Crooked Oak Pastures

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Frederic, WI
Crooked Oak Pastures

We are Tyler and Brittany Tetzlaff and we grow pasture raised livestock, including cattle, chickens, turkeys, and sheep.

We are followers of Christ and we are excited to share this journey with you!

08/26/2026

This weeks farm happenings highlights:

34/52

Tyler is back early from his overseas travel and just in time. Tuesday night we were blessed with some very much needed rain we have been praying for, but it also came with an unexpected tornado. The rain had ended and was clearing up, when we looked out our window across the pasture and could see swirling leaves above the trees. Then the sound came and we had less than 10 seconds to run to the basement as the tornado directly hit our pasture and was coming right for the house. As fast as it came it was gone, but not without some damage. Fortunately no human was hurt and the house was okay, but the pasture birds and woods did not do as well. We quickly ran out to the pasture to do a damage assessment before it got dark. We wrangled the turkeys back into their netting, and loaded the meat chickens that were alive and we could fine into the back of the truck and hauled them back to the egg chicken run to keep them contained. The next morning consisted of picking up branches and chicken tractor parts. Clearing and repairing fences. Tracking down as much as we could throughout the woods and pasture. It appears that the damage started about 1/4 mile from us and ended about 1 mile past us, with the pasture in a direct path.
1-3) our silvopasture was hit hard. Lots of large trees broken and uprooted.
4) the brand new chicken tractor was completely obliterated. Part of it is wrapped around this fence post.
5) one of the older tractors was quite destroyed. The other is completely missing, only a few pieces of wood were found. There were parts scattered completely across the pasture.
6) the turkey shelter lifted off and fell apart. Luckily no turkeys were injured.
7) the remaining meat birds were relocated. Unfortunately with the loss incurred, we will be scaling back reserved chickens once’s we get a better assessment of how many are left. More to come, we apologize.
8) pile of chicken tractors, rapid uncontrolled disassembly.
9-10) some of the yard mess.
11-12) bale ring was 50 yards into the woods after traveling 75 yards through pasture. Had to cut a path to get it. Thanks to Brittany’s dad and uncle for helping

08/22/2026

New things can be challenging at times I guess! A little patience and some perseverance always does the trick.

08/20/2026

This weeks farm happenings highlights:

33/52

1-5) Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Tyler’s trip abroad continues and it sounds like it’s definitely all work and no play! He spent most of his time in China jumping from one city to the next, staying in a new hotel each night with lots of travel time. He made it to Vietnam this week and will be at the same factory for the entirety of his time there which is nice! We’re looking forward to getting him back home soon! (p.s. yes he ate the cicadas, yes he said they were good)
6-8) A little goofin’. The kids and I took the weekend off and spent some time away from the farm (though not pictured). We were blessed to have Tyler’s parents come over and hold down the fort while we spent the weekend swimming and playing. But, even after we got back, our vacation mode must have still been engaged as these kiddos continued to goof around! They sure know how to make me giggle!
9-11) Cricket Season. The last batch of meat birds made their way out to the pasture this week and just in time too! The crickets are lively around here and the chickens are in for a delectable turn about the pasture!
12,13) Not so little anymore. It seems all my babies just can’t seem to stay small around here. We leveled up our bottle calf, Cowlick, to a bucket feeder this week and it definitely saves a bit of work! Before we know it he’ll be grazing with the rest of the gang but until then we’ll work towards getting him to eat something other than milk replacer!

08/13/2026

This weeks farm happenings highlights:

32/52

*Brittany’s taking over so bear with me!*
1) Our Mighty Protector and Provider. Tyler spent much of the past week preparing the farm for his absence as he is traveling for work. He was diligent in setting up fencing, food barrels, and many other things for me so I’d have less work to do while he was away. (While he may be half a world away right now I still feel thoroughly looked after in all he’s done as well has the village of people in my corner). ❤️
2-3) Beans, Beans, Beans and More Beans. Our garden is showing off many fruits of our labor this time of year and we’re definitely thankful! I’ve been able to fill a 2 gallon pail full of beans each day and so we’ve been preserving every way we can think of. Pressure canning, pickling, freeze drying with the help of some friends, trading and gobbling them up fresh. The kiddos are particularly excited about the yellow ones and those have not made it farther than their tummies!
4-5) On the butcher block. We butchered our second round of chickens this past weekend with the help of family once again. We are truly blessed with all the wonderful people we have in our lives that show up each and every time we need them.

08/12/2026

Turkeys on the loose!

08/06/2026

This weeks farm happenings highlights:

32/52

1-2) Lights out. Two of our steers got sent to the butcher this week. Every time we do this I can’t say enough good about doing on farm slaughter. No stress for the animals and less work for us. The slaughter was done first thing in the morning and the beef never saw it coming. Was just another morning where they are used to being. No hauling or handling stress to a new place. And for us, they were gone in about an hour. We wouldn’t even be able to drive to a slaughter house and back in that time, let alone loading and unloading. It’s really a win win for everyone. Another advantage is we get to keep more of the nutrients for our soil here. What didn’t go off to the butcher was put into compost to go back on the land.
3) The love shack. The heifer we bought last winter was brought back to the farmer to be exposed to his bull. She will spend about two months there to give her a good chance of being bred. We will then bring her back to our farm and patiently wait until spring to hopefully see a calf.
4) Cover Crops. With the garlic and onions out of the garden. We planted some buckwheat in its spot as a cover crop. This will protect the bare soil for the rest of the year, as well as harvest some more sunlight to build the soil. It will also act as a w**d suppression to minimize the amount of w**ds that grow while idle.
5) Last round. The last round of baby chicks for the year is here and in the brooder.

07/30/2026

This weeks farm happenings highlights:

31/52

1-5) First Fair. The girls got to show Cowlick in the Little Britches show event at the fair. Thanks to all that came to watch and cheer them on. They did great for their first time, even if Cowlick was a little stubborn. They were rewarded with Orange floats and a ribbon. We then spent some time walking around and seeing the rest of the animals at the fair and what our future might entail.
6) No vampires. We harvested our garlic and most of the onions. They are now hanging up in the shed to cure for a few weeks. Both grew quite well this year, garlic is always kind of like a present when you harvest it. You don’t really know how it will be until you pull it out of the ground. We ended up with just over 100 heads this year, with some approaching 3 inches in diameter. We will save the big ones for seed to be planted this fall and enjoy the rest.

07/28/2026

Garden 26’ update Crooked Oak Pastures

07/23/2026

This weeks farm happenings highlights:

30/52

1-2) Good day to be a chicken. Tyler got the new chicken tractor build and we moved the chicks out into it on pasture. We are trying a new style of tractor this time. Our current ones are a low flat metal roof that you feed and water by lifting hatches from the outside. Then to gather the chickens for processing, we take some of the roof panels off to get access. The new tractor uses a peaked tarp roof and a door to get in and out. The new style is lighter and should be easier to gather chickens, but the trap is not as durable and may be less efficient going in to feed them everyday. We will be using the new one side by each with the old style and should give us a good idea of what we like and don’t like about the new one.
3) Bad day to be a ram. We castrated the rams this week. We didn’t keep any intact for breeding as they will all be butchered this late winter. The main reason to castrate is to keep them from breeding our existing ewes, but it also keeps their testosterone levels lower so they don’t get as wild and they put on more fat as they grow. Last time we butchered, we had one intact ram and the rest were castrated, it was surprising how little fat the intact ram had vs the non-intact ones. The meat still tasted good, but was surprising what a different appearance it had.

07/16/2026

This weeks farm happenings highlights:

28-29/52

1-4) Out with the old. The first batch of chickens are in the freezers. We had a full crew that we are greatly thankful for the help.
5) In with the new. The next 100 chickens were placed out on pasture and just a few days later the brooder was filled with a small batch of 30. Now Tyler needs to build another chicken tractor for these 30 before they are ready to go out on pasture next week.
6-7) Sausage making. We spent a day breaking in the new sausage stuffer. The outcomes were: 25 # brats, 15 # of breakfast links, 15 # of snack sticks, 10 # of summer sausage. The new stuffer worked great and we experimented with some new recipes. Some of the highlights are brat flavors Parmesan & Garlic Scape and Dried Tomato & Basil. Both used produce harvested from the garden.
8) Out for a walk. The girls settled on the name Cowlick for the new calf. Brittany has also been working with the girls to practice walking him around with a halter. We were talked into signing the girls up for showing at the county fair in a few weeks. We don’t really know much about what it takes to show at the fair, but this seems like a good opportunity to start learning. So we will be continuing to practice walking Cowlick around and see what happens.
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Address

451 300th Avenue
Frederic, WI
54837

Website

http://crookedoakpastures.com/

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