“Look after your sheep and cattle as carefully as you can.” Psalm 27:23
Buffalo Feathers Farm
Buffalo Feathers Farm began in 1984 as a mobile farm. That’s when Keith and Amanda Dobbs met at a Texas college, married, and started moving chicken coops around on top of their car (after dark, of course) from home to home. They invented “chicken express” long before the franchise in 1988 with moving backyard birds.
The chickens expanded into Barbado Sheep, a Shetland pony named Smokey, ducks, pheasants, dove, turkeys, guineas, dogs, cats, and bunny rabbits.
The mobile farm moved from Texas to Washington to Los Angeles to Nashville to Asheville to New York City to Kansas City to California to Oklahoma City.
In 2021, the Dobbs purchased a small, rural acreage in the hills of Meeker, Oklahoma, a community with just over one thousand country folks.
Shortly after a fencing project, they rescued a Belted Galloway cow named Moon Pie. Incidentally, all the animals and birds on Buffalo Feathers Farm have food names. The wooded acreage added a red Belted Galloway heifer named Cream Pie, sheep, goats, horses, and donkeys.
As vegetarians, the Dobbs operate BFF as a safe sanctuary for animals and birds and frequently welcome rescues.
Today, BFF has vegetable gardens, a small vineyard, orchard, herb gardens, and flower gardens. Eggs from BFF hens are shared with neighbors and friends.
The Dobbs have full-time professional employment but use the gentleman’s farm as relaxation therapy, a safe, relaxing haven. BFF has been used as a wedding venue, family reunion destination, and gathering spot for friends, their two children, their spouses, and two grandsons, Roman and Cal Henry.
The Farm Hands
Keith Dobbs
Raised on a beef cattle ranch in Sequoyah County in eastern Oklahoma, and with a career in healthcare administration and marketing in Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York City, he has dreamed of this stage in life. Now he gathers eggs, hand feeds the herd, and harvests Muscadine grapes.
Amanda Dobbs
Growing up in apartments, Amanda has a touch of Eva Gabor in the 1950s comedy Green Acres. Even as a corporate human resources professional for a large west-coast healthcare chain, she rolls up her sleeves to bottle feed baby goats, plant lemon cucumbers, and nurture zinnias and celosia.
Nickolas Guercio
A 15-year-old neighboring schoolboy, Nickolas puts out hay bales for the herd, fixes fences, changes flat tires on the farm truck, and can do about anything that needs to be done. His brilliant mind can look at a challenge and solve it almost instantly. He’s active in FFA and cross country running.
Fettle
Named after a Yorkshire cheese similar to feta, Fettle is an eight-year-old Yorkshire Terrier. He may only be nine pounds but he’s large and in charge. He patrols the backyard, attacks the UPS delivery people, and can corner a raccoon.
Biscuit
Three quarters Great Pyrenees and one quarter Anatolian, this young pup is a little on the shy side. However, he will bark at predators, and runs the fence line during his training stages.
Gravy
A full sibling to Biscuit, she is outgoing and first on the scene to investigate what’s going on…..whether that’s responding to a whistle for a treat or to explore the woods or pasture.
Applejack
AppleJack is BFF’s sweetheart. He hasn’t been told that he’s a donkey instead of a puppy. He came to BFF from a farm near Rush Springs, Oklahoma, that had sold and needed placement of several of their treasures. He loves to eat snacks out of your hand, and will follow you around the world just to get a hug or a pat. AppleJack is most likely a Provence donkey known for their sweet temperament yet skills of being a guard animal for predators.
Moon Pie
Meet Moon Pie. She’s an approximately 1200-pound Belted Galloway. Known for their deep rich black coat with a white belted mark around the midriff, the Galloway are a heritage breed of cattle from southern Scotland who grazed the upland pastures and moorlands. Moon Pie was scheduled for butcher but was rescued and brought to Buffalo Feathers Farm where she delivered a bull calf almost three months after her arrival. She’s the matriarch of the farm.