Similar to everyone else, he had a dream. Growing up on a farm in Listowel, working full time for a large scale cash crop farmer as well as feeding cattle on the side, he was yearning to start his very own farm journey. Read all about the sacrifices, hard work and dedication it took to make his dream become a reality.
Passion for farming with no real opportunity.
Being so eager to farm, he had to take matters in his own hands. With that being said we made a decision to re-locate 6 hours north to my home town of #Sudbury. We spent months looking for any amount of land that could allow us to farm on a small scale. Worth the wait, we stumbled onto a modest property in our price range with 160 acres (15-20 acres cleared) in #Markstay that was not yet on the market. We worked out a deal with the wonderful owner and shortly after gained the key to the gates of opportunity. Bare land, we purchased bare land. Time to celebrate? Most would say yes! I was raised in a town environment, this was so new and terrifying to me - I thought to myself '' I'm 19 years old and we bought land with no house, no electricity, where do we even begin?''
Getting Creative with what we have
Lace Em' Up ! Time to get to work. We knew we needed more then 15-20 acres of pasture to feed a few cows. He began to push the bush clearing the over grown shrubs to restore what was once a pasture. Come spring time, our focus has shifted and decided it was time to build our home. To the drawing board. He had a vision, small with potential to grow - just like our farm and so we built a 25x30 house. We worked on this project all summer long with the help of our wonderful families. December 28th 2018 is when we spent out first night in the house.
House Built - Now what ?
First farm purchase, two horses. We started off small. It gets better - I promise.
One beautiful spring afternoon, we went off to ''look'' at a herd of 9 Galloways. He was so ecstatic. After being difficult, I finally said yes and a few weeks later they arrived on our farm.
Are you ready ? This is where the fun begins.
One herd of 9 cows ! That was a big change for me but to him it was just the beginning. He started searching for more. There we were a month later looking at more cows. We decided to invest in a cattle trailer, to him this was an automatic admission to YES-Ville for more cows and that's when we added another herd of cows. When he stumbled on a herd of Registered Black Angus he knew I would immediately agree to more cows. Thankfully we had allot of hay. Needless to say we spent most of our winter clearing land.
WORK WORK WORK
The Man doesn't stop. Above his full time day job, he had a spring filled with fencing ahead of him - not an easy task if I may say so myself. His determination was true, his focus was real and the goal was in sight. He wanted to fence around the property and from there he would use a poly-wire to graze the cattle. He did exactly that. Does he ever stop? Occasionally he will take a rest however this consists of educational YouTube videos of his favorite Grass-Fed farmers. On the road or haying he is listening to podcasts. Always learning something new, you can never know it all.
Sacrifices
He had a clear vision of the way he wanted to raise his cattle. He wanted to have happy, stress-free cattle who were on a 100% Grass-Fed diet. This is exactly what he did. In order to ensure that he had good stock, he had to do allot of observing to see who was thriving on grass and who just was not achieving optimal body condition. All this time he spent with his girls and for his girls (the cows obviously) he missed out on some quality family times. He insisted it would get easier as we found a better rhythm. He has found his happiness, his passion and his drive. Not once have I ever overheard him complain that he had to get up to feed cows or that he had to come home early to be with them - this includes our wedding day. This may all seem like sacrifices today, but I know he has big plans for the future. He is not only building a home, but he is building a place for our future family to gather and spend endless amounts of time together. In the end, that's all that matters. FAMILY.
Successfully completing our 2020 year !
Selling beef was amazing ! We've had so much fun interacting with customers and getting to know everyone. We've received so many great comments from regarding the beef, pork and chicken. We will continue to sell directly to the public as we've had such great experience. The upcoming season will bring so many new fun opportunities.
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-Ratter Creek Ranch