Stoney Heights Farm

Thank you for visiting Stoney Heights Farm Online!  We'd like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about ourselves and the development of our farm.

We are David and Billie Hallman, along with our four children, Samuel, Shiphrah, Solomon, and Shiloh.  You may notice that our children and our farm all share the initials, "SH".  This is intentional.  While the name "Stoney Heights" accurately describes the limestone hill on which we are located, we also wanted to give it a name that will signify its dedication to our children, and the lifestyle we wish to provide for them.

So how did we get here?  Our land was given to us as a wedding present by Billie's mom, Jane, in December of 1999.  It has taken a lot of work to get this land from the overgrown jungle that it was then to where it is today.  There is still much work to be done to get it where we want it, but we are enjoying the journey. 

Over the years we have become increasingly aware of-and disenchanted with-the level of stewardship over both land and animals that is practiced by our nation's major food producers, as well as the quality of food they are producing as a result.  We decided that we want something different for our family.  Because God has blessed us with the land resources to do something about it, however small in scope, it is our desire to spread health beyond our own dinner table through sensible farming practices.

In 2007, we decided to begin our farming adventure with chickens.  While we were busily reading up on chickens, Jane went ahead and bought some!  At the same time, we were introduced to a local herd of Nubian Dairy Goats, fell in love with them, and decided to jump into the goat adventure sooner rather than later.  Shortly after embarking upon our second year of life with dairy goats, we were blessed to have the opportunity to expand our herd to include Alpine Dairy Goats.  A small herd of six goats from Soldier Mountain Alpines made the trek from Idaho to Tennessee in September of 2009.  We are most grateful to Albert and Tracy Stampke for entrusting us with these lovely animals!  We quickly fell in love with Alpines' loving personalities, gorgeous colors, superior conformation, rich, abundant milk, and decided to sell our Nubians and focus our efforts on the Alpine breed.  We were very pleased to have found wonderful new homes for our Nubian friends!  You can read more about them on our Reference page.

We hope to continue to learn and grow as we expand our farming operations in the years ahead.  We hope to participate in Linear Appraisals in 2010 as a means of gaining an objecive evaluation of our goats and to further help us plan our herd management and breedings.  We also desire to begin participating in the American Dairy Goat Association's Dairy Herd Improvement Program as an added means of knowing how to best manage our herd.  Herd health is of the utmost importance to us.  We purchased all of our stock from CAE free farms, and our goats remain CAE negative.  Additionally, we are in a TB and Brucellosis Free State, and have not had an abcess in any of our goats. 

In the future, it is our desire that our children each take on a farming project of their own, be it honey bees, rabbits, their own garden, meat goats, etc.  We want to see them learn and grow in fruitfuless in their labors, just as we want to see our land be fruitful and productive. 

We hope you enjoy your online visit with us and will take the opportunity to visit us in person, too!  We can be reached at:

593 Rogues Fork Road

Bethpage, Tennessee 37022

dbhallman@nctc.com

(615) 841-3806

You are also welcome to read about and view the daily goings-on here via our blog.