Stay Informed

Silver Valley Farms, located in Crawfordsville, Indiana, is a small sheep farm dedicated to selling its locally raised lamb to the community. Owners Wendy and Scott Feller do this year-round through a market they own in partnership with other farmers.

The Fellers, who are third-generation farmers, annually raise more than 90 lambs on pasture without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones. Their flock includes Hampshire, Border Leicester and Polypay sheep.  They use rotational grazing to ensure the farm fits each sheep’s nutritional needs. In addition, the Fellers produce their own hay for sheep to consume during the winter months.

They sell their wool and meat directly to consumers through the Four Seasons Local Market in Crawfordsville. They also sell to caterers, restaurants and local food service providers.

The idea for a market developed during a meeting of four families around a dining room table in November 2016. They had been discussing how to best reach summer market consumers the rest of the year. Four Seasons has been located in downtown Crawfordsville since then. Inside the market is a variety of farm-fresh meats such as lamb, beef and chicken, all sold directly from the farmers.

“There are certainly challenges. With lamb, the big challenge is having a consistent supply of quality lamb throughout the year,” Scott Feller said. “Lambs are typically born in the late winter, early spring in the Midwest, and so if you’re only having lambs once a year, it’s hard to supply quality for 12 months.” Therefore, the family has adapted its operation so that ewes lamb multiple times a year to always have lambs ready for market.

Also involved in the Four Seasons Local Market are INFB members:

• Mills Livestock, owned by Don and Bonnie Mills and their son and his wife, Joe and Kelly, which raises Black Angus beef.
• Shady Rail Bakery & Catering, which produces homemade baked goods. It’s owned by Patrick and Jen Beasley.
• Shannon Family Farms, operated by Jonathan and Kelly Shannon, which raises goats, pigs, chickens and cattle.

In addition to locally produced meat, the store offers bakery items, homemade ice cream, coffee, honey, syrup and frozen meals. Wendy Feller sells her own collection of wool yarn that comes directly from her flock. She hand-dyes all of the yarn sold at the store.

“Really, anything that you can grow in Indiana, we do our best to stock that,” Feller said.