We are the Jacksons! Tyler & Cassandra both grew up with a love for working with the land and livestock. Cassandra soaked-in every minute of summers working on her Grandparents cattle ranch in Idaho, before returning home to Corvallis, Oregon. She knew she wanted to raise her future family on an a ranch some day. Tyler is a born entrepreneur. As a 12 year old, he read books such as 'The 4 hour Work Week' by Tim Ferris, 'Cashflow Quadrant' and 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' by Robert Kiyosaki. He remembers trying just about every side-hustle under the sun as a teenager. Growing up in a rural ag community of Snowflake, AZ - many of his first small businesses involved livestock where he grew to love working with animals and the land.
Fast forward a few years later and Tyler meets Cassandra while attending school at BYU in Provo, UT. Guess which topic took the majority of the conversation on their first date? Their mutual love for cows - of course! After getting married, they made it a goal to be in a position to be able to give their children the lifestyle of growing up on a ranch.
While attending college, Tyler got his real estate license and dove head-first into investing in the Utah real estate market while helping clients do the same. Cassandra worked part-time and even full-time while attending college in order to help both herself and Tyler graduate without any debt. She even did that while raising their first child! Tyler graduated with a degree in Business Strategy and Cassandra with a degree in Special Education for Children with Mild/Moderate Disabilities. Together they continued to work, save and invest until at the ages of 25 and 26, they owned 12 rental properties comprising 45 units of rental real estate.
Things came full circle when they finally decided they simply could not wait any longer and purchased a ranch with it's ridge overlooking the creek in beautiful Snowville, Utah. Tyler still works as a Real Estate Agent helping clients achieve their goals through investing in Utah real estate while Cassandra enjoys caring for the dogs, sheep, and poultry.
We both share the responsibility and privilege of spending as much time as possible together, raising our children and working on the land.
The Sheep
We use Registered Fullblood and Commercial Dorper Sheep as a critical tool to build the soil quality of our pastures. Through Adaptive Grazing practices such as moving the sheep to new pasture every day, we insure the breeding stock we sell are epigenetically improving and the meat we sell is very nutrient dense.
The Dogs
Raising a select number of Champion AKC Registered Great Pyrenees and Tibetan Mastiffs as guardians of our livestock - as well as family companions. Our dogs perform an essential role of protection for our sheep and poultry.
The Land
Our ranch receives roughly 15 inches of rain on a very good year. We typically experience long, harsh winters and have a single short growing season to meet all of our forage needs for the year. We can only be profitable in this sort of environment by following the principles of Holistic Management, Regenerative Ranching, and Adaptive Grazing. By striving to rotate our sheep on pasture every day, we mimic nature and the bison herds that once roamed our land. We have studied principles of the following managers and our views closely align with theirs, namely; Allan Savory, Joel Salatin, Burke Teichert, Greg Judy, and Gabe Brown. We strive to build our soil health while raising livestock that are fit for the land and not the opposite. This means we heavily cull the bottom 20% performing sheep each year and plan to increase the resilience of our sheep flock rapidly through epigenetics. We do not spray our fields with any pesticides or herbicides. We do not apply synthetic fertilizers or chemicals. We do not use antibiotics and will soon phase out the use of dewormer completely. We strive to promote life in all forms. We focus on building the microbes in our soil, so that they can help our grasses sequester more carbon and build the soil organic matter over time. This is the way to create productive, nutrient dense plants, healthier animals and healthier people.