It’s all about Including Everyone At in Cullman

Snead’s Farmhouse in Cullman isn’t your typical farm or even a teaching farm. Judy Snead says she found her own purpose when she figured out what she wanted her farm to be.

“When I decided to open our farm to the public, I knew I wanted to teach kids and families something, but I wanted it to be much more than a petting farm,” Snead recalls. Once she thought about all the ‘rescues’ on her farm – animals that looked a little different because of injuries or deformities – she found the purpose – teaching acceptance and inclusion of the disabled and those different from the rest.

Of course, there’s plenty about the care and feeding of the animals, but these animals are definitely different from the rest. This isn’t your average petting farm.

Snead didn’t start out to be a farmer. When she and her husband Shane moved to Cullman in 2021 for a job for him, she was like a fish out of water, so to speak. They bought a rural property on 17 acres, and she felt a bit isolated. She was a city girl that had never lived on a farm. She had left her own job to care for an elderly stepparent, too, and was essentially house bound out in the country. Her husband suggested getting some chickens since there was an old coop on the property. She says she was put off by getting “eggs out of a chicken’s butt,” but she soon changed her mind.

“It really all started with the chickens,” Snead recalls. She loved the chickens and the beautiful eggs, and she kept investing in MORE chickens and found she loved the specialty ones like Silkies – the really froufrou ones. She added a rooster, then some ducks. Somewhere along the way her husband built a fence, and her animal collection grew to a donkey – Leroy Brown, alpacas and even goats and pigs.

With all these new animals came expense. She had to feed and provide vet care for these animals. So she started allowing families and school tour groups to come for a fee to help pay the bills. Word got out and this led to several sponsorships of the farm from feed companies like Kalmbach Feed of Ohio and Chambers Farm and Garden Supply in Cullman that drastically changed the trajectory of the project. Today Snead’s Farmhouse is a non-profit educational farm, which has helped in the growth tremendously.

The farm became more “official” for groups. Snead says they developed a script for a puppet show at the farm upon arrival there, and they can even take it on the road for visits to groups, schools and evening assisted living and nursing homes with the help of theater students from Troy University.

This farm is full of life, and the always bubbly Judy Snead is a big part of why it has become so popular. With her gorgeous red hair and vivacious personality, kids and adults alike cannot help but fall in love with her.

You start your tour at Snead’s Farmhouse with a puppet show about the animals and how the farm came to be, and then it is all about the animals. Snead is constantly teaching and entertaining, and the photos say it all about how kids and adults receive it.

Tours must be booked in advance, and she can often accommodate families as well as groups of up to 40. Groups of all ages and abilities are welcome. To book a tour, visit www.sneadsfarmouse.com or https:// www.facebook.com/sneadsfarmhouse. Call 205-807-2549 or email judysnead9522@gmail.com.

Times for tours are varied and based on the care and feeding of the animals. They even do birthday parties. She’s had proposals on the farm and photographers even rent the space for photos. Once you see the photos, you will have to go!

Carol Muse Evans is publisher of Birmingham Parent. Snead’s book about the farm is called “Snead’s Farmhouse” and she wrote it with her cousin, Deitra Deal, a children’s teacher and author. You can purchase it on Amazon in paperback at ... https://www.amazon.com/Sneads-Farmhouse-Deitra-Deal/.

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Most of the animals are not segregated – you have many species living together, getting along, much like what Snead says our world needs to be. And it is clear these animals LOVE Snead.

What animals can you find here? Chickens, of course, ducks, turkeys, peacocks, pigs, cows, rabbits, donkeys, goats, alpaca, peacocks, a tortoise and this is constantly changing – and you’ll find many have challenges, disabilities, or defects, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are loved and can provide love and education to the visitors who come through the farm.

Today, Snead’s Farmhouse touches children and adults of all ages from all over, even home school classes, preschools, the elderly, mentally ill and terminally ill adults. “I didn’t really plan this,” Snead says. “God did.” Snead also educates visitors about egg incubation – sponsored by Chambers Farm and Garden Supply.

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