OUR STORY
From our herd to yours!
Allen Farms is a year-round Farm that offers locals a variety of fresh farm beef, produce, fresh-made items, and family friendly events. We specialize in fresh beef, but offer customers so much more.
At Allen Farms we feel incredibly lucky that we get to do what we love. We’d love for you to take part in the Allen Farms experience. For more information, get in touch!
CHASING DREAMS AND RAISING CATTLE
In 2019, at the age of 37, I thought all of our dreams were about to come true! We inherited a 120 acre farm that we had zero intentions of keeping. Becoming a cattle farmer was the last thing on my mind! Our only goal was to sell this farm and use that money to build our dream home. So the work began. This farm, originally called the Todd Place, had seen better days. The fields were overgrown. The barns were in rough shape. The road sides were so grown up that you couldn’t tell where the fences were.
We wanted to move quickly. We inherited the farm in June and planned to hold a public auction in less than two months! We began to spend every free minute cleaning this farm up. It was so satisfying to see the neglected fence rows get some much needed TLC. In fact, it was so satisfying that the thought began to run through my head: why are we selling this place? But immediately that thought was met with: Because I have no clue how to be a farmer!!
But I couldn’t shake the idea. So I prepared my argument and presented it to my wife, Amy. I expected Amy to be 100% against this idea. But, when I told her my idea, she simply said……OK. Whatever you want to do. 😳
So now the farm is no longer for sale. Instead, we invested in a tractor and cows! I’m now a cattle farmer! Now what? Quickly, I found out that a cow/calf operation wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy the idea of selling calves at the stockyards and pray they would make a profit. I realized that I could control the whole selling process by selling frozen cuts of beef. Not just to make more money, to combine many of my passions! I love BEEF!! I love STEAK!!
It took 18 months for the first calf to be ready to harvest. I fed this calf the best quality feed I could buy. I also fed it a mixture of alfalfa hay, along with orchard grass and heavy clover. I was a nervous wreck waiting to get this first round of fresh beef back. When we did, I cooked a steak that evening, almost sick with nervousness about the quality. This was probably the most tender steak I had ever ate! I cut it with a fork. And the flavor and marbling was great!! This beef was awesome!!
Was it a fluke? The next beef was finished the exact same way. And it was just as good or better than the first beef. We can do this! Now we are full swing into selling fresh freezer beef!
I love beef. So I decided to sell beef. Then it dawned on me that there’s many things we make and love that would fit under the farms umbrella. We started selling things like beef jerky, beer cheese, and other canned goods. The response was greater than I could ever have imagined!
When we first inherited the farm, I joked that we should turn it into a pumpkin patch/farm experience. One day in 2020, while bush hogging a 22 acre hayfield that failed to produce quality hay, I remembered the idea of a “pumpkin patch”. That idea quickly turned to a dream and a passion! I have spent the better part of a year planning and preparing to open our farm to the community!
Fall Days at Allen Farms may be the scariest thing I’ve ever done. It’s also the hardest I’ve ever worked. But we cannot wait to open our farm up to your family! And we hope it doesn’t stop there. We are already planning Fall Nights, Christmas Days, and Summer Days at Allen Farms.
At age 37, being a cattle farmer was the furthest thing from my mind. Two years later, this opportunity has turned into my passion, my dream, and my life’s work. I cannot wait to share our passion and products with your family!
Kenny Allen
