Living the life on a funny farm of animals in the southeast

BIENFAIT - Sheri Matthies knew that one day she was going to own a farm, as she had a passion for animals ever since she was a little girl.

Born and raised in Estevan, she always had pets as a child, but when she turned 15 years old, she bought her first horse.

The horse’s name was Nash, and she was the furthest from being a beginner’s horse, but Matthies loved this horse with all her heart.

Nash came from a SPCA rescue. She was a standardbred that was malnourished and was skin and bones upon arrival and had a belly full of worms. Her hooves were terribly overgrown, which took months to try and get close to being in good shape.

She was dewormed regularly and fed a well balanced diet to help her gain the much needed weight.

She was a hard horse to catch, but after one week she trusted Matthies and they became bonded.

The horse was boarded, and Matthies went out to visit Nash every day after school.

“I never cared for riding and still do not,” said Matthies. “I prefer the communication and company of a horse, it is therapeutic.”

Matthies sat on the lawn as the horse grazed, and she taught Matthies so many things about horses.

Sadly, Nash had a bout of colic and passed away eight months after Matthies bought her. Matthies, although sad over the loss of her horse, was grateful she was able to show Nash what love was all about.

Matthies soon met another love of her life in April of 2015, and that is her husband, Logan Matthies. They have been together for almost ten years.

Logan has worked at the same job since he was 16 years old, as a repair technician at TS&M Supply. He was also raised in Estevan.

In 2018 they bought a farm near Bienfait, ironically it was the place that Matthies had boarded her first horse for five years.

She is immensely proud of her farm, which she lovingly calls the funny farm, as it houses many different animals.

Although Logan loves the farm, he is not as  in tune to the animals like Matthies is, although it was his idea to get the goats and cats.

Their 80 acres are enough to harvest hay for the animals, and at present they have two house dogs, three house cats, two farm dogs and three goats.

It does not end there as they have four horses, two donkeys, with one expecting this year and too many chickens to count.

With owning animals there also comes the heartbreak of losing one, and this past summer Evander, their 24 year old horse passed away. Matthies had owned him for seven years. Shortly after this, Rio came into their lives. He is a 19 year old horse that is suited for beginners to ride.

The newest addition is a bunny, for their one and a half year old daughter Stella. She as well loves the animals and goes to the barn to help mom out.

They did have ducks, but after an unconfirmed tornado ripping through their yard, taking their duck coop, and tossing it 80 feet away, along with the fencing, they decided to rehome the ducks until they could build again.

A new coop has been constructed by Logan, which is now heavily anchored to the ground.

“We never thought in a million years that something like this could happen,” said Matthies.

With the extreme cold weather Matthies has a routine to shelter the animals. The stalls are cleaned out and heavily bedded, the chicken coop is also cleaned with fresh bedding to keep the chickens dry, as it is moisture that kills them, not so much the cold. They monitor the heat in the coop and if need be, will plug in the heat lamps.

The horses and donkeys are blanketed, but the horses will be outside and have shelter, while the donkeys want to be in the barn, along with the goats.

The farm dogs and cats have heated areas that they can go to, with plenty of food and water.

It is a lot of work, but Matthies does not want to be unprepared when it comes to her animals.

Matthies also works at Happy Smiles Pet Resort and loves it.

One never knows what might be added to the funny farm this year, but Matthies is always ready to take in another animal.