Stephanie's Story

Stephanie's prior farming experience is limited to one summer moving irrigation line and one high school horticulture class. Stephanie is a tiny desert town girl who grew up loving the wide-open spaces of the Nevada desert. She was looking for wide open spaces and the freedom that comes with that, a place where her two youngest children could explore, create, roam, and discover when she became an accidental Google farmer.

It all started with those darn hens her mother bought. Get some backyard chickens, they say; it will be fun, and you will love them. But what they don't tell you is that they are gateway animals. They lead you right down the path of "these eggs taste better than store-bought eggs." What else is better when you raise it yourself? Especially when you just bought five acres in a farm town. 

First, Stephanie bought a few dairy goats, but her family doesn't like goat's milk, and a couple of lambs for the kid to show at the stock show, so why not try a steer? Stephanie purchased the next bottle-baby calf she found. That steer produced the best beef her family had ever eaten. She also knew where it came from, what it ate, and how it was cared for. The family was all in. And the steer eats the hay that the goats shake out of their feeders on the ground.

For the next stock show, her daughter chose to show goats. Her daughter purchased a boer buck (male goat) to breed with the meat goat doe (female goat) we already owed. She did a great job, and Stephanie's father bought one of her goats at the livestock sale (a whole different story). Someone had to eat it; that was the first time we tried goat meat. We found it delicious, and our doctor told her it was better for us than chicken. Stephanie sold a few to customers who already liked goat meat and got a positive response. She realized she could share her love of goat meat with others, so Loder's Meat Company began.

With no experience with livestock raising, Stephanie has developed her skill set and knowledge of livestock care with the help of some trusted friends with years of goat experience, farming neighbors who are always willing to help and share their knowledge, her husband and children help a lot, and Google. Stephanie continues to learn and grow her knowledge and skill set and is excited to learn more about regenerative farming practices and implement them on the farm.