Merle Oxley was raised on a small farm in Hancock County, IA during the motorization revolution that took place early in the 20th century in American agriculture. The happiest day in his father’s life was the day the last draft horse was sold and replaced by a tractor. That left a hole in Merle’s heart and one in his head. The hole in his heart was filled in the middle 1970s when he bought his first Percherons. Yvonne and Yvette were a pair of Chief Max twin daughters that helped lay the foundation for our breeding program today. In the early days, the horses taught us as much as we taught them. With the help of a now departed friend, Kenny Kuhn, we tried our hand at most any horse-drawn piece of equipment we could cobble together. Ironically as the years have passed, and our herd has grown, we have much less time to work the horses on anything but a manure spreader.

Much of our current breeding stock is descended from our former senior herd sire, Bittersweet Enchanted DID. “Ed,” as we call him, is a black son of prolific stud South Valley Did It and now is owned by Robert and Sara Watson of Everson, WA. Our new senior Stallion is Van Line Willie, by Cedarview Lonesome Wee Willie. Junior sire Hillside Luther’s Champ is really developing into a terrific breeding stallion. All of our stallions are black and available for outside mares for live cover breeding for $500/mare/season.
Our mare herd is split 50/50 with blacks and grays. The bloodlines include the names, MG’s Prince, Windermere’s King Cong, Blackhome Granduer Lyn, Sterling’s Duke, “Ed,” J.P. Pete, Northwoods Midnight Sun, and many others.

During the winter months most of our bred mares bide their time and putting on weight for the spring foaling season. The younger fillies and open mares get to take their turns on the spreader and bobsled in preparation for the spring field work and parade seasons. We recently purchased a new show harness and will be making more public appearances at shows and parades. Originally started as a way Merle could earn extra income for retirement to supplement grandchildren’s educational needs, it has become one of the leading producers of registered Percherons in the country. Wife Millie and daughter Kim Jacobsen handle the finances and books while son Todd is in charge of nearly all the physical and intellectual work and contributes most of the ideas and inspiration for nearly every facet of the operation (including web page design and text/ad writing).

Each spring the arrival of new foals is a busy and exciting time for us. Most stud colts are sold at weaning time and we always have pairs of mares and fillies mated and ready for sale.