Residents mingle with donkeys, ponies, llamas and more at farm

Seven ponies, two donkeys, one horse, three llamas, five sheep, four pigs, eight goats, 20 chickens, three ducks, seven rabbits and some odd doves and cockatiels, the manager of J.R. Pony Farm lists.

"Coco is a goat and doesn't know it," Kathleen Meehan says.

Meehan goes by "Cowgirl Kathy" around the 3-acre farm at 1753 Fairhaven Ave., and it takes her more than a breath to list all the urban farm's animal inhabitants.

"She has a partridge in a pear tree, also," said Saul Sherman, Meehan's stepfather and fellow farm hand.

Meehan's mother, Judith Roberts-Sherman, 75, is better known as "Pony Lady," and she has ruled the roost at the farm since buying it from a former Strip show back up singer 35 years ago.

Since then -- when everything past the dirt road of Jones Boulevard was a dumping ground, Roberts-Sherman said -- the family has fostered its farm into a family-friendly destination.

Clark County recently gave the green light for the farm to continue hosting its regular birthday parties, camps and Tuesdays at the Farm open house days.

Donning her signature red cowboy hat, Roberts-Sherman enjoys trailing visitors, at the ready to fire off farm facts.

"Who knows how to pet a donkey or a pony?" she starts, addressing a group of mothers and their toddler-aged children at a recent Tuesdays at the Farm event. "Only touch his forehead or neck, not near the mouth."

Roberts-Sherman and Meehan are trying to instill some of the magic of farm life in kids, they say.

Roberts-Sherman spent many formative years on a 236-acre ranch in California. Her daughter wears a hat today that reads, "Yes, I was raised in a barn," a nod to her upbringing.

"It's sad that the lifestyle America was built on is going away," Roberts-Sherman said. "I think it's sad when kids don't get a chance to see a farm (or) even feed a horse."

When new visitors pass through the entrance, Roberts-Sherman said she often tells them to use their imagination to pretend they're in the Wild West.

Visitors are invited to do all of the above and more during J.R. Pony Farm events.

Tuesdays at the Farm are hosted from 10 a.m. to noon on designated days. Events are planned on school holidays, too. Also, individual farm tours and parties are offered . That's how Roberts-Sherman started welcoming people to her property.

When her then-husband was battling cancer 20 years ago, he struck up relationships with the young patients, she said.

He would give them cards good for a free pony ride if "they took their chemo without a fuss," Roberts-Sherman said.

The incentive was a hit, and soon the kids' parents sought out J.R. Pony Farms for siblings' birthday parties.

Roberts-Sherman charges a small fee to visitors and relies on volunteers and donations for bigger-ticket needs.

"We just run on a shoestring," she said. "If someone were to donate a bigger septic tank, I would fall over them in gratefulness."

Roberts-Sherman lives on site to be close to the animals. An adjacent building and shed were the first known buildings on the road when she moved in, she said.

The family has kept the operation small despite regularly accepting rescue animals. Several of the animals were left at the farm's gate, while others were disabled and unwanted before Roberts-Sherman took them in.

"The little barn over there is even a rescue," she said. "There are so many rescues here."

One rabbit is named S.S. for "Super Survivor."

James Guthrie began bringing his four children to the farm eight years ago, and he incorporates it into the family's homeschooling.

"The best thing is the fact that my kids get to be around the animals," he said. "It's been great to exposure for them."

He said his children draw from Meehan, Sherman and Roberts-Sherman's "great passion" for their work.

Guthrie volunteers for them, and his children are regulars at their camps and Tuesdays at the Farm.

Roberts-Sherman said the farm has stayed afloat thanks to the kindness of others and the many "angels" who have passed through its gates.

"I think this truly is a blessed place," Roberts-Sherman said.

She met and married her husband on the farm. "We say Saul came to a birthday party and never left," Meehan said.

The couple are active in farm affairs.

"I'm 71, my husband is 75, and I think it's keeping us young," Roberts-Sherman said. "It really makes me feel like I have a reason for living."

For more information, visit jrponyparties.com or call 631-4142.

Contact Centennial and North Las Vegas View reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@viewnews.com or 477-3839.