Red Willow Farms
I grew up as an unconventional multi-generational rancher, now with my own acreage. I’m maximizing the land potential, while instilling the values and ethics, in my children, from generations past.
I was raised in Arizona on an acre in the city. To the city kids we were country to my extended family we were city. My mom was raised on a 5,000-acre prominent cattle ranch in Northeastern New Mexico, Flat Iron Salers. She met my Arizona raised father at Eastern New Mexico University majoring in Agriculture Business. Here, enters my “unconventional” or “detoured” multi-generational ranch family. As young as I can remember my dad did everything, he could recreate a ranch mentality for my mom and my four siblings on a firefighters/upholsters budget in the city. I will never forget the Christmas he bought my mom a horse and rode it down the streets of the city to surprise her and us!
Flat Iron Salers
As a kid I spent my summers thinking I was a ranch master doing the most important jobs. Vaccinating cattle, fixing fence, placing well pipe, fixing fence, counting cattle, fixing fence, branding cattle, fixing fence.
My grandparent’s ranches in Northeastern New Mexico have a long history of homesteading. My grandfather grew up in Roy, New Mexico at their family home located on the farm, his grandfather, Benjamin Cole homesteaded in the early 1900’s. His paternal great grandparents J. W. and Mary Arnold also homesteaded near Roy in La Cinta Canyon in the 1880’s. My Grandparents frequently experimented with different breeds of cattle. They were the premiere breeder of Salers in NM and were featured in the 1986 New Mexico Stockman magazine. I spent my summers there off and on learning and soaking in every bit of information about the rancher’s way of life.
Heritage Hereford Farms
I remember my dad telling me he was on his way to Texas to pick up his first few miniature Herefords. I had no idea you could make cattle miniature. Little did I know I would follow in his footsteps.
In 2012 my dad (Dino) traveled to Fort Davis, Texas to purchase his first miniature Herefords from the Largent family to establish his breeding program. Mini Herefords consume about 1/3 the amount of feed as does a regular size beef cow. This makes Miniature Herefords a great candidate for farms/ranches limited on pasture space. Heritage Hereford Farms values quality production over quantity; with traits including maintaining muscle, volume, udder quality and performance. With the same values in mind, I partnered with Heritage Hereford Farms to establish my own herd in 2015 and Red Willow Farms was created. Since then, Heritage Hereford Farms has experimented with Miniature Hereford lineage and cross breeds.
Red Willow Farms
It was important for me to create a farm name that was special to my family and myself.
My Husband grew up on the farm we were able to purchase in 2021. It has this amazing iconic red barn that’s been there for at least 80 years, I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. I can’t tell you how many people stop to take a picture of our barn it really is a special structure in the Pine River Valley. It’s where the inspiration for the “Red” came from! The “Willow” in the farm name derived from our favorite place on earth, Willow Park. Willow Park is located way back in the wilderness where my husband spent a lot of his childhood horseback riding and hunting. There is no other way to describe it other than “God’s Country” it is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. Now we raise our children on our small farm, with our small cows, lots of chickens, big gardens and bigger dreams.
