Farm Life

Meet the Crew

Gene and Stephanie have a background that lends easily to the staffing at Osher Farms; Gene is a retired Navy Vet and Stephanie retired from a career in Human Resources. They both have a strong belief that everyone should have a purpose and that includes our farm animals.

From our friendly chickens, to our hardworking cows, each and every animal on our farm is an important member of our family. We take great pride in providing them with the best possible care and creating a loving and healthy environment for them to thrive. Take a look and get to know the animals that make our products so special.

Farm animals at Osher Farms in Salem, OR

Cows in Training

Osher Farms works for over a year with a cow in training in order to prepare her for her new role as Cow; provider of calf and milk. When they leave the farm they have completed several goals including grain training, treat eating and stanchion walking. Each new Cow comes with a milking lesson and a smile.

Email us to reserve your Cow today!

Hens

Osher Farms has a variety of hens here at the farm, but we enjoy watching our very large hens peck and hunt all around the farm. Everybody knows that the hens provide eggs, as the campers here at the farm are part of our Farm Family and enjoy our organic free range eggs every day!

On the farm, the hens have another job; the work the dirt and cow poop in order to create compost for us. Where once was dry clay “soil” is now dark beautiful compost that we add to the garden beds. When we have extra, we welcome our campers to plant a greeting for the next as a living welcome book.

Roosters

The Roosters also have two jobs, but before I go into their roles, I need you to know that we do not have angry roosters on the farm. We have plenty of room for them to roam, and we keep a healthy ratio of hens to roosters in order to create a healthy environment for the flock.

Now to the Roos. They fertilize our eggs so that we can have more chicks! Pretty amazing. They also protect the hens from predators and this is why they get the bad rap. We have actually lost a Roo protecting his hens, so this is really what they do well. The last thing is, roo. And ours do. A lot. Some of our farm family are more sensitive than others and we do have earplugs for our camping family of course.

Cattle

First lets talk about the breed in general as it will explain a lot of what they do here on the farm. We choose Dexter cattle for several reasons inherent in their tri-use breed; They are natural foragers, easy birthers, half the size of an average cow and they can be milked without being tied to the cow! Now on to our cattle!

Osher Farms Cows have successfully given birth to our new herd-sire and heifer without any issues. This was their whole job! Now we are able to grow our “Oregon Longhorns”; Small sized, half Dexter and half Mini-Longhorn and just so beautiful.

The Heifers on the farm have never calved out, but right now they are eating and pooping to help amend that crazy cruddy clay soil and it’s working! This Spring we are hoping for a successful breeding season when Pop decides he is ready. Then they will graduate to Cows and find new home to begin their happy lives as small farm milk cows.

Kangals

We have two purebred Kangal doggies who work hard every day to guard our GenXHerd! Our farm family have learned to distinguish the warning barks and now we only move when Auntie Alpaca joins in. Otherwise, the girls have got it! They guard not only the cattle, but the chickens as well. Boots stays on a lead, but Wren is a free range doggie and greets all the farm family with a huge grin!

Auntie Alpaca

We have an Alpaca who runs with the herd on cattle. She is an integral part of our guardian team. She makes a high keening noise when she hears or sees a predator and then the cattle gather up around her. Otherwise, she is just a wonder to watch.