Our Ranch and Ranch Tours
We are very fortunate to have our own piece of paradise here on
our 24 acre ranch. We live outside of the town of Cottage Grove,
Oregon in what is considered a rain forest. Our propery is bordered
by the Coast Fork Willamette River which actually flows North. The
river gets very high in the winter and occasionally spills over into
our pastures and two times since we have lived here, the river has
swallowed parts of our driveway which is over a half mile long. In
the Summer our rivers deepest swimming hole is about 6-8 feet
deep and Summer Swimming temperatures reach about 60 at the
highest. In the winter the river can reach freezing and rises as
much as 20-30 feet and occasionally goes over the banks. We have
several species of wildlife in the river and on the ranch. We have
seen Cutthroat Trout, crawfish, an assortment of exotic ducks,
Canadian Geese, Racoons, Nutria, Eels or Bikers, a large assortment
of snakes and frogs. Once we found a turtle in the river that had to
weigh 40lbs and was 20-24" in diameter! We have deer, bear,
mountain lions, bobcats, pine martins, foxes and several birds of
prey including the Great Horned Owl (I once saw one flying away
with one of my poultry in it's claws). We also get a good share of
coyotes. Twice since we have lived here, a huge pack of cototes
has surrounded out entire ranch. Once about seven years ago, you
could see at least 30 -50 (or more) coyotes in the pasture only a
couple hundred yards from the house late on night, all howling. It
was one of the creepiest things I have ever seen! Most of these
animals are brazen enough to be sighted in daylight. For these
reasons we keep 6 working Livestock Guardian Dogs on our ranch to
protect every animal.
We are an actual working ranch and for that reason we spend many
hours each day caring for animals, cleaning pens, planting,
gardening, fixing fences and equipment, building new animal
housing, updating old housing and pens, tattooing, banding,
disbudding, record keeping, administering medical care , shots, etc.
This is in addition to Ethan's full time job outside the home, my two
buisinesses, raising three children and "normal" household
obligations. For these reasons our time is very limited. Our
customers are very important to us so we have set certain days
and times each week to pick up animals. If you wish to take a tour
of the farm, we will be offering some tour and workshop dates from
May through September. Animals and products may be purchased
after the tour if that is something you are interested in. If you are
considering purchasing some livestock from us, please be sure to
make an appointment. We currently are available for appointments
on weekends, though we understand other people have schedules
too and are somewhat flexible. Because of our schedule, we can
rarely accomodate a same day appointment, so please do not wait
until you are in town before making plans for a visit. We do NOT do
any tours when it has been very wet or rainy, it is miserable for
everyone, so tours will be planned for the dryer months of the year,
however we of course can plan for pick up of livestock during
moderately wet weather.
