MacFarlane Pheasants is going through some growth opportunities, now that we’ve sold what was considered our “main” farm. Changes are being made, and pens are being added at a frenetic pace. As mentioned before (but please note when sending anything through the mail), our physical store has closed, and our office staff has moved to 1609 Center Avenue. Our Oak Hill farm is still fully operational with 22 acres of flight pens. That is where we also moved our new break room. We recently bought land from a farmer that is contiguous to our farm, which enabled us to build enough pens to hold 65,000 pheasants and partridges. And we’re currently working with the city to create an enhanced hatchery. All these exciting events were a reason to show off our farm!
We decided to offer our community a hayride through our new land and show them our beautiful birds. The weather cooperated fully and the sun was shining brightly. Trudy Deremer, our White Bird Flock Supervisor, narrated the tours, and was so pleased with the sun, “the sunshine was perfect, so the Melanistic Mutant feathers were illuminated perfectly to show the purples, greens and blues, along with the black.” Sarah Baker, who helped plan the event with Trudy, Dane, Ronnie, was super excited to be able to once again, open up the farm to the public. As a community member, we want people to know what we’re doing and how we’re growing. Around 40 of our neighbors took the tour, which started at the Oak Hill area and ran through our River Road Farm.
While Bill MacFarlane was on the tour, he asked the couple across from him where they were from. They stated that they were from Kentucky and came to Janesville exclusively for the farm tour! They are thinking about raising pheasants and couldn’t think of a better place to learn. Needless-to-say, they were given a much more extensive tour after the hay ride.
Because giving back to the community is important to MacFarlane Pheasants, hot cocoa was offered by ECHO as a fundraiser for ECHO, Inc. (a local non-profit which reaches the needs of many in the Rock County area), and United Way. Three-year-old Theo was a hit serving up hot cocoa and marshmallows, with the help of his mom, Emily, Public Relations/Development Manager of ECHO, and volunteer, Jenny. With a match from MacFarlane Pheasants, $350 was raised for those wonderful organizations.
ECHO is a nonprofit, faith-community sponsored charity organization. Over the years ECHO has evolved from a food pantry and clothing depot to a full-fledged charity organization helping to meet temporary housing, food, transportation, and other emergency needs for low-income families in Rock County, Wisconsin.
United Way Blackhawk Region supports health and wellness, education, and helps to meet basic needs to build self-sufficiency.
We are proud to be associated with these outstanding community helpers and glad to help.
Thank you, Sarah Baker, Trudy Deremer, Ronnie Viljoen, and Dane Aucamp for planning this event, and many thanks to our hayride guests for taking the time to enjoy our farm and buy hot cocoa! MacFarlane Pheasants hopes to be able to offer more opportunities for the public to come and see our farm. We’ve been here 90 years and hope to continue to be here 90 more!