Twin Brook Farms and Livestock

Twin Brook Farms is a 7th generation family farm jointly managed for the last 11 years by husband and wife pair, Erik Roneker and Cassie Schweighofer.

Twin Brook Farms is best classified as a hay and pastured livestock farm, though we do have a half acre in vegetable production, an apple orchard, and our own bee hives. We maintain our farmland and forests with little to no external inputs. This means that our pastures and hayfields are fertilized with our own manure and compost and we never use pesticides or herbicides. We currently raise 60 head of beef cattle, 800 sheep and lambs, 20 goats, 40 hogs, and 150 or so free range chickens, and bee hives.

Our livestock are naturally raised with access to pasture all year round, with the small exception of some pigs which are housed in a barn on deep straw bedding during winter months. Over 95% of our livestock are direct marketed to consumers and we pride ourselves on supplying a high quality, great tasting product.   

Our History

The history of Twin Brook Farms has its roots in the immigration of our European ancestors many generations ago. Leaving a small town on the border of Austria and Germany and arriving by boat, the early Schweighofer's searched for a place to settle.  As luck would have it, they made their way to what is now Northeastern Pennsylvania.

According to our family lore, our ancestors chose this land because it reminded them of the farmland they had left behind.  Today, the land still looks much like it did from the beginning. The farm presents sharp hillsides littered with boulders and rock, meandering brooks, deep valleys, and small mountains covered in forest. 

To adequately utilize our unforgiving farmland we have chozen to rotationally graze our livestock. Not only do pastured animals live exactly how nature intended them to, but they are also happier and healthier for it.

Very few farms can say that they have been stewards of the same land for over 100 years, even fewer can say that they survived and even thrived without the support of a spouse who generates off farm income. Twin Brook Farms is both!

Our adaptability and diversity have resulted in a farm and landscape that has evolved to fit the times. Our farm has changed with agricultural demand over each generation, so strong is the will of the farmer to persist. Infrastructure has been erected and torn down. We have been dairy farmers, crop farmers, nursery stock farmers, poultry and egg farmers, beef, hog, sheep, goat, stone, timber, and hay farmers. At certain times, we have been all of these at once!

We believe that farming and agriculture require constant vigilance, record keeping, and renewed education to stay ahead. It is this belief that sets Twin Brook Farms apart from other crop and livestock farms of her caliber. Having both graduated from Cornell University, we have had the opportunity to study issues on the cutting edge of sustainable land management and agricultural innovation. We strive to utilize sound agricultural practices that have been scientifically tested and supported. 



Who We Are

Erik Roneker 

Erik is Cassie's husband and has a degree in Natural Resource Management from Cornell University.

Cassie (Schweighofer) Roneker 

As the youngest daughter of Ed, Cassie grew up on the farm. She has a B.S. in both Agricultural Science and Plant Science from Cornell University.

Edward Schweighofer

Ed Schweighofer is the current owner of Twin Brook Farms. He returns to the farm for the summer months to help harvest crops and spends the rest of the year at his orange grove in Florida.