle

Here on the farm we have a herd of 30 registered Herefords and 20 registered Angus or Simmental. Herefords are known for their high-quality meat, excellent maternal characteristics, and docile temperament. Angus cattle are a renowned carcass breed, tend to be easy calvers and are vigorous growers. Simmentals have a good temperament, high yield of meat, and high weaning growth.

All of our cattle are raised on pasture here in Polk County, IA. Calves are weaned the beginning of October and brought back to the farm to be finished on a total mixed ration of corn, silage, hay, and dried distillers grains.

We AI our cattle with industry leaders which gives us the advantage to improve our herds quality without breaking the bank. We then clean them up with our two herd bulls. Bulls are turned out with the cows usually the first week of May and then brought home again in September.

Sheep

We currently run a flock of 100 Polypay ewes. This breed is known for their mothering ability and multiple births. They provide an excellent foundation for our production system. All sheep are raised her on our Polk County farm. We lamb our flock beginning in February.

We have Texel rams for our flock. This breed is known for rapid growth and meat quality. We chose to crossbreed our Polypay to Texel rams to produce a fast-growing lamb with superior meat grade.

The rams are turned out with our ewes in October.

Honey Bees

We began our honey adventure with two hives here on the property and over the past 4 years have worked our way up to sixteen hives total. Our hives and bees are owned by PGFF and meticulously cared for by beekeeper Jeremiah Kusel here on our alfalfa field.

We currently offer our raw honey for sale in three sizes: 12-ounce, 16-ounce, and 32-ounce jars. Raw honey is extracted from the hive, strained, and then bottled. Raw honey is described as honey "as it exists in the beehive". Local, raw honey is a well-known way to replace sweeteners in your diet and has numerous health benefits.

Laying Hens

The majority of our laying flock are red stars and a combination of white and buff orpingtons. We also have a few bielefelders and barred rock hens. All of these varieties are great brown egg layers and dual- purpose breeds.

We currently have a flock of around 60 hens. Our hens free range when possible and have an attached yard to their coop when free ranging is not manageable due to weather or threats from predators.