Check Out Jamie Cifrese’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Cifrese.

Hi Jamie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We started our farm 10 years ago while I was working in the hospital. I soon realized I was going to do everything in my power to stay home with my babies so we started horse boarding and remodeling the house and farm from the ground up. It has been a dream of mine from a young age to have highland cattle so when the opportunity arose to buy our first Highlander heifer I jumped on it. Growing up around horses and having a husband who was around cattle his entire life, it is important to us to share that with our children! We saw and met a lot of people that asked if they could come out and visit the farm and see the cows. So we started hosting events where we could share our love for farming and animals with everyone who may not be able to have animals of their own. I work with the cows daily to halter break and hand feed them so that they’re less intimidating to anyone who may have never been around large animals before. Peoples faces light up when they’re around them.
Sharing and telling stories has also always been a passion of mine. So when I came up with the idea to start writing a children’s books to tie into our love of farming I followed through with that dream! Having the opportunity to read my book in libraries and classrooms has been incredibly meaningful to me. Seeing the children’s excitement as they study the illustrations and learn that the cows and characters are inspired by our own farm has been especially rewarding. Their curiosity and thoughtful questions about the animals bring the story to life in a way I never imagined.

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?
Owning animals of any kind, let alone large animals, has its many trials and tribulations. Vet fees, unexplained sicknesses, calving in the middle of the night, increased pricing of hay and grain. The list goes on and on. I think the hard parts make the good so much more worth it. All of your hard work and hours of care and love for the animals makes it even more special when we get to watch first hand a new life coming into the world with calving. Teaching the kids how to care for the animals the right way is a rewarding experience. It’s also so great to see how much happiness the animals give to everyone around us!
While writing the book, I discovered that securing a publisher, formatting the pages correctly for print, and collaborating with an artist to bring my vision to life required far more time than I had anticipated. There were many moments when I questioned whether the process was worth the effort, but I am truly grateful that I persevered.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We started a small horse boarding operation to offset raising our highland cattle. We then turned it into a business where we can share the cows with the public. Hosting events with all the cows, having collabs with other local companies, and coming up with new ideas for writing more children’s books about life on the farm.
In 2024 I published my first children’s book about our Hereford cows that we had before switching to highlanders. I have now begun writing the second book in the collection about the highland cattle. This was something I had wanted to do forever and was so proud of accomplishing it while running a farm, raising the cows, being a full time mama and sharing life with my family.
We absolutely love being able to share the animals and our experiences with everyone that comes out to support us and our farm. We have met so many amazing people and it makes us so happy to see how much happiness these animals bring to so many different kinds of people. We have had such a variety of people come and I think having built such a safe environment where we welcome everyone, has made a difference in showing that anyone can show love and kindness you just have to open the door. If we can spark even just one person to start their own agricultural journey or teach people the importance of protecting agriculture, then I’m doing my job!

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I think sometimes people see pretty animals or cute pictures of calves and don’t think that anything bad could possibly ever happen. I wish I knew how much heartbreak truly goes into owning livestock. How many hard decisions have to be made and how truly attached you get to all the animals no matter how many you have. I would tell the younger version of myself to lean on your community and fellow farmers and animal lovers to keep pushing forward because so much good comes from it as well!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rockyridgeherefords.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/rockyridgefarmsllc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockyridgeherefords/

Image Credits
Katie Feighner at
She’s Cool Media LLC took the pictures!