Shepherds Homestead

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Stanwood, MI
Shepherds Homestead

We are a first generation farm located in Stanwood Michigan! Thanks for checking us out and feel free to message with any inquiries☺️
(16)

We raise:
Standard size Scottish highland cattle, mini donkeys, Ayam Cemani, bearded Silkie’s & other breeds of chickens.

08/16/2024

Guess what’s next!
My first time making it & tasting it.

08/16/2024

Bailey & I worked hard for 1.5 days on these tomatoes and it made a total of 70 quarts of Tomato sauce (pasta or pizza sauce)!

Canning season is in full swing 😂
If anyone has any extra jars they want to sell let me know!! I’m already getting low and the season has only started. 🤦🏼‍♀️

08/15/2024

We went to a produce auction today, bought lots of tomatoes, jalapeños, & onions!
We already started canning up the tomatoes and will finish those tomorrow.
I love this life we are building! 😋

08/14/2024

I honestly contemplated doing my yard work and letting Maddie free range because this girl is glued to my hip any time I’m in her pasture. 😂

08/12/2024

Took the old girl for a walk around the property and picked lots of blackberries!
It’s crazy how many are on the property, I could fill a LOT of buckets. 😅

08/11/2024

Welcome home Maddie. 🤎
I’ve been anticipating this day since the day I met you 3 months ago.

08/11/2024

Headed to pick up a new member of the farm!
I mentioned her briefly a few months ago

08/10/2024

We’re busy working on the barn today here at the farm and I don’t have any great photos of that to share (yet) so here you go:

I was canning green beans yesterday and I dropped one so Izzy grabbed it and just played with it for a solid hour. 😂😂

08/09/2024

Picked, processed & canned green beans today!

08/09/2024

When someone says they’re done picking zucchini and squash for the year and you can pick whatever you want…..

I’m going to try to make whatever I can out of it but I know the pigs will happily enjoy whatever I don’t use. 😂

08/08/2024

A little garden tip

I keep all my twist ties over the year and once my tomato’s start getting tall I use them to secure them to my trellis! I love canning lots of tomato related things so I try to grow as many as possible with the little room I have so I definitely encourage my plants to grow up rather than out.

I dropped the ball a little bit and they got really bushy really quickly this year 🙃

08/08/2024

Todays harvest from the garden 🥴
The cucumbers were definitely hidden 😂

08/08/2024

Moved little man to a new pasture and he’s feeling all sorts of sassy. 😂

08/07/2024

I decided that I’m done hatching for the season but this broody momma has decided that she is NOT done. 😅

If anyone wants end of the season chicks I’m happy to give you a great deal on them. 😊
The thing about buying chicks now is that by spring time they should be laying!

08/06/2024

When your friend comes over to help you release a skunk out of a live trap and brings their food scraps to give to your piggies.

08/06/2024

My last 2024 available Highland (he will shed out to be black).
He will be ready to go in October.

Pm me for more info!
📍Stanwood

08/06/2024

Jamie loves his piggies 🙄😂
They sure are cute.

08/06/2024

He is NOT a fan of the skidsteer in his pasture hence the pinned back ears. 😂

08/04/2024

Hello new arrivals!!
2 are gilts that we haven’t named yet
2 are barrows that are named bacon & sausage because that’s what they’ll be in about 5 months. 🫣

I’m not sure why we always seem to get the animal first and then build its enclosure second but.. 🤷🏼‍♀️

08/04/2024

Little check ALWAYS keeping one eye on you.
I’m not sure where her distrust comes from.. 🤦🏼‍♀️
Her mom is friendly 🤷🏼‍♀️

08/03/2024

I gave the calves some pumpkins last year…😅
They decided to start to grow in the calf pen all on their own now 😂

08/03/2024

THIS
🙌🏽

08/02/2024

These Zombie chickens are so cool!
Here’s one that I hatched, lots of gray spots and 2 different colored eyes!

08/02/2024

Current project:
Even these solid colored hides are so beautiful 😍
This one was a 4H steer and the parents wanted a keepsake for their kids first one!
Final wash before the tanning & breaking process.
Should be about a 2.5-3 week turnaround after I’m done.

08/01/2024

I’ve had so many people ask me about teaching them how to tan a hide after seeing me post about the few I’ve done.

I was wondering how many people would seriously be interested in some type of class??

It’d cost SOMETHING because I would provide a hide, all of the materials needed to tan it and then you’d be able to keep the hide when we’re done..but absolutely not something I’m trying to make money off of. 😂

I’m no pro by any means but I just love the idea of using the most out of an animal and knowledge is power - it never hurts to know how to do a lot of things. 🤷🏼‍♀️

07/31/2024

My back porch is overgrown with prickers and a few weeks ago I was going to cut them all..I’m thankful I was too busy to do so 🙃

They’ve been VERY abundant in blackberries!

07/31/2024

Ok handsome boy, we see you! 😍

07/30/2024

First day halter training (I’ve been so busy!)

You could say this guy definitely got an A+ and I don’t think he minded one bit actually. 😂

I love this breed so much.

07/30/2024

I sold my Ayam Cemani breeding group yesterday (😭)
But these 2 sweet babies hatched this morning 🫶🏼

I actually had no idea how many Ayam Cemani eggs were left in the incubator because I stopped labeling my eggs (all of my breeds are very distinct from each other so there’s no good reason to anyway)

I will be retaining these little nuggets and possibly will restart with Ayam Cemani again but the cash flow was needed more right now.

Address

Stanwood, MI
49346

Website

https://shepherdshomestead.wixsite.com/shepherdshomestead

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Videos

Moved little man to a new pasture and he’s feeling all sorts of sassy. 😂

First day halter training (I’ve been so busy!) You could say this guy definitely got an A+ and I don’t think he minded one bit actually. 😂 I love this breed so much.

Me scrolling through Facebook after midnight seeing all these cows being “rehomed”….I sure do want more cowsssss. 😅

Checking fences & came across this guy! 👋🏽

Most calves prefer grain and he definitely doesn’t mind the grain but apparently is an easy pleaser and prefers grass. 😂😂 Ignore the donk, he was jealous that he wasn’t getting the attention for once. 😅

The chicks in the grow out coop are looking sooooo gooood 😍 Hoping to rebuild my paint & blue splash coops, the big gray one came out of some hatching eggs I bought and is “available” and ofcorse I had to grow a few Zombie chicks out just for fun 🫣 Some of these chicks are from my original line, some are purchased from a few different breeders, I have high hopes for next year (please don’t all be roosters 😂). 🤞🏽

My least favorite part…weaning calves. We like to wean 3-4 weeks before customers come pick up their calf, that way you don’t get stuck with a crying calf who is panicked and looking for mom on day 1 of owning them… I hate listening to them cry, I do feel a lot of guilt but they do get over it after a few days. 😅 (He does have 2 other calf companions with him who have been weaned for a while now also) The first few days of weaning we give them space and let them cry it out, then we start showing them what grain is and spending lots of time just in and around the coral area so they get used to us. Once they seem to settle down then we work on them letting us pet/brush them, then halter training is the last step. I never ever promise my calves to be halter trained but that is always the GOAL. I’ll never forget I had bought 2 weaned highland heifers when we first got into cattle, they had pulled them from mom and had them waiting in a trailer for us to transfer to our trailer, we had these calves for only a few days and they did nothing but cry and then one day they broke out and were on the loose. It was over a week later that I got one of them back, she was just roaming free that entire time….worst experience ever and I will never put someone else through that. 🫶🏼

Today we moved half of the cattle to a new pasture in hopes that they’ll be able to stay on grass further into fall. We are so blessed to have met great people in the area that we can trust to house our cattle while we continue to better the land here in hopes that one day we won’t have to send them off 🤞🏽🫶🏼 The cows are happy - we are happy 🥰 (Yes there’s 9 full sized cows & 4 calves with room to spare in the trailer 😂)

A few “zombie” chicks that I decided to grow out and see what they end up looking like 🫣 They’re so beautiful already 😍 ((I call them Dalmatian chickens but 🤷🏼‍♀️))

It’s not a bad idea if it works, right? 😂😂 Never a dull moment & we certainly do our best to work smarter, not harder.

Kidding she’s a big baby 🫶🏼😂

Day 1 of working with this little guy. So far he’s ok with head scratches as long as he’s given a little grain encouragement 😂 He is alllllll hair and I cannot wait until he lets me brush him out 😩 I’m convinced boy calves are 100x easier to work with than heifer calves.