We were lucky to catch up with Casey Weredyk recently and have shared our conversation below.

Casey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents have had a huge impact on my success as a businesswoman. Growing up, they instilled the foundational values that I still carry with me to this day. First and foremost, my parents raised me to know the Lord. They taught me to love people like Jesus does, always choose kindness, have compassion for those around me, and above all else, love God first. I believe that having this as my foundation shaped me into the person I am today.

To be able to change someone’s life through providing them with a companion, service dog, or therapy dog is so meaningful to me. It truly is my passion.

However, my parents have supported me through all of my many passions, starting from a very young age. At just five years old, I began my first business adventure! Like most, it was a car wash in our very own driveway! To help me get started, they called all of my family to encourage them to come support my new “business”. As I grew, my passion inevitably grew with me. So the small farm that I managed in addition to attending school has grown with me ever since.

When I was in 10th grade, I came up with a business plan that is most similar to what I do now. Whether through prayers, financially, or just helping out around the farm, my parents have continued to be my biggest supporters. My dad being a business owner himself has really made him my sounding board for most business decisions. My mom, however, is the one I go to as a listening ear, or for a different perspective.

Overall, their guidance has been incredibly important to everything that I have done and continue to do every day. I am genuinely grateful for and could not be more blessed with the parents that I have.

Casey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My business, CNR Farms, officially began in 2010 as apart of my 10th grade SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) project through the National FFA Organization. During my first year, I started with breeding rabbits and goats for livestock showman, as well as miniature horses. A year later, my passion in animal production led me to add breeding dogs to my program and that is truly where I began to thrive. To be able to change someone’s life through providing them with a companion, service dog, or therapy dog is so just meaningful to me. So, there is no doubt that my calling is to breed on purpose, for a purpose.

After I graduated high school, I attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College with the intention of becoming a Veterinarian. However, about a year into school, I realized that it was not the direction God was calling me in. From there, I changed my major to focus on animal production. Through this degree, I was able to broaden my knowledge and skill set regarding structure and animal evaluation, reproduction, genetics, nutrition, and so much more. All of which, I still use to this day.

Over the years, my business has led me to intently focus on breeding Australian Labradoodles, English Goldendoodles, and Poodles. Even early on in my breeding program, I was producing puppies that went into Service and Therapy work. Through this, I was able to see the way that those puppies went on to change the lives of their people. This is when it became clear that my program was to be built around Service and Therapy work. I strive to produce puppies that are structurally sound, have incredible temperaments, and have a background in OFA health testing. While I still have livestock, produce farm products, and board dogs for both my puppy families and the public, that is not the main focus of my business. I breed with the purpose of creating Service and Therapy Dogs knowing that any dogs not suited for those jobs will inevitably be amazing family-oriented companions. My slogan is “Breeding on Purpose, For a Purpose.” Which is in its simplest form, is what I strive to do.

I start with dogs that are fully health tested, have sound structure, as well as specific temperaments. My puppies are born and raised in my home. I utilize puppy curriculum to expose them to new sounds, sights, and textures daily, which helps them to build confidence, socialization skills, and ultimately encourages them to become well rounded puppies. According to the individual litters development, I adjust the curriculum to match the litter and the stage of development they are in, consistently adapting as they grow. Additionally, I will not breed a pair without a list of deposit holders. This is so I can provide my puppy families with access to a private YouTube playlist where I make videos multiple times a week to give them a “behind the scenes” look as to how the puppies are raised, curriculum that they are currently working on, as well as helpful puppy tips. I also do not allow families to choose their puppy until after my trainer, at Happy Hounds Dog Training, can come and perform their official temperament test at 7 weeks old. Each puppy receives individual scoring, which helps us identify those that are best suited for Service and Therapy work. I do this because I believe it is incredibly important to pair a puppies temperament to match their new family’s dynamic, rather than having the family choose solely based off of their color. When my puppies go home, they are up to date on vaccines, microchipped, have a 2 year health guarantee, a bag of puppy essentials, and most importantly, lifetime support. I am always here to answer questions and will always take back a puppy/dog if the need arises. I never want any of my puppies to end up in a shelter.

While I love seeing my puppies thrive in loving family homes, I am most proud of the Service, Therapy, and Facility Dogs that I have produced. It is an amazing feeling to watch a puppy that you have raised with such intention go on to change the life of someone or multiple people. I have also had the honor of working with local non-profit organizations, like Walk Forward, to make having a service dog more accessible to those who need it.

Watching my past puppies grow and mature into adulthood is something I have always enjoyed. After years of families asking me to board their dogs while they travel, I finally took the leap and started offering boarding to not just my puppy families, but to the public as well. This has given me a true look at how my puppies are throughout all life stages, as I now have the opportunity to spend time with them from the puppy stage through adulthood. I knew that if boarding was something I was going to offer, I didn’t want to have a “traditional” boarding set up. I wanted my boarding dogs to feel comfortable and treated like one of my own. This is why I intentionally board a low number of dogs, so that my staff and I are able to give the dogs one on one attention. I do not board dogs just as an additional stream of income, but rather to offer my community a safe, comfortable, and attentive environment. Each dog, or family of dogs, has their own separate space both inside and outside to help them feel more at ease. Our inside area is both heated and cooled, have dehumidifiers and air purifiers, and most importantly, is cleaned daily. Our outside areas are spacious, covered with shade cloths for year round comfort and have water buckets that are always filled with fresh, clean, and cool water. We are also in the process of putting down pet-specific turf in our entire boarding area, which will help our furry friends paws stay cool, clean, and dry. The outside facilities are cleaned and sanitized daily as well, regularly treated for fleas and ticks (just in case!), and is often a place filled with “zoomies” and excitement.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

Being that I strive to breed ethically, most of the “profit” I receive from puppy sales goes towards maintaining the highest standard of care for all of my animals. Therefore, it goes directly back into my business, contrary to what most people believe. This is why I frequently try offering new products and services to come up with additional streams of income so that I am able to continue to offer these things to my clients. Offering dog boarding has become the most popular service recently. However, I am always thinking of ways to add value to CNR Farms, as well as, streams of additional revenue.

Living on a farm, means that every animal, thing, and process, has a purpose. For example, we have a diverse flock of chickens and ducks that produce various sizes, colors, and kinds of eggs that are available for purchase. Additionally, I have raised both chicks and ducklings for sale. Our alpaca, llamas, sheep, and angora rabbits are here as fiber production animals. They produce the fiber that I use to make hand-spun yarn and hand-made dryer balls. I am even able to make a profit by offering their manure for fertilizer. For years, we offered Angus cows as well, but recently we made the decision to downsize to just enough to provide for our family. I have also been raising rabbits since the very beginning of my business, but this year have also downsized to only 1 pair of German Angora rabbits kept for breeding. Lastly, I grew Loofas as an additional farm product to offer for sale, while knowing that I am able to offer them to my rabbits as enrichment too, in the case that they had not become a popular farm product.

One thing I know, is that I will always be open to trying new things or making additions to the farm as additional revenue streams. Therefore, I often post on multiple social media platforms to connect with my followers and see what products and services they are interested in seeing offered from CNR Farms. I am always grateful for the feedback that I receive and do my best to offer as many as possible!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Early on, I added the question, “How did you find out about CNR Farms? (Google Search, Facebook, Referred by a Friend, etc.)” to my puppy form. The number one response was “Referred by a Friend”. It is genuinely one of the greatest feelings in the world to know that people love their dogs so much that they refer their friends, family, and sometimes even strangers they meet in public to me. This is one of the many reasons that I offer lifetime support to my puppy families. Not only do I love to keep up with the families of puppies that I worked passionately to raise, I also want to ensure the families feel just as supported and connected to my program as I am.

In a very close second, a “Google Search” is the next most popular way that people hear about CNR Farms. Therefore, I work closely with a website manager that helps market CNR Farms by linking certain key words people might search to connect them to my page. This is to help make it easier for people to find my page and learn about my program through relevant searches.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cnrfarms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnrfarms1/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cnrfarms
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cnr_farms

Image Credits

A Shot in Time Photography