After raising a few pigs on a rented farm in 1920, Ben’s great grandfather Eddy Liddell and his wife Nealie jumped into farming by buying a small farm with a large tamarack swamp in Greenwich, NY. They began their farming life with two purebred Tunis lambs and soon added Ayrshire dairy cows. Through two succeeding generations the Tunis flock grew, won many awards at local fairs, and provided thousands of lambs for market. In the 1940s, Eddy’s son, and Ben’s grandfather Herb started keeping Dorset Horn as a 4-H project, and the farm kept the two breeds pure but managed them side by side.
In 2006, Ben went with his mother to visit Herb as he was nearing the end of his life. As he and Ben spoke about the sheep, it was clear how important the flock was to him, and in speaking with others in the family, it was clear the flock would be sold once Herb passed. After Herb’s death a few days later, Ben purchased the flock to become the fourth generation to manage the flock. After being joined by Grace in 2009, Ben began restoring the flock, searching far and wide for good genetics and keeping the best ewe lambs to grow the flock.
