"Do you mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O'Hara, that Tara, that land doesn't mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin' for, worth fightin' for, worth dyin' for, because it's the only thing that lasts."
Gerald O'Hara, Gone with the Wind
Our Mission: We want to make the farm a sustainable operation, focusing on diversified grass-based livestock production. Our goal is to produce goats, sheep, cattle, poultry and eggs using no growth hormones and as little antibiotics and chemical medication as possible. We want our products to be healthy and our production methods to be environmentally friendly. From time to time, we'll be conducting tests of forages and management techniques and will be sharing the outcome of those tests with you - neighbors helping neighbors, even though our neighborhood is the entire world wide web.
Who we Are: We are the Bowmans, Stephenia and Ray. We have three daughters; Carly and Casy are married and off pursuing lives of their own. Etta's still at home, but doesn't spend much time around the farms due to school, work and other interests. Ray is past president of the Kentucky Goat Producers Association and currently serves on the KGPA board and edits their quarterly publication, Kentucky's Goat News. He was recently reappointed to the national goat committee of the American Sheep Industry Association and is presently on the producer review committee for a new handbook being published by the American Meat Goat Association and has served as one of the AMGA's Regional Coordinators. His newest challenge is organizing the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office. He was recently selected to be the office's first Executive Director.
Where we Are: The farms, totaling about 140 acres, are in Northern Franklin County - just a couple of miles from the Franklin-Henry county line. The two properties are adjoining and are divided by about a third of a mile of Flat Creek. KY 12 (Flat Creek Road) runs through the main farm. We're very close to the Kentucky River.
"I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman's cares."
George Washington