Spring Herd Farms is making outstanding contributions to Alberta’s agriculture and food sector through their business. The Spring Herd Farms podcast, The Herd Community, is on a mission to share farm experiences with their community and allow families to build their own positive farm experiences. They’re doing so through social media, online farm information sessions, chicken coop rentals, gift box creations using local vendors, and an upcoming podcast featuring agriculture and community professionals.
Learn more about this unique farming business, a participant in the Digital Economy Program, including how they got started, how they turned challenges into new business opportunities, and what’s next.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Emily Herder. My husband Logan and I run Spring Herd Farms in central Alberta.
Tell us about your business
We are a mixed operation. We have cattle, sheep, and a mixture of all other livestock. We moved onto the farm in 2014 and in the last year or two, we’ve expanded to offer education to producers and youth and to run our podcast The herd Community to offer education opportunities as well.
How did you come up with the business idea?
Our education ideas for Spring Herd Farms really sprouted during COVID. I had this idea when we were locked down that maybe we could give families and kids the opportunity to learn a little bit about where their food came from in a fun way.
And the whole world had turned to virtual. So I mentioned to my husband once I said, “I wonder if we could educate people about agriculture and our livestock and what we do to take care of them virtually.”
What motived you to take the first steps and start this business?
So when we started the farm, that was just a natural progression for us, both my husband and I grew up on a farm. We always knew our goal was end up on a farm with our kids. What we didn’t predict was the education we’d be offering and, sort of the enabling education for families so that they could involve their kids as well and make their farm dreams possible. And to help producers develop good practices and expand their farm operations.
What are you most proud of? What is your biggest success?
What I’m most proud of Is how we have really been stretched to farm. You know, we were a traditional farm, to begin with. And now, with all these extra opportunities and networking, we’ve really been pushed out of our comfort zone, but I think it’s been great, and we appreciate all the opportunities that we have.
And I think if we wouldn’t have taken those initial risks, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
