Animal magnetism: Newforma hobby farmers
Newformants show their livestock and tell their stories.
The accidental ranch
Renee VanDyne: The VanDyne Ranch originated when one of my husband's clients surprised us with three head of cattle in payment for some contracting work. We now have seventeen Scottish Highlanders grazing in the fields, as well as eleven Rhode Island Reds.
There have also been three pigs along the way named Bacon, Ham and Sausage…
Although the beginnings of this hobby farm were certainly a surprise, those who stop by are always welcome to enjoy the fresh eggs and grass-fed beef. 
– Services Manager Renee VanDyne
Breakfast for the boss
Jeff Thomson: I have chickens at my house that I keep for fresh eggs. Sort of. During the day I work for Engineering Vice President Dave Plunkett, but I can’t get enough of it, so I also work for him at home raising and feeding chickens, as most of the eggs go to him. But I get to keep the eggs he doesn’t want, so it works itself out in the end, so to speak.
Here you see one of the hens in the campfire pit volunteering to become a roaster (left), and my cat Moby keeping a wary eye on the ladies of The View (below). Enjoy!
– Chief Documentation Officer Jeff Thomson
The surprise enterprise
Allen Preger: We are new to chicken farming – really new. In fact, when I left Mill Valley (California) on Monday morning for a week of Newforma Project Center Eighth Edition planning with the rest of the product team back in Manchester (New Hampshire), I was unaware I was about to become a chicken farmer! Yesterday, my wife casually mentioned she had adopted a couple of young chickens, and sent me the photos today to prove it!
Apparently they need to acclimate to their new environs by staying in the chicken coop for 48 hours before they are allowed to explore the garden. I’ll get the lowdown on other chicken care tips from Jeff, Dave and Renee before I head home to California on Thursday night!
– Chief Product Officer Allen Preger
Projects for the children
Dave Jenkins: We decided to try raising some chickens four years ago as an experience for the kids as well as a source of fresh eggs. As it turns out, hens are *really* easy to keep, and the manure is great for our vegetable garden once it has composted. The roosters we have had were more challenging – some were too aggressive, and we had one of lesser intelligence that would mistake a full moon for daylight and start crowing at 2:00 in the morning!
Since the chicken experiment was going so well, we decided to try to raise a pig. My son’s friend caught a pig in the “pig scramble” at the annual Deerfield Fair, and we agreed to raise the pig. Raising a pig is a lot more difficult than raising chickens. As the pig got bigger, she started breaking out of her pen (my wife had to get my son out of school early twice because the pig had escaped – the school secretaries loved that excuse!). When it came time to “take the pig to market” it took my son and me two hours to get the pig into the trailer – she was about 290 pounds at that point!
– Information Technology Manager Dave Jenkins