Our StoryFrom a 4-H project to a way of life.
Our journey began as our girls started showing animals in the local 4-H program. We became the Fun-EE Farm at that time, as we chose animal breeds that were "different" than the norm — with a desire to bring something new for people to see and enjoy. With all the different breeds and types of animals on the homestead, the girls decided we should be named the Fun-EE Farm.
At that time we lived on three acres of land, but we maximized it to its full potential. Our master bathroom garden tub was never used for restful baths — but it raised plenty of chickens, ducks, and bottle baby goats over the years. We raised heritage red wattle pigs, runner ducks, chickens, rabbits, and dairy and Boer goats, plus a few animals purely for entertainment, like our myotonic fainting goat, Sideways, and the pot-belly pigs, Jasper and Miss Piggy.
Toward the end of the girls' 4-H years, we joined the dairy beef cattle program — and that's where the cattle started. We began with three the first year and offered freezer beef locally to gauge interest. It was a success, so the next year we ran five, and the year after that, seven.
In 2021, we got to truly live our dream. We moved to a 20-acre farm in Waveland, Indiana. For years, Nettie had wanted Longhorn cattle — it had become a running joke between her and Phil, who once brought home a plastic toy Longhorn from the farm store and, another year, gave her a set of mounted horns as an anniversary gift. But she never gave up. She researched the breed and shared every finding with Phil: their endless colors and patterns, their docile nature, their lean and healthy beef.
"We now have a true breeding stock of all registered Longhorns — with plenty of promise in the years to come."
We bought our first two cows with calves at side, then made a trip to Missouri for a young bull and two heifer calves. The following year we purchased the rest of that first herd. In 2024, the Fun-EE Farm became what it is today — a herd dispersal brought us a second bull, Jest Hangin' Tuff. Where Prince carries the wild-type gene and gives us amazingly colored calves, Tuffy adds height and horn to their offspring. Together, they are the heart of our breeding program.
