about the farm

Star Thrower Farm is located in Rich Valley, McLeod County, Minnesota. Deborah and Scott Pikovsky purchased this farm in 2007 and planted permanent grass and legume pastures for their flock of pure Icelandic sheep. Many years ago the farm was a confinement cow dairy and an extensive conversion of the land and facilities was undertaken before the milking parlor and creamery were opened in 2008. The farm is large enough to graze the sheep and produce grass/alfalfa hay for feeding the sheep in the winter months. A small orchard of naturally grown fruit and nut trees was planted in 2007. The farm's herb garden supplies fresh herbs throughout the summer and dried/frozen herbs for use during the long Minnesota winters.

We operate Star Thrower Farm in a sustainable manner with sheep naturally fertilizing pastures and the waste water from milking and cheesemaking going back on the fields. The hay and manure from the lambing/breeding barn is composted and applied to the fields in the Fall.

We enjoy a diverse animal population on the farm. Coyotes, white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, pheasant, nesting eagles, raccoons, songbirds, owls, wood ducks, rabbits, field mice and ground squirrels are abundant. Coyotes and eagles are the only predators we need to be concerned with. Our guard llamas and extensive high tensile electric fence around the pastures have allowed us to pasture the sheep 24 hours a day, with the exception of new lambs who are brought back to the barn, with their dams, in the evening.