Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Caballero.
Hi Nicole, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Our families healing journey with food started back in 2010. After our oldest daughter was born, we found out that she had very severe allergies to a huge variety of things, including dairy. We started doing a significant amount of research and realized that the food industry DOES NOT have our best interests in mind. As a matter of fact, it is the exact opposite; they are doing whatever is necessary to make the population sicker! We felt extremely upset and completely lied to!
We found out about raw milk and the benefits of A2 proteins and non-pasteurized dairy in general. We found out about commercially processed meats and feedlots. YUCK! We were taken aback by the amount of sugar in everything we eat every day, from peanut butter to spaghetti sauce to toothpaste even! Reading labels and cutting out anything processed became our mission. We started out buying some chickens for eggs, a few steers for beef, and some goats, too. CT Ranch was officially born. We bought everything else we could find, like our raw milk, from other local farmers. Maybe not so surprisingly, Ariana had no trouble with our fresh-from-the-farm food choices, and her allergy issues completely disappeared.
In 2013, we moved to another property, and I desperately wanted to be able to stay home with our kids and homeschool Andrus, our oldest son. I figured out the numbers and told Pierre that if we bought just 1 dairy cow, I thought I could not only save us money from buying our milk from another farm but also sell the extra and make enough to support me staying home. It worked, and within 3 months, I had sold every extra gallon produced and had a waiting list for our raw milk. We bought another cow, and the rest is history.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a very long, bumpy, and wonderful ride over the past 13 years of farming: raising animals, raising kids, producing high-quality food products, and figuring out how to do it all the best possible way to make the greatest impact on our families health, our animals health, our lands health and our customers health!
Farming, in general, is difficult because you are contending with elements that you normally don’t have any control over: weather, nature, stubborn animals, illness & disease, and death. We have personally experienced it all numerous times, and we just try to learn from the experience, regardless of what it is, and do better the next time!
We pride ourselves on our core values of honesty, integrity, transparency, and health. We are a work in progress and are constantly learning new things to make our products and farming practices better every day.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a very small family farm in East Texas, milking a small herd of 14 primarily Brown Swiss cows. Our family of 7 does everything from milking the cows to processing the yogurt, making the deliveries, processing customer orders, and everything in between!
We offer a membership opportunity for local community members to have access to local farm fresh foods. We offer all Raw A2 Dairy products: milk, cream, yogurt, kefir, cheeses, etc., pastured beef, pork, and chicken. We have raw honey & other pantry goods available in our farm store as well.
We strive for excellence in our product offerings, whether it is a product we are processing on the farm or one we are receiving from a partnering farm or business. Our dairy products, such as milk, cream, and yogurt, are all offered in glass jars. This reduces the amount of plastics in our environment, as well as our personal exposure.
We are also one of the only small dairy farms to offer exclusively A2/A2 raw dairy. Our entire herd is tested, and each cow’s information is posted directly on our website. We are also a proud soy-free feed farm.
We have pickup locations each week to many locations around the DFW area. This allows greater access for Dallas community members to receive fresh food directly from the farm. We currently have pickup locations in Dallas, Frisco/Plano, Richardson, Grapevine/Colleyville, Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, McKinney, Rockwall, and Terrell. We are hoping to add a few more pickup locations throughout this year.
We truly value our animals, our land, and our members. All of our animals have names and are cared for to the best of our ability. Our land is not overgrazed or overcrowded. And as regenerative farmers, we don’t use any harsh chemicals, insecticides, pesticides, or chemical fertilizers on our land. Our members are the biggest piece of the puzzle. Without them, our farming dream would not be a reality. We are so happy to be able to offer such nutrient-dense, farm-fresh foods to the community.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
We aren’t really sure if luck has played any part in our life or business. Our family works very hard for everything we have done in life and business.
We do know that each person has circumstances that arise in their lives, both good and bad. You must take those circumstances and deal with them the best way possible. Always moving forward and always toward something better. Just don’t stop.
When things are good (good luck), keep trying to learn and improve anyway. There is always the possibility for improvement. And when things are bad (bad luck), learn from the experience or the setback and improve on it. Move forward.
One thing we tell our children (we have 5) is that life is ever-changing. We all have the ability to wake up the next day and it is a completely new day. New experiences, new circumstances, new people, new surroundings. The good and the bad of life are never permanent-it is everchanging.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ctranch.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/c_t_ranch
- Facebook: facebook.com/ctranch
