MIDWAY RANCH? WHO’S THAT?!
Midway Ranch raises lamb and pork, selling by the share or by the pound depending on the season. We use rotational grazing and are working toward a silvopasture system. This system is designed to improve soil stability, increase biodiversity, and produce more forage while building a farm that can remain healthy and productive for generations. We hope to establish primarily native trees, including fruit-bearing species such as red mulberry. These trees can provide shade, habitat, and additional forage for our livestock. We’re interested in what the land can produce beyond what we plant in a garden or buy in a bag, and we want to keep finding ways to make the farm more productive without losing sight of the ecosystem it depends on.
We believe in being honest about our practices and don’t rely on a long list of marketing labels to tell you what kind of farm we are. Our hogs and sheep are always pastured and rotated whenever possible, receive antibiotics when necessary, and are fed a diet they can thrive on. Currently our lambs are grass-fed and grain-finished while we improve our pasture system. We’re not interested in making our food sound better through buzzwords. We’d rather show you how we raise it, explain why we do what we do, and let you decide what matters to you.
HISTORY
We are Colton and Natalie Horn, and Midway Ranch is our farm in Subiaco, Arkansas. In 2022, we uprooted from Rogers and began building our farm just one mile from where Colton was raised. Neither of us come from an agricultural background. We’re learning as we go, building our knowledge, our flock, and our farm from the ground up. What started as a desire to feed ourselves has grown into a desire to feed our community.
Our intent to support and eventually become a part of a local food system is what led us to Midway Ranch. It started with buying local from farmers in the Rogers and Bentonville area, establishing a large garden, and keeping backyard layer hens. When we started thinking about raising our own pork, we knew we needed more room than a backyard could offer. We didn’t want to burden neighbors 50 feet away with the sounds and smells that come with raising livestock, so we started looking for a place of our own.
Forging the Future of Lamb
When we started with sheep in October 2023, our goal was a small homestead dairy and meat operation. That vision has grown beyond what we originally planned. We’ve come to appreciate sheep not just as livestock, but as an important part of a local food system. Lamb is one of the most nutritious and valuable meats you can feed yourself and your family. Midway Ranch aims to help more people experience lamb as an everyday food, not just something reserved for a special occasion.
