Our Story

Thank you so much for visiting our site!  We’d like to introduce you to our family. 

We are:  Ken Fanta and Jo Anna Pautsch (yes, we are married).

Ken is not only a member of the Clydesdale Breeders Association, he is the Webmaster for the association's website. We were both active volunteers with the World Clydesdale Show.  We plan to breed our Clydesdale mare this spring for a spring 2009 foal - our first non-feline baby on the farm!!  :)  We are also planning to add a goat, a sheep, chickens, ducks and a pig to the farm family eventually.

Our Children:  Tristan and Solidad 

Our Animals: 

5 horses - 2 purebred Clydesdale horses (one bay gelding, one black mare), 1 half Quarter horse/half Clydesdale gelding, 1 Quarter horse mare, and one pony mare (half POA/half Shetland). 

2 rescued dogs – 11-year-old Dalmatian and 10-year-old Border Collie 

Many rescued cats (I think at last count we had 22) outside and 4 inside 

A tortoise – age unknown, three years ago was estimated to be maybe 10 years old; either way, she will most likely outlive us J 

Where we live:  A 7-acre hobby farm between Cottage Grove and Sun Prairie, WI.  We live next door to a very large family-owned dairy operation.  We are approximately 10 miles from the east side of Madison.  We have lived here since October 2002.  Prior to that, we lived in a subdivision on Sun Prairie’s north side and boarded our horses at an offsite facility.  

How we were introduced to Chaffhaye:

In 2006, we chose to put our property on the market in hopes that we could move to a larger farm and grow our animal family and pasture/crop potential.  We had been making our own Pasture Perfect hay on our back 2 acres since we moved here, so we continued to do so while trying to sell. During that time, we had an accepted offer on the property and the potential buyer needed the hay storage shed to house his business.  So after baling our hay, we stacked it outside the shed and covered it with tarps.   

Unfortunately weeks turned into months and the buyer was no longer able to purchase the property. The snow would be coming soon, so we needed to move the hay into storage.  Much to our dismay (even though we had it covered well), the majority of the hay had been rotted by the elements.  Thus began the last-minute search for hay sellers in our area that had the same quality standards as we did, at a price we could afford. 

Our research led us back to some literature we had obtained from the Midwest Horse Fair just a year earlier.  We purchased a bag to sample and our horses loved it!!!  Ah, but alfalfa?  That goes against everything we’d been taught about horse feed.  And hay in a bag? What’s up with that? And what about that price per bag???  And what does Texas know about WI farm animal needs?  We were eager to find out more.  Enter Ron Cook - the WI Chaffhaye Distributer.  He answered our questions and addressed our concerns…and those he couldn’t, he contacted the corporate office in Texas to find out.  But could we get past some of our hang-ups?  Our hay was running out…we didn’t have a choice…so we purchased several bales of the Chaffhaye to get us by “until we could find an alternative”. 

During that time, we saw changes occur in our horses…positive changes!  They lost weight and looked leaner and healthier. They left no crumb behind, yet the level of manure had been reduced…not to mention the manure looked perfectly healthy!  The most dramatic change was with our pony.  When we brought her home in May 2007, she was extremely overweight (had a large crest on her neck), had proof in her long hooves of having foundered many times, and just looked dull and slow.  We had her on our pasture a few months and she foundered again…we needed to muzzle her.  The fat crest remained; as did her bloated belly…and she was kind of a crank (can you blame her?).  After Chaffhaye, she has lost most of the fat crest on her neck, lost the big, bloated belly, and is now sooo spunky!  She can actually keep up with the herd now (and she is like an eighth of their size)!

Our family has witnessed many positive changes and advantages to switching to Chaffhaye:

We no longer have to make our own!!!!  We can sell our machinery and allow our horses to graze on the entire acreage now.  This saves us so much time and money! 

Less manure – gotta love that! 

Less waste – they eat up every last crumb!  They love the taste, it is easy for them to chew/eat, and there are absolutely no weeds!  AND it smells so good! 

Cost effective – we save money not having to make our own, less vet calls, higher nutritional value means less food/supplementation needed. 

 Takes up less space in the shed/barn, keeps the barn cleaner, and is cleaner & more portable for travel. 

Why we became a Chaffhaye dealer:

Plain and simple…we want to get the word out about this product!  We believe in it and want to share the benefits with others. Any profits made will not only help us to get the word out to others, but will also go back into our little hobby farm so we can continue to rescue and take care of our beloved animals J