Ivywest Farm

Golden Retriever Puppies

Pastured Pigs

Pastured Chickens

Ivywest Farm

The Farm: Ivywest Farm is a small family farm with a big dream. Our aim is to live responsibly and to produce a large portion of what we eat on our land. Right now our farm consists of:

Golden Retrievers,

dual purpose chickens,

Black Angus steers,

heritage breeds of pastured pigs,

an American Cattle Dog mix,

a handful of barn cats and

a small vegetable garden.

In addition to feeding ourselves we are interested in sharing our menu with our friends, neighbors, and the greater community. Support your local farmer by letting us know if we have something you would be interested in trying!

A little background of Ivywest Farm:

We bought our farm in 2009 from my Grandparents who had lived here for the last 40 years. Several years ago my Grandparents had cleared some land for pasture for horses. We are transitioning the land to suit a larger variety of farm animals. The transition began with reclaiming a chicken coop. Then came the pigs and the cows. Our intention is to raise our animals in a manner that is good for the land and the animals, and in return will produce a higher quality of meat. Our farm is growing and we are in the process of defining our direction!

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Golden Retriever Puppies

Ivywest Golden Retrievers

Show Quality for Your Home

Available Puppies! (click here)

Ivywest Golden Puppies:

ALL PUPPIES HAVE HOMES!

Lady began having her puppies at 3:44am on October 5, 2011. At 11:12am she delivered her tenth and last pup. She had 4 males and 6 females. This litter will be available to take home beginning the first week of December 2011. Please contact Ivywest Farm if you are interested in one of Lady's puppies. We are currently taking deposits to reserve a male or female puppy. After the puppies are 6-7 weeks old and have had their first immunizations you will be able to visit and select the puppy of your choice. If for any reason you change your mind and do not want a puppy you will get a full refund of your deposit.

AKC Registration:

This litter has been registered by the American Kennel Club. Included in the packet of information and literature that each puppy goes home with will be registration papers for your individual dog.

Puppy Health and Guarantees:

Ivywest Goldens are dewormed at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. At 6-7 weeks the puppies will visit our local veterinarian for a full physical and their first vaccinations. I guarantee that the vet has completed a thorough health check with 100% good results on your puppy before going home. I do require that you visit your vet within three days of picking up your puppy. Although you will have record from my vet, it is important to see your vet and set up puppy visits. Your puppy will need important booster shots that your vet can schedule.

The pedigrees of the sire and dam of your puppy have no known hereditary health problems. I offer a 2 year Health Guarantee for each puppy when it goes home. If by the age of 2 years your puppy does have a debilitating hereditary problem that will cause the puppy/dog to die or be put down, I will replace the puppy with one from my next litter. I do stipulate that if you want the health guarantee you have to supplement your puppy/dog with NuVet vitamins.

Taking home an Ivywest Golden Retriever Puppy:

We feel there in no better dog for your family than a well-bred Golden Retriever. We want our puppies to go to great homes where they will receive all of the love and care they need. If you are interested in an Ivywest Golden, we will ask you questions about your home life and how much time you will have to be with your newest family member to ensure a good, safe home for each puppy. Ivywest Goldens are available for $1000 to pet homes. Please inquire if you are interested in full registration/breeding rights.

Sibling Love

First Puppy!

Such a good Momma!

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The Dam

Heritage Rock Gold Rush "Lady" of Ivywest (the Dam):

Here at Ivywest Farm the Golden Retriever reigns queen! 'Heritage Rock Gold Rush "Lady" of Ivywest' has all of the ideal qualities Golden's are know for; a loyal an gentle temperment, and an eager to please demeanor. I can hardly say I trained Lady because she seemed to instictively know not to jump, she learned to sit in a matter of minutes, she understood what "stay" meant, and the rest just fell into place! She is a perfect family dog and her highest ambition is to please her people ...well, that and to retrieve tennis balls! Our one year old son can share sticks with Lady and crawl all over her and she is just as happy and as gentle as can be. In addition to excellent obediance and personality, Lady comes from a line of breeding that emphasizes the best golden health. We rest assured knowing that everything has been done in breeding practices to deliver a sound dog that has the best chances of a long, healthy life with our family.

Lady's Pedigree:

Lady comes from a very desirable line of Golden Retrievers. Her father, 'Gold Rush Shel Be My Teddy Bear', and her mother, 'Gold-Rush Ogenya of Heritage Rock', have both passed the Canine Good Citizen test as well as the tests required to be Therapy Dogs. Lady's pedigree includes numerous Hall of Fame awarded dogs, Best in Shows, and many obediance titles! It's no wonder Lady exhibits such wonderful behavior and personality. We expect her puppies to have the same honored qualities as their elders.

Heritage Rock Gold Rush "Lady" of Ivywest

The Sire

Woodlands Duke (the Sire):

Duke is a teddy bear of a Golden! He is a gentle giant, wonderfully kind and loving to his mother, and just an overgrown lap dog. Duke is very much a pleaser and can not stand to be scolded! Duke lives a few miles away from Ivywest Farm with his mother and caretakers. His family is very dedicated to the Golden breed.

Duke's Pedigree:

Duke comes from a long line of winning Golden Retrievers. He, like Lady, has been bred to ensure the best qualities of the breed; in appearance, health, and personality.

Woodlands "Duke"

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Photos of Lady and Duke

Pastured Pigs

Pastured Pigs

Ruby's Piglets in the Barn

Gloustershire Old Spots

Pigs grazing

Weaners

Dirty snout

Warm and Cozy with Momma

A small family herd

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The Pig Life:

We raise heritage breeds of pigs on open pasture, complete with hog wallows and mud ponds, where they are free to root and graze and fully explore their piggy-ness. In addition to foraging for food daily, our pigs enjoy a free-choice, locally grown and milled feed to ensure proper nutrition and growth. Our pigs live naturally as a family herd and are given daily doses of affection and tender loving care. This way of life is not only more humane than the commercial pork industry, but it also produces more nutritious meat with no need for hormones or antibiotics and is better for the environment.

Pork:

We raise our pigs on a small scale. Our current goal is to maintain three breeding sows, which would produce six litters of piglets per year. We sell the majority of our weaned piglets to other local farms and there they are grown out and sold as pork to local restaurans and food co-ops. From each litter we select any given amount of pigs to keep and grow to produce pork for ourselves and our friends and neighbors. Please let us know if you're interested in buying pork from us so we can plan accordingly. We typically have retail cuts of pork to sell as supplies last, in addition to whole and half hogs. Please click on the .pdf under the slideshow for prices and more information.

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Pastured Chickens

Ivywest Chickens

Chicken Life:

Our chickens have three different living arrangements depending on our needs. One- they have a permanant coop with a large outdoor penned area. Two- they have a chicken tractor (a movable coop) with a run attached to use when we need concentrated "fertilizer". Three- we use the chicken tractor minus the run to move the chickens in the pastures following the pigs in order to spread the manure and kill any parasite populations. In each setting the hens have nest boxes to lay their eggs, they have an indoor area to roost at night that can be closed to protect them from predators, and they have ample outdoor area to forage and exploit thier chicken-ness. To ensure nutrition and egg shell quality the chickens always have access to locally grown and milled feed in addition to the greens and bugs they enjoy.

The Breeds:

We raise mainly Buff Orpington chickens due to their excellent ability to lay large brown eggs all year and to produce large bodied carcasses for meat. These chickens are hardy, they forage well, and they are calm and docile. In addition to the Buffs we have a few Americaunas (for green eggs) and Pearl White Leghorns (for white eggs).

Eggs and Meat:

We sell eggs to Hunt Country Store and to friends and neighbors for $3.50/dozen. Please let us know if you'd like to try some!

We "put chicken in the freezer" on an as-needed basis. This means either as we need it or when there are too many roosters per hens. Currently we do not sell chicken to the general public, as we have no way to legally process them.

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Pasture Raised Beef

Coming Soon....

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Bits and Pieces of Ivywest Farm:

2.14.2012

28 New chicks arrived!

1.24.2012

Took steer to harvest.

12.14.2011

Sold Opal's and Ruby's piglets.

12.6.2011

Moved Ruby back to pasture/piglets weaned.

12.1-12.2011

All puppies (except ours!) went to their new homes.

11.23.2011

All 10 puppies to vet for first shots and physical.

11.15.2011

Moved Opal back to pasture/piglets weaned.

10.5.2011

Lady's puppies born!!

10.27.2011

Ruby's piglets born!!

10.6.2011

Took 3 hogs to harvest for wedding, BBQ, and personal.

10.4.2011

Opal's piglets born!!

9.26.2011

Moved Opal to the barn where she'll have her piglets.

9.24.2011

Finished building whelping box for Lady and her puppies.

9.10-9.17.2011

Vacation!

8.29.2011

Finished adding new electric fence line to the inside of the woven wire in the pig pasture.

8.22.2011

Pulled up old plants in garden and gave them to the chickens

8.16.2011

Finished constructing the new woven wire hog fence.

8.7.2011

Bred Lady!

7.21.2011

Adopted "Scout", an American Cattle Dog mix.

6.30.2011

"Rescued"/Adopted Albert, a Duroc pig.

6.28-7.22.2011

Picked 140lbs. of cucumbers from the garden!

6.18.2011

Started getting leftover raw Jersey cow milk from neighbor for pigs!

6.8.2011

Opal Bred!

6.7.2011

Purchased Glouster Old Spot Boar from friend in Ivy, VA.

5.20.2011

Bought two Black Angus steers from a friend in Greenwood, VA.

5.14.2011

Planted tomato, basil, squash, and pepper plants in garden. Planted cucumber and bean seeds.

4.28.2011

Buy a second deep freezer to hold meat ready to sell!

4,27.2011

Took 3 Hogs to Donald's Meat Processing in Lexington, Virginia

4.20.2011

Picked up feed... 700lbs of Hog and 100lbs of Chicken.

4.16.2011

Took Ruby to see the Boar ...again!

4.14.2011

Cooked our first pig in a pit, Hawaiian style!!!

3.30.2011

Tilled new garden space where we'll plant corn and edamame this year.

3.29.2011

Put up garden fence.

3.26.2011

Ruby in heat..meaning she is not pregnant :(

3.21.2011

Finished fencing new pasture for the pigs!

Began selling eggs to Hunt Country Store!!

3.18.2011

Took 3 piglets to Polyface to sell!

3.11.2011

Cleaned chicken coop and spread composted litter on new garden space.

3.9.2011

Picked up one ton of hog feed.

3.2.2011

Moved pigs onto new pasture!

3.1.2011

Drug fields.

Available Puppies