The Richardson family has been involved in farming for several generations.  We are conservation minded in our farming efforts (see "Conservation Tillage") and care deeply about the health and well-being of our animals.  All of our livestock are in large open

areas/pastures and are free to interact with each other.

We grind our own pig feed from grain raised on the farm.  The corn is raised using the conservation tillage techniques (see the above link).

We currently have four different varieties of layer chickens on our farm.  These layers are the ones that produce such wonderful eggs.  The right image is our new layers that were purchased in the Spring of 2006.  The left image is the same layers at approximately 1 month of age.

 We also constructed a "Chicken Tractor" for our layers.  This "Chicken Tractor" enables the layers to graze "in the field" on oats, wheat, etc. enabling them to naturally forage for food and to get some exercise.  As you can see from the picture to the right, the "Chicken Tractor" has left tracks where it has been.

Our chickens love to dig around in the pastures while eating nutritious grasses!

Here is an image of our farm pigs.  They are all taking an afternoon nap in a deep bed of straw.  What a life!!

Still used on the farm is an old grain drill.  This grain drill was Jim's grandfathers that he farmed with many many years ago.  It is called a Vanburen grain drill.  This shows how many generations have been in farming and used this machine to raise grain.  May look old, but works as good as a new one.  It even has handwriting from Jim's grandfather under the lids to indicate what settings to put the drill in for certain crops.  There have now been 4 generations that have used this grain drill.