About

Welcome to Granny’s Homestead,

My name is Annett, I am a sheep farmer and with my husband we operate Tolle Livestock, raising sheep and border collie herding dogs. My grandchildren call me Granny, and sometimes Crazy Granny as we do and have adventures that are fun, different and sometimes crazy.

I was not born into being a sheep farmer, I became a sheep farmer. My passion is raising horses, Appaloosa horses. In 2016 our lives and farm was rearranged. My husband was laid off from his job, making it necessary to sell the horses. He began working as a truck driver, not being home to assist me with the horses.

Our lives were not the only ones going through changes. His son was changing ranches he was working for, and needed to move quickly. His son had two ewes for training border collie dogs. I purchased the ewes with the intent to sale them, and he gave me a border collie dog needing training. A couple of weeks later, one of the ewes had a lamb, I became a sheep farmer.

In the beginning I did not know sheep breeds and never heard of the hair sheep breedings. Going to the local livestock auction to purchase sheep, no wool – not a sheep. A cattle buyer at the auction informed me “tails up – goat; tails down – sheep”. One of my first lessons in being a sheep farmer. Through years there have been other funny and often embarrassing stories of learning to be a sheep farmer. My early lessons were “crash courses” often with sad and costly endings.

One trait I do have is I will research for answers. I will look in books, online and talk to people to learn the information I desire. I desired information on how to keep my sheep healthy, productive and make a profit. Sharing the information, so others do not have the sad and costly endings I experienced is my hope with this site. I am not all knowing, do not consider myself an expert in raising sheep. There are things a person can learn through my experiences, and hopefully not make the mistakes I made.

Today, I my ewes are registered Fullblood, Pureblood and Percentage Dorper sheep with a few commercial ewes. My rams are registered Fullblood Dorpers. I raise sheep for seedstock or breeding stock for commercial sheep farmers and small hobby farmers. I have dreams and goals of producing the finest Dorper breeding stock in my area.

Granny