The Mitchell Ranch History

Dave and I were both raised on farms in Ohio. I was raised in Cambridge where I worked for a local veterinarian’s office and raised bottle baby calves through my high school years. I got on the bus at 7:00 so I had to have a dozen hungry baby calves fed by then. In the afternoon as soon as I got home from school my “babies” were ready to be fed again. When I first started raising the calves I had to carry feed and milk up a long hill to my barn to feed. After I finally got my license and a truck it made things much easier. After Dave and I got married we had a few animals here and there, but we both had vivid memories of how much work it was to care for them. So for the first few years of our marriage we focused on starting our own business Enterprise Engine Performance.

Dave

Dave was raised in Caldwell where his parents raised beef cattle and hogs. They also had some ponies and horses on the farm; most of which were taken in on trade by Dave’s dad so that people could pay off their bills at the family gas station. A few of the horses were wild mustangs that Dave’s mother adopted. Dave still tells stories about how it took all day to catch the pony you wanted to ride and how you’d better not let go of him or you’d have to do it all over again. All the Mitchell children grew up helping with a long list of chores and showing cattle at the local county fair. When Dave was not working on the family farm he was helping out his Dad at the station.

Family

Once we started having children, we realized how important it was for our children to have animals. We looked past all the work that was involved in caring for them; we realized how much we had actually learned from living on a farm and raising animals. We realized that what we used to think of as hard, boring, time consuming work actually helped make us who we are today. We realized that growing up on a farm taught us about responsibility, love, respect, life, death and so MUCH MORE! We knew we had to give our children the same opportunity.

So in 2001 we bought Jen and Becky each a horse and from there we have grown into the farm that we have today.

Three years ago Dave told me about a Live Nativity that his home church had when he was a little boy. We talked a little about it and then dropped the idea. Now we own three camels, a team of oxen, sheep, goats, donkeys, chickens and much more. You’ll have to ask us how God worked in our lives to bring each of these animals to us.

If you would have asked us 20 years ago when we got married if we would ever have a working farm you would gotten a firm “no”. Ask us now: “We never know what to expect; God has big plans and we’re only along for the ride!”

Now that you know a little about us stop by and visit. There’s no better stress reliever than the four legged “fur balls” the run around our farm and long for attention.