Tunnel Hill Farms near Leechburg home to unusual herd of animals
Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things that they do.
Few people know about Tunnel Hill Farms, a plot of around 100 acres, tucked away near Leechburg.
And probably fewer know it contains a barnyard of unusual farm animals — water buffalo, Scottish Highland cows, angora goats, peacocks, guineas, llamas, camels, horses, donkeys, goats, geese, ducks … the list goes on.
But that’s OK with owner Chet Welch, 56.
“We pretty much keep them to ourselves,” said Welch. “It’s more of a private thing.”
Welch said raising the animals was a hobby. It was never a business venture. He doesn’t operate the farm as a petting zoo or a party location. He never slaughters any of his animals. There is really no grand purpose driving the place.
“I just enjoy spending time with them,” Welch said.
As Welch walks around the Allegheny Township farm, he is trailed by a small zebu — a type of cattle native to India that frequently appears in Nativity scenes. This particular zebu, April, spent two months living inside with Welch after a difficult birth. Now, she follows him around the property like a basset hound.
When he enters one of his several fenced fields, the cattle crowd around him, nestling him. He wraps his arms around them, calling them by name. There are Vivian, Sophia and Wendell.
Welch gives his animals human-sounding names based on their personalities, he said.
“They’ve kind of accepted me into their herd, and now they’re very protective of me,” he said.
Entering the nearby barn, he points to his two camels, Cairo and Tut, and the pile of New Zealand kunekune pigs, snoring loudly in a stall.
“I always like something different,” Welch said.
Welch always knew he would find himself raising exotic beasts, especially cattle. Growing up, his family raised race horses and cattle on a farm, but he was always partial to the cows. He said as a small child, he would spend hours just watching them and participating in farm shows with them.
When he was 48, Welch competed on the TV show “Survivor: Micronesia.” After the show, he spent two weeks in Thailand, where one day, he saw a water buffalo being led down the street by a young child. He knew he had to have one.
At that point, Welch only had sheep. He quickly acquired water buffalo (his favorite) and expanded to more exotic cattle.
Welch worked at a pharmacy for 29 years and is now retired. He started collecting his eccentric creatures at his family farm in Ford City, operating on just two acres and always in want of space. He relocated to Leechburg almost 10 years ago for the chance to expand.
Now, while he does have somewhere around 30 turkeys, chickens and roosters, macaws and other birds flapping about his other animals, he concentrates mostly on the show cattle, like 1-year-old Vanderbilt, a Highland bull who loves attention and has the perfect personality of a “show boy,” Welch said. He buys his cattle from breeders, focusing on cultivating a strong bloodline. He said one of his Highland heifers is the daughter of a bull belonging to Queen Elizabeth.
Welch takes his cattle to shows around the country. He recently returned from Denver, Colorado, for a national show with his Highland cattle. They took first place in several divisions. Next up, he is slated to travel to Mercer for another show.
“I always knew I would have cattle,” Welch said. “I don’t think there was ever a time when I didn’t think I would be doing this.”
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