We love all of our animals, they are the heart of Sweet Briar Farm. All our animals get plenty of sunshine, fresh green pasture, high-quality hay, and all the extra fruits and veggies we can get our hands-on. We do offer our cattle, goats, and sheep grain from the local farm co-op but only enough to meet their reproductive needs and for training (a cow on walkabout is much easier to bribe back inside the fence with a bucket of tasty grain if she knows what it is).

You’ll see our hogs turning up the soil in our gardens and pastures, we also offer them a ration made from local grain and molasses. Our four children are a huge help on the farm and do a lot of petting and loving on our animals, which helps a great deal to make the livestock happier and more manageable.  

Our goats, shetland sheep, and dexter cattle are all registered, clean tested and vaccinated.  We also vaccinate our pigs against common respiratory viruses including swing flu (H1N1).  We’ve carefully chosen all our animals to be healthy, hardy, and friendly additions to our farm (and yours)!

If you’re interested in bringing home a Sweet Briar Farm animal to add to your own farm, contact us to get on our call-list and get your pick of the litter! sweetbriarfarmllc@gmail.com

Hereford Hogs

These rare American hogs are known for their docile temperament and quick growth rates.  This makes them an excellent choice for 4-H projects and young swineherds.  Their meat is lean but nicely marbled. 

We will have Hereford X Tamworth piglets born in Spring & Fall.  Our sow “Sally Jesse Raphael” is unbelievably calm and gentle and her piglets have remarkable growth rates.

Tamworth Hogs

Who doesn’t love bacon? Tamworths are the original “bacon breed” and have been selected for centuries for thriving outdoors in colder climates.

Their long and lean bodies produce lots of bacon and finely grained meat. Our Tamworth Boar “Boaris” has an incredible friendly and docile demeanor.  A trait which we value even more than the breed’s mouth-watering bacon.  We also have a couple Tamworth sows “Rikki Lake” and “Gladys” who will be farrowing full Tamworth piglets on a spring & fall schedule.

Registered Berkshire Hogs

Our Berkshires have personalities almost as big as their hams. This old English breed is known among pig raisers for their friendly and curious personalities and hardy constitutions.  Pork diners recognize the breed more by the deep rich flavors of their juicy meat.  We are really excited to have our first litter of registered Berks born on the farm in late spring of 2022.

Dexter Cattle

Friendly, small-statured, and thrifty Dexters are perfect dual-purpose cows for our small acreage farm. These mighty little cows produce more premium beef on less feed than common big beef breeds.

The cuts are smaller and have better marbling and flavor than anything you’re likely to find in a grocer’s case. Dexters also make fine family milk cows. They produce more than 2 gallons of milk daily with more butterfat and protein than Holstein milk from the store.

We will have Dexter beef available in late 2022, calves are expected in April.

Jersey Cows

Our Jersey heifer Greta will be our family milk cow. She’s our herd queen, gorgeous and incredibly curious. She’s likely to photobomb most of our YouTube videos (which you can watch here). When you stop by the farm stand she may bring the Dexters with her to watch you from the pasture fence.  You can enjoy Greta’s sweet creamy milk by purchasing a Herd Share from the farm and becoming her partial owner.

Greta is bred to our registered dexter bull Killian.  We are really excited to see her first calf on his/her birthday in April.

Goats

We have a growing herd of goats. They are such characters! Playful and affectionate, with tasty milk; they’ve become my personal favorites.  After a great deal of research we have put together a herd of healthy, productive goats that will bring your family joy for many years.  We are breeding for parasite resistance, milk production, and conformation. Our dairy kids will have *M and/or *B in their pedigrees, we were even fortunate enough to bring home a Superior Genetics doeling this fall.  

We have Nubian, Fainting, and Nigerian Dwarf does all  registered, and tested clean for CAE, CL, and Johnnes. This is very important.  Even if you don’t buy from us, please make sure that every goat you bring home comes from herds which tested negative for these 3 diseases.  These diseases are prevalent and contagious animals are not always symptomatic.

We are expecting kidding to begin in early April 2022.  We will have ADGA Nubian and Nigerian Dwarves, MDGA mini-Nubian, and Fainter X Nigerian Dwarf kids.  Kids will be sold after weaning around 8 weeks old, with CD/T vaccinations.

Honey Bees

Use this section to talk about your bees!

We’ve worked hard to put together a farmstead of family-friendly livestock that will provide us with healthful and high-quality foods to feed our family and yours.

We want to be the place where people know they’re getting something that’s good and special and won’t break the bank.

If you’re going to spring for half a beef for the freezer or feeder pigs for your family, shouldn’t it be something better than you can find in a store?