Kitzman’s Farm Sanctuary Makes Plea for More Land

“We turn away animals every day,” Tracy Kitzman said. “We need more space.”

The space she and her husband, Steve, are looking at is 75 acres that abuts their land owned by the Dixon School District. The couple has been in discussions about acquiring the land for the past five years. On Tuesday, June 2, they invited school board members, city council members, and state elected officials to tour their facility. 

“We want to build an education center where students can get hands-on experience working with agriculture,” Tracy Kitzman said, who has a college and several high school students who volunteer on the farm. 

The roadblock to Kitzman’s vision remains the school board, according to Steve Kitzman.

“They talk about maybe building an athletic center,” Steve Kitzman said. “There are better places for that.”

School board member Melissa Gates said the farm sanctuary impressed her, but she was not willing to commit to saying yes to the Kitzmans buying the school property. 

“I’d say it is open for discussion,” said Gates, the only school board member in attendance. “We have to decide what’s best for the students and the community.”

The school property line lies just a few steps from a pen that houses a pig named Bacon that suffers from arthritis. According to Tracy Kitzman, it costs between $3,000 to $5,000 a month to care for the animals. Many of the farm animals living on the sanctuary need veterinary care. Taryn Pfeiffer, DVM, a farm veterinarian from Polo, is on the sanctuary’s board, along with current and former teachers with the Dixon school district.

If the sanctuary acquires the land, the plan includes building a larger education facility for students and hosting workshops. The extra space would allow for the construction of a larger barn for animal care and student training. 

If they cannot purchase the property, the farm will have to limit the number of students who can participate in hands-on learning, according to the Kitzmans. It would limit the access for members of Future Farmers of America and agriculture courses.

“Everything is privately funded,” Steve Kitzman said. 

The farmhouse, built in 1852, is where Abraham Lincoln spent the night before the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate in Freeport. According to Steve Kitzman, the former president came to stay with his friend and owner, Silas Nobel. 

Even without additional space, the farm is still attracting visitors, according to Tracy Kitzman. People from Kreider Services visit the farm every week. The Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars have toured the farm. 

Tracy Kitzman, who is a full-time teacher, used to spend two hours after work caring for and feeding the animals. She now has a manager to help, along with their volunteers. 

“We have students who volunteer through the (Sauk Valley Community College’s) IMPACT program,” Tracy Kitzman said. 

Addison Fegan, a student at Dixon High School, remembers her first day volunteering in July 2025. The farm had just received puppies. 

“I love working with the animals,” said Fegan, who plans to attend the University of Wisconsin in River Falls, Wisc. “There’s something new every day.”

Fegan even adopted a puppy, whom she named Kali, which was part of a litter that was there the first day she volunteered.

Besides volunteers, the sanctuary will also accept donations. According to the Kitzmans, the farm goes through 1,000 bales of hay per year. To offset the cost, the farm has its own hay fields, which it harvests three times a year. They go through a bag of horse food a week. 

For more information about Kitzman’s Farm Sanctuary, go to kitzmansfarmsanctuary.com. It is a non-profit organization.