Meet Our Barnyard Crew!

It’s been a while since we’ve done a barnyard update, so what better time than now, since the pumpkin patch is opening up for the 2023 season? We started The Barnyard about 8 years ago, and since then it’s more than tripled in size. We started out with only 25 animals, and now we have over 300.

Let’s start with the smallest and work our way up from there. We have 110 chickens, and 5 roosters. The chickens have a pretty important job here at our farm. They provide us with local eggs to sell to our customers. Because they are younger chickens, we don’t get many eggs right now, but next spring we are expecting to get about 20 dozen a week from them.

We also have “Polish Chickens” also known as “Fancy Chickens.” They are separated from the other chickens because the two breeds don’t usually get along. We have 3 of them currently and you can spot them by looking for the chickens with the funny-looking hair on top.

Next up in the bird family- ducks. We have 25 ducks. Most of them are younger and not laying eggs yet, so we only get about 5 dozen a week from them. If you are at The Barnyard, make sure you stop by and see the duck’s new swimming pool. They are loving diving around in there in this hot weather we’ve been having.

Next up is rabbits. Currently, we have 8 rabbits. A few of them are pretty friendly, so we are able to get them out of their enclosures for guests to pet when they visit us.  Fun fact, any scraps we have in the market, for example, carrots or celery that are no longer sellable, we send down to The Barnyard for all the animals to enjoy a treat.

One of the largest groups of animals we have is goats. They are pack animals, so that’s one of the reasons we have so many.  In total, we have 30 goats. We have males and females, so we do get litters of babies about 3 times a year. All of our goats are super friendly and love to be pet and fed. You’ll usually catch them lounging on their “Castle Tower” until they see someone and then they come running. Our Barnyard crew makes sure each animal feels special, by naming them all. Yes, all 30 are named!

Peacocks are one of the most sought-after animals to see at our Barnyard.  We have 18 of these birds with breathtaking feathers.  The main reason they span their feathers is to attract females.  Our peacocks are what we refer to as “free-range.”  We’ve tried to pin them up in fields before, but they end up escaping because they can fly so high.  They’ve earned their right to roam The Barnyard as they please these days.

Next up -mini horses and donkeys.  We have 5 mini horses and 4 donkeys.  Most of them have lived at our farm for about 4 years or more.  Their short stature makes them a perfect petting zoo animal.

By far our most popular animals to see at our farm are our 1.5-year-old Steer, Huckleberry, and our two new calves- Finn and Sawyer. Huckleberry joined our farm when he was only 2 months old weighing in at just 35 pounds. He now weighs over 1,000 pounds. Most days you’ll catch him lying in the shade in his field taking a nap. He also loves to play with his toys. I know, crazy right?  Toys for a cow? Yep, this guy is quite spoiled by The Barnyard crew. The 2 newest babies are now 3 months old.  Eventually, they will be in the same field as Huckleberry, but for now, they are kept separate.

Our animals are located at The Barnyard, which also turns into the Pumpkin Patch in the fall every year. To see these guys, check in at the market, and take a scenic hayride down to them. For more info on the pumpkin patch and to get tickets click here.