About Us
Who We Are
Terrapin Farms is a family-owned ranch, located near Center Point in
the Texas Hill Country, where coastal hay, native grasses, and forbs are
abundant, along the banks of the Guadalupe River.
Owners Chris and Steve Summers divide the management between them:
Steve has over 40 years of land management experience. He manages the
Coastal Hay farm, ensuring proper nutrition and fertilization, selective
weed suppression and timely harvesting. Our hay is tested at the Texas
A&M Soils Laboratory and routinely produces over 13.5% protein. What
we don't need for our flock, we sell to horse ranches across Texas.
Chris Summers is the Chief Executive Shepherd, conducting the day-to-day management of the flock. Chris has a degree from Texas A&M University, is a Texas Master Naturalist, and has completed the American Dorper Sheep Breeders Society's Dorper Breeding Course. She selects the breeding stock, rotates the sheep regularly through various pastures to maintain optimal soil and forage conditions and access to fresh water. She also ensures the health of each animal through daily contact and evaluation, along with medical care when needed.
We Believe
Real food starts with real ranchers. We respect the love and commitment ranchers have to their profession, as well as the long days and hard work required to tend to the livestock and the land on which they roam. We are proud to share that work ethic, and to work with other members of the professional organizations that support good stewardship of land and livestock, the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association, the Texas Hill Country Dorper Breeders Association, and the American Dorper Sheep Breeders Society. We strive for Texas Dorper Lamb to surpass the breed standards set by these organizations and to produce a product worth of being served at the finest restaurants and labeled "100% Dorper Lamb".
Raising “all natural” lamb is the best way to achieve the highest quality product with the fewest negative impacts. Our lambs are raised completely on pasture with clear-running water (not standing ponds). Our flock have free-choice access to mineral feed supplements milled and mixed specifically for the soil and climate conditions of Central Texas, by Southwest Livestock Minerals Company and Lindner Feed & Milling Company. They are not shipped off to confined-feeding operations to be “fattened up”. We provide all our stock with health care under veterinarian guidance; but we never use “proactive” antibiotics or growth hormones on our lambs. Moreover, we manage our pastures for for the highest possible protein in the hay…. applying natural mineral fertilization, but never using insecticides or other chemicals that would be ingested by the flock.
Humane and gentle handling practices produce the most robust lambs. Our lambs are kept with their mothers throughout their youth. Our lambs are also left physically intact. What exactly does that mean? It means that we do not castrate ram lambs. Even though this requires more complicated sorting and physical separation of ram lambs from ewe lambs, the lambs are less exposed to infection or other ailments.