Hometown: Springfield, Mo.
Family: Partner Yan Liu
In Town: Brad Todd has been with the U.S. Postal Service since 1990.
“I’ve always been a clerk, doing various jobs,” he explained. “In March, I moved over to the Bulk Mail Office. My last job was looking for things, like lost packages.”
In the Country: Brad grew up in Bourbon, Mo., a small town in Crawford County, but did on a farm.
In 2019, he had the opportunity to become a caretaker for a farm near Springfield and eventually moved there.
“Moving to the farm was just trying something new,” Brad said. “I like to travel and things, but this is something new every day, not just going out of town to find something exciting.”
Brad and his partner, Yan Liu, live on the 10-acre property with chickens, ducks, goats and geese.
“At first, we just had a few chickens for us to have eggs,” he explained. “Eventually, we got more chickens and then ducks. We got to where we could sell a few, but we have mostly given them away to friends who are always glad to get farm-fresh eggs. The duck and goose eggs are used in a lot of Chinese cooking, so Yan’s Chinese friends are always happy to get those.”
Brad said he and Yan also keep eggs for their own use, pickling some and serving them with toast. They have about five ducks, four geese and 20 chickens. They have selected brown egg-laying chickens and have allowed natural hatching.
Goats came to the farm to help clean up poison ivy, but the herd has grown.
“We started out with three and are up to 12 now,” Brad said. “When we got them, they were kidding during that big cold snap in 2021, and we didn’t know what we were doing, but we made it through.”
The goats are Nigerian Dwarf and Nubian mixes. While the breeds are known for their quality milk, Brad and Yan do not milk them.
“When they’ve had babies, we’ve milked them a little to get milk for them, just in case they didn’t take to the nipple, but milking is too labor intensive.”
Future Plans: Brad and Yan may move back into town future, which will prohibit how many animals they have and what type, but Brad said the chickens will be coming along.
“The owners want to sell the property,” Brad said. “I know now that chickens aren’t that hard to raise, and I can see the benefits of it. It gives you a good feeling to go outside each day and take care of them, and you get rewarded with fresh eggs. I’m a town guy, but there are stills some things you can do in town, things I’ve learned out there.”
