Welcome to Seven Cedars Farm! We are Riley & Sarah Guerin, first generation producers based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. We are passionate about animal agriculture, sustainable farming practices and producing food that is safe, healthy and tasty. Read along to share our story…

In October of 2018, we rescued a three-year-old Australian Shepherd cross based purely on breed and aesthetics - Riley specifically wanted a blue merle Aussie and the universe dropped her right into our laps. It didn’t take long for him to decide that “she needed sheep to work” … it wasn’t a far jump from his original plan of raising beef cattle, and made much more sense considering the space restrictions that we faced here in Bucks County, so we went for it!

We settled on Katahdin sheep, a medium-sized hair breed that are well-known for their maternal instinct, docile temperament and mild taste. They are highly adaptable to a wide range of environments and temperatures, which is perfect for our Pennsylvania seasons, and trend toward higher parasite resistance than other commercial or wool-breed sheep. Choosing a hair-breed sheep was important to us: there’s no need to shear them, instead they grow a fluffy winter coat and then shed as the weather warms in the spring. They also come in all colors, which became a great boon as we began to process and sell hides.

We were extremely lucky to connect with Matthew Nolt at Glenbrook Farm in Leola, PA. He provided a beautiful starter flock along with a wealth of knowledge that was integral in our early success. So in June of 2019, we brought home a dozen sweet, experienced ewes, and jumped right in to sheep farming with both feet!

Our first lamb crop was in 2020 - ten of our girls produced twenty adorable little creatures that provided so much joy and taught us so much. We grew quickly after that - in 2021 we lambed 14 ewes, then more than forty in 2022! Currently, our flock consists of about 60 breeding ewes, some young breeding replacements, three proven rams, and all of the progeny and companions that go along with them. Riley’s mid-term goal is to expand to 200 ewes! In the meantime, we are thrilled to be in a position to offer a soft retirement home to our OG girls when they age out of production - most of them have names and they happily take baby carrots right out of our hands. These ewes have given us so much and they owe us nothing, so its important that they are well cared for even after their productive years have passed.

Early in 2023, Sarah took a veterinary job off of the farm which forced Riley to pursue options for independence in his handling and management. The obvious answer was, of course, a border collie! We spent quite a lot of time talking with knowledgeable friends, researching dogs and combing social media for breeders that would be able to offer us a pup that might meet our needs. Happily, we found Harry & Katie Frederick at Winding Creek Farms in Tompkinsville, KY. In May, we travelled to Kentucky and flew home with Moss, a beautiful pup from a litter that was almost guaranteed to produce excellent working dogs. Like the rest of our story, it escalated quickly from there - in October, Sarah was offered the pup she fell in love with from the same litter and Wyn came home to stay. Then when Moss went back to Kentucky for training, we brought Rose home as a “stand in” to cover the lambing season, and when lambing and training were done, we went ahead and bought her. So in less than a year, we went from one to four dogs in the house!

In 2024, we decided to add poultry to our product offerings. We started with the idea to try 200 chickens - Cornish-cross birds that have been selectively bred for fast growth and superb carcass quality. Now, our third round of processing in October will bring the total to over 800 chickens! And we plan to grow over a thousand in 2025. Raising turkeys has been a hoot - they are little dinosaurs full of personality, and we’ve really enjoyed them. We will process more than thirty birds just before Thanksgiving, and plan to raise a heritage breed next year.

In our relatively short time in business, we have had soaring highs and shocking lows, and experienced all of the growing pains that come along with learning-as-you-go in animal agriculture. We have been successful largely because we simply refuse to be anything else - our husbandry and management techniques are based in science and veterinary medicine, and adjusted according to our strengths, challenges and individual experiences. We are first and foremost dedicated to the health, safety and wellbeing of the animals - we believe that it is our responsibility to provide a good life and, when the time comes, ensure a good death. Thankfully, our support system has grown to include other small businesses and producers here in Bucks County, veterinarians and animal scientists from across the country, as well as a large, pasture based production farm in Kentucky… even across state lines, we are so lucky to be a part of such a great, supportive production-based community.

Thank you for your interest in Seven Cedars Farm - we look forward to helping you feed your family!