ABOUT ME

My Background

My entire life so far has been in Agriculture. I was raised & worked on a dairy farm as a boy and when older married and began our own dairy farm.

Along with my wife Jeanne and our two children we ran a very modern and highly productive Holstein herd of 80 milking cows. We farmed 800 acres under crop every year. This career saw a 30 year span. Throughout those years both Jeanne and I were involved as leaders for many 4H Clubs. I was also on the Holstein Club for many years as a director. I am currently the Chairperson for the Horse Plowing Committee for the Hastings County Plowing Match. I competitive plow at the Hastings Match as well as around Ontario at other county matches and at the International Match as time allows. Below, plowing in North Bay at the IPM 2019 with Molly  Mules "Patsy and Tammy."

Throughout the years we raised and showed Registered Belgian Draft Horses. This led us to many horse shows around the province and sales of off spring (foals) to eastern and western Canada and several U.S. states. Photo's below: first is one of our favorites "Reign" being shown at the Essa show in Barrie Ontario, and the other is showing a team of mares, "Sheba and Cleo" back in 2004 at the NABC in London Ontario.

A few years ago we traded in our dairy herd for a beef herd, pigs and chickens. We turned our milkhouse into a retail store where we sold Home Raised Black Angus Beef, Heritage Pork, Farm Fresh Eggs and Fresh Vegetables all raised naturally.

Along with this new adventure in farming we made the decision to tackle the farm work with old fashioned horse power when time allows. We maintain a fairly sustainable life style. We farm many less acres, grow and raise a lot of what we eat. Canning, freezing, preserving naturally grown food.

Although many ideas are still in the works we had great success farming with our Belgian Horses and Mules. This approach has led us to teach seminars at home on a one-on-one basis for others wishing to do the same, and to teach students as far away as Lancaster, P.A. at Horse Progress Days. We were also invited to speak at their seminar on Horse Farming Practices.

These days we Real Estate full time and continue to "down size" to a more manageable Homestead Farm for two people and continue to grow, raise and produce most of our own food.

We enjoy our two children, their spouses and the grandkids. All love the farm and some help us out with chores for the beef cows, pigs, chickens and horses as well as field work. They have a great time 4 wheeling, going for horse drawn sleigh/wagon rides and all the neat things you can do on a farm.