From Chickens to Sheep — How Riverview Ranch Grew Naturally

If you had told us a few years ago that we would someday be raising sheep, pigs, meat chickens, and laying hens on our property, we probably would have laughed.

Riverview Ranch didn’t begin with a grand business strategy.

It evolved naturally.

Like many people, we started with chickens.

Some of our longtime Riverview Pet Lodge clients might even remember those early days when we first introduced our little flock. We actually invited clients to help us name some of the chickens.

One of them was named Betty White.

There was only one problem.

As Betty White grew up, we eventually discovered that Betty… was a rooster.

Today, “Betty” isn’t around, but he is the father of our current rooster.

That pretty much captures the early spirit of Riverview Ranch: learning as we go.

At the time, our property was still home to two horses named Doc and Maggie. They had been part of the property for years and were deeply loved by both our family and many of our Riverview clients. Customers would stop to pet them, take photos with them, and ask about them regularly.

When Doc and Maggie eventually passed on, we grieved that loss.

But it also opened a new chapter.

We suddenly had usable pasture space, and that led us to ask a simple question:

What if we used this land differently?

The next step came through a friend who needed a temporary home for a bottle-fed ram. That one animal became our first experience with electric fencing, rotational grazing, and caring for sheep.

Soon after, we purchased a few ewes and started experimenting with different breeds.

Then came pigs.

Then meat chickens & chicken tractors.

Then all the lessons that come with ranch life.

None of it happened overnight.

Every new step felt more like an experiment than a business move. We kept asking ourselves:

Can we sustainably do this?

Do we enjoy it?

Does this fit our family?

The surprising answer kept becoming “yes.”

Even more surprising was how naturally our Riverview Pet Lodge community embraced it.

People would slowly drive down the driveway to look at the sheep. Clients would ask questions about the pigs. Dogs would bark at the chickens in the pasture.

Instead of feeling disconnected from our existing business, the ranch actually felt aligned with it.

It felt like an extension of the life we were already building.

And that’s probably the best way to describe Riverview Ranch.

It didn’t appear all at once.

It grew naturally.

One animal, one lesson, and one season at a time.