Mary & Herb Tucker
P.O. Box 85
8885 Daggett Hollow
West Clarksville, NY 14786
Phone: 585-928-1721
Email: mary@lighthousesheepfarm.com
The above picture was taken in 2005 at Stillmeadow Finnsheep where we purchased our first two registered Finn rams, Sulton and Yukon. We began building Lighthouse Farm, Mary’s official DBA, in July 2005. Mary had grown up having sheep and missed not having them so this was the beginning of fulfilling her dream of having sheep again. Herb on the other hand is a biologist who spent most of his career in education and industry and until now never wanted anything to do with farming. His early contributions had nothing to do with sheep which in his mind were white and looked like Dorset. While Herb began to learn about sheep he was able to exercise his abilities to build fence, feeders and shelters, clear pasture that had been fallow for 20 years and develop the business and accounting side of the farm.
Below is our son Will who was eight when we began the farm. He now owns several sheep that he purchased himself, In the photo he is holding a lamb from his registered Icelandic ewe Una. He like his Dad, is learning about sheep while helping with the mundane side of farming like feeding, cleaning barns as well as helping Dad clear pastures.
We entered our fifth year of farming in July 2010 and are still on the learning curve. With the help friends who raise sheep, people we have met, mostly on line, that raise Shetland, Finn, Dorset and Icelandic sheep, the various breed organizations and our Vets at Lakewood Veterinary Services in Rushford, NY we have made it through both the good and the hard times and look forward to bringing our plans to fruition.
Besides being challenging and heart breaking at times we have found sheep to one of nature’s greatest stress releasers. Many of our sheep come by name and enjoy attention. You can go out to the pasture, sit down and be surround by sheep just looking for attention. Many of the sheep wag their tails like a dog with the attention, this is especially true of our Finnsheep. Spending some time like this just melts the stress away and strengthens the bond between the Shepherd/Shepherdess and the flock.