About Us
Our Story
We purchased our farm in 1999. At the time, we had no intention of running a business. We intended to grow our own beef, raise a garden and enjoy country living. As we began to raise beef, we found that our family liked it and wanted some for themselves. The word began to spread about how tasty our beef was. Soon, we had families asking for it, so we gradually turned our focus on not only raising healthy beef for ourselves, but for others as well. We have 100 acres in the rolling hills of Kentucky. We have natural springs that we use to water our cattle.
We purchased our farm in 1999. At the time, we had no intention of running a business. We intended to grow our own beef, raise a garden and enjoy country living. As we began to raise beef, we found that our family liked it and wanted some for themselves. The word began to spread about how tasty our beef was. Soon, we had families asking for it, so we gradually turned our focus on not only raising healthy beef for ourselves, but for others as well. We have 100 acres in the rolling hills of Kentucky. We have natural springs that we use to water our cattle.
Our Background
Over 20 years, ago my family moved from Oregon back to our roots in the heartland of Kentucky. We all grew up on a farm, but as we graduated high school, we had different plans for our futures. I wanted to be a space scientist. I was planning to attend the Air Force Academy, but changed direction the very last minute and started in WKU in 1979. It was during this time at Western that I met the love of my life, Tina Baum. I was a junior and she was in her second year of college with a biology major. We got married in June of 1985. We were planning to stay in college for her to finish her degree, but life happens. I took a job in Delaware and our adventure together began.
We ended up coming back to Bowling Green a year and a half later for her to finish her bachelor's degree in Biology while I finished my MS in Chemistry. Did I say that she was very smart and very beautiful...inside and out. She got offered the ARCO fellowship at OSU, the only female to receive this fellowship to this date. Her Ph.D. was in Recombinant Genetics. So, the adventure continued to the other side of the US of A, far away from everything and everybody we knew. She did very well and was earning respect from her colleges. However, she could not see herself being a research professor and having children. I did not see it that way, at first. “We moved out here for you to get your Ph.D. and that is what you need to do”. This is the first of many lessons that she taught me over the years. There is nothing more important than family. She ended her quest for a Ph.D. and we got started. I was working as a Controls Engineer when she was pregnant with our first and was out of town doing a presentation to the Bureau of Reclamation for a Controls Project...when my baby beeper went off. I immediately ended my meeting and went to the hospital. We had three children pretty close together. We were never early for church anymore. Someone always had a poopy diaper when we went anywhere. We loved living in Oregon, camping in the mountains, skiing and going to the ocean. It is a very beautiful area.
We got the news that Tina’s dad had got diagnosed with cancer. We thought it best that we needed to move back home so we and the kids could spend as much time with him as possible. We both had the same idea of buying a farm and living off the land.
This was 1998. The year 2000 Y2K was getting near and there was some unknown what was going to happen during the transition between 1999-2000. Best to be prepared...right. We looked for over a year for a farm in Kentucky. When we got to the last real estate farm listing that we would review, we both fell in love with the farm that is now called Spring Hills Farm. We arrived in Barren county in January of 1999. Our adventure continues. We wanted to be self-sufficient. We had a creek, woods, grassy fields, and springs everywhere. Even one flowing into the house. We planted, we raised about every farm animal, except for pigs. We had a milk cow and dairy goats that we milked. Tina was into making everything homemade and wholesome. We even hand-milled the flour for making bread. She loved reading and she read lots. She found that grass-fed, free-ranging animals stay healthier and were better for you when you consumed them. We started that practice with our animals.
We started the grass-fed, black Angus beef business in 2001. It went from sharing with our extended family to their friends and so on. We had a few setbacks during this time. Our house burnt down in May of 2005, and in April of 2006, Tina was diagnosed with breast cancer. Six years earlier, her dad past away from cancer. In July of 2008, she went home to see her dad in heaven. My best friend, soul mate, and mentor to life was now only a memory. I have learned many things from her and she has impacted many lives during the cancer battle. Now she was “Healed Perfect”. My healing would not be so short. I write these things now in 2020 to help put closure to the hurt and pain that still remains as the adventure in life continues with my memory of her. After all, Spring Hills Farm was her idea that we, as a family, worked together to bring a portion of the blessings that we shared to yours.
Another new chapter in the business has begun to reach out to the younger families that want to buy their products online. For almost 20 years, the website required people to call or email to place an order. Now, as of March of 2020, Spring Hills Farm products can be purchased at our online store. Thanks to the awesome team at Barn2Door, we have made this partnership to bridge the gap between the products produced on the family farm to your family’s table.






The Weaning Process
We wean our calves from the mother with as little stress as possible, to avoid affecting the animal’s health and the tenderness of the beef. Calves are moved to an adjacent field from the mother, separated only by a fence, so they can still see and be close to each other for a few days. At first, the mother stays pretty close to the calf, but after a couple of days she moves a little farther from the fence and eventually moves back to the herd. This technique of weaning has proven to be the least stressful on our calves and mothers.
Harvest Time
We harvest our steer at least twice a year. The Spring harvest is usually around the first part of June and the Fall harvest is usually in September. At approximately two years of age, we transport our steer to a local processor. Our customers deal directly with the butcher to get their beef cut to their specifications.
