Lamb Farming in South Dakota with Peterson 601 Homestead!
- Lamb Farming in South Dakota with Peterson 601 Homestead! HomeFront Sitrep 1:21:13
We started the Peterson 601 Homestead in DEC 2017 after we both got out of the Military and started a family. We purchased the small Homestead adjacent to LacyJaymes Parents small sheep ranch where we bought out Lacy’s parents Sheep Herd and leased the ground . 601 Homestead began . We started off in a small conventional AG model taking lambs to the sale barn to be fed by some big feedlot and enter into the mainstream US Lamb market , we also began to sell Commercial Hampshire Breeding Rams & Suffolk Cross Breeding Rams . We have always been a meat breed Sheep operation . We began Investing in good quality livestock to grow our numbers and hone in on what we were truly passionate about. A superb high quality easy going US Lamb Carcass. We built our own walk in cooler and began butchering all our own Lamb meat and pork for our families needs and really saw the truth of our “carcass ” which helped us develop our sheep program.
In about 2020 we began realizing when we were getting more involved with our Sheep business how hard it is for first time farmers & AG producers to actually get set up into a sheep program . This is when we began offering Veteran /Military Discounts on high quality Commercial South African Meat Merino + Hampshire Breeding livestock . In hopes to support Veterans & those currently serving to get a leg up in one of the most crucial and important ways of life in the US.
Also through my long time mentorship with the US Retail Lamb & Meat Breed Sheep producers The Kitzan Family Farms Mrs Gwen Kitzan began to encourage me and help make a way for us to begin to branch out into direct farm to table Lamb meat sales and break into the retail Lamb world. Here we are today , offering beautiful healthy cuts of USDA Inspected retail Lamb meat . We haul our Lambs twice a year to Bear Mountain Beef in Hawk Springs WY a Veteran Friendly and supportive employer I love knowing that a guy I served with in Wyoming’s family is directly benefiting from us choosing to have our lambs butchered there . We always offer a 15% Veterans discount on all Lamb Meat & Breeding livestock . It’s so important for us to give back to Veterans by offering healthful , hearty proteins , livestock ,,baked goods , produce & cut flowers . We have a true passion for Agriculture & the American way of life. We were selected to take part of the USDA ‘s LFPA (local food purchase assistance program ) that purchases our Lamb at wholesale ish costs and distributes it in the local community that we live in that is a heavy Veteran community . We hope in the future through our Peterson 601 Homestead to develop a strong Veteran Community to support and encourage one another , to serve through The American Legion ( we belong to Post 33 in Sturgis SD ) and by hosting Chislic Lamb Feeds & Fellowship and inviting other South Dakota Veterans to come ruck the hills with us throw ok a pack and have a fun time with friends.
