Farmers Behind Our Food: Dane Farms
At Taziki's, one of our top priorities is providing high-quality food to all of our guests. Our focus begins far before the food arrives at the stores. When choosing the farmers behind our food, we look for the best partners with great practices. Today we are thrilled to introduce you to one of our proud partners, Dane Farms! They’re one of our Lamb purveyors, providing high quality American Lamb products that you have been enjoying at Taziki’s for years. Read below to learn more from Dakota Dane Harding, about how their family-owned business has been around since the 1800’s!
The Dane Family on their farm.
How did the Dane Family Farm begin?
It all started with Grandma Dane, in the late 1800’s. She was just a young girl and her mother kept a good-sized farm going in Southern Michigan while her Dad and Uncle started another farm in Kansas. In those days it was the high demand for wool that drove the sheep industry.
What has kept business going through the generations?
Perseverance and stubbornness! Donald Dane, his mom, and brothers lived through some really tough years on the farm. World War I, the Flu Pandemic, Great Depression, and World War II. Donald saw tough times and got by without much. He was very grateful and content, and today we are all still very thankful for what we have.
What's Dane Farms main differentiator?
Farming today is a very capital intensive industry and has a lot of fads and trends. We are unique because we carry very low debt and we’ve stuck with sheep, which are not mainstream in the industry.
Grandma Dane as a young girl.
What makes your product different from your competitors?
We pride ourselves on having healthy animals as our #1 goal which leads to better quality meat. The entire family makes the stock a top priority. We also provide high-quality nutrition with top quality homegrown pastures, hay, and grains to make the best meat.
Any other interesting facts about the Dane Family Farm?
In the 1940’s it took wool from 15 sheep to outfit one US soldier for an entire year. The government deemed this so important, that if you were a sheep rancher you could not be drafted.
Both Marvin’s Mom and Dad’s sides of the family raised sheep.
After serving in World War II Donald Dane worked at a sheep ranch on the Aleutian Islands.
The Dane Farm loves to be involved in the local community. We provide pregnant ewes for the birthing barn at our county fair so the community can witness the miracle of birth and observe the lambs. We also visit retirement communities with lambs around Easter every year to uplift spirits and bring joy to the elderly.
Thank you, Dane Farms for sharing a little piece of your story with our Taziki’s family! Learn more about their incredible story on their website.
This blog was sponsored by The American Lamb Board.
(Pictured below is Grandpa Dane)
Donald Dane in 1996 revisiting Fort Glen on Umnak Island AK where he served in WWII.