PORTERFIELD EXOTICS

HOMEPAGE

BRAD JR.

  Updated 3/30/08

  Hi I'm Brad Jr. the owner and Manager of Porterfield Exotics.  Let me tell you just a bit about myself and my experiences in this field.  I was born and raised here in Northeast WI and have spent all but a few years of my life here on the farm.  At age 5 I started doing farm work and was given the responsibility of feeding the baby calves for our then primarily beef and dairy heifer operation. 

  My father drove truck and was gone a week at a time while my brother and I under the supervision of my grandfather took care of the farm chores.  Growing up I think we had every domestic type animal one could think of as well as a number of orphaned or injured wild animals.  I spent many hours as a boy growing up walking the woods and playing in the stream near our farm.  I caught, brought home, kept and studied every critter I could find.  I took a special interest in the reptiles and amphibians.  I have kept, studied and worked with Reptiles and amphibians for over 35 years now and am one of very few people in WI with knowledge and experience in the keeping and proper care and handling of venomous species and large constrictors. 

  I am founder and president of NEWHerp (North East WI Herpetological Association).  I do talks and live animal presentations for many schools, clubs, and other organizations.   Several years back I took a coarse in wildlife rehabilitation and obtained a WDNR Wildlife Rehabilitation License and have rehabilitated a number of wild creatures. 

  I continued to farm standard agricultural animals while dabbling in wild and exotic animals as well.  Soon I realized that the pet and exotic type animals were more to my liking than the standard food and fiber animals.  Gradually I switched over from the standard farm animals to the more unusual exotic animals.  We always had dogs and cats on the farm and had several litters of puppies and kittens every year.  I have bred a number of breeds over the years including Great Dane, St. Bernard, Staffordshire Terrier, Beagles, and more.  For the past 10 years I have concentrated on my Boxers and have recently  added a second breed to our kennel.  I have decided to add the American Bulldog and Boxer X ABD Hybrids. 

  I became quite interested in breeding cats about 5 years ago and came across the opportunity to take over a Bengal and Pixie Bob breeding program from a closing cattery in 2004.  Due to slow cat sales and other interests I recently decided to cut way back to breeding just a couple litters of cats a year and am letting my girls live out the remainder of their lives as farm cats.

  I became interested in Boer goats a few years back as the demand has increased and the cost of breeding stock has become more affordable.  I currently have a few goats around for weed control and an occasional meat goat sale but am not planning any big numbers at this time. 

  I have always had a horse around the farm but in 2004 expanded to buying, breeding, and selling a few horses.  Due to the slump in the horse market and the increased feed and care costs I am reducing my horse inventory to just a few of my favorites.  The horse market is saturated and breeding many more horses is just irresponsible breeding at this time.

   I have been breeding the pot bellied pigs off and on as the demand increases and decreases for the past 10 years.  To make room for new projects I just sold my remaining breeding group of P.B. pigs to a small zoo in Northeast WI.

   I have worked with,  handled, bought, sold, and bred a large number of unusual and exotic animals over the years.  Animals have been a huge part of my life I may be 40 + years old now but still am just a farm boy at heart. 

  Oh ya, I do have a real job as well, as Mom puts it. lol   I work full time in a plant that manufactures the pistons for many of the automotive and industrial equipment companies, Including GM, Ford, Chrysler, John Deere, Cummins, International, Caterpillar, Harley Davidson, Hummer, and many more.  I currently work on the line that manufactures pistons for the Cummins diesel engines.