Our Story
We are a family-owned business making deer antler chews from our own home. Formerly the O’Fallon Antler Company, our company was begun (on a whim) in December 2014. A couple years before, we had purchased several whole antler racks on Craigslist, which we cut into chews for our dog Sam. The antler chews were lasting a long time and we still had so many more that Sam would likely never go through. Restless and always compelled with the urge to clean out, Amanda offered them up on a local Facebook buy/sell/trade group during the holidays and quickly sold out.
This led to us buying more antler racks and setting up an online store to sell them. We also go around to trade shows and pet expos from time to time.
We have added more members to our family since then, but we STILL do everything ourselves. This is not an outsourced business. Every product you receive has passed through our hands multiple times, and there is a very high level of quality control. Any problems you ever have, we WILL answer and help you.
James
James is a retired steel worker and future cybersecurity consultant. I am currently working on my bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity. I have had a knack for computers my whole life but never thought to pursue it as a career until now. I worked at U.S. Steel for almost 9 years before resigning to move my growing family to Arizona in 2020.
Interests: My hobbies and interests are computers and electronics, video games, and going on hikes and bike rides with my family. I also love ice cream and anyone who knows me can confirm I eat a banana split every single night! (Side story, I lost over 60 pounds when I cut out junk food and started eating in moderation. To reward myself for healthy eating, every night I eat a banana split which includes plenty of bananas, nuts, and fresh fruit over ice cream.)
Roles with O’Antler: For the antler business, I do the back-end security/website maintenance. I also manufacture all the antler pieces, from scrubbing and cutting the raw antlers, grinding the ends, and sterilizing all the pieces before they get weighed and sorted.
Amanda
Amanda graduated from St. Louis College of Pharmacy in 2014, the same year we were married and then later began the antler company. I worked as a scientific writer for a pharmaceutical company for 6 years until we moved to Arizona and Haleigh was born. Now I am a stay-at-home mom.
Interests: I love to cook and make fresh meals 4 or 5 times a week. I used to bake, but in an effort to eat healthier, our family has scaled back on dessert, junk food, and takeout. Surprisingly I don’t miss it that much and stay busy enough with the kids and everything else. I also love biking, hiking, and swimming, especially since we can do those things with the kids along. I used to do a lot of art/upcycling projects before the kids were born. In high school, I painted murals in four classrooms and also completed over a dozen paintings for different teachers as part of my art studio project during my senior year. I hope to get back into art when the kids get older.
Roles with O’Antler: I work on packaging orders, supply/inventory, advertising, website content, and customer service. I also work with James on the manufacturing end, where I mostly perform quality control (weighing the antler pieces and making sure the antlers are clean and free of defects).
Brielle
Brielle was born in 2015, less than a year after we started the antler company. She traveled quite a lot as a baby, coming with us to pet expos around the country.
She is extremely outgoing and makes friends easily. We jokingly named her our “family ambassador” because she seems to make contacts wherever we go. Brielle is an avid reader, great at math, and loves art, science, music, dressing up, and building with anything. She has a big heart and tons of boundless energy than allows her to push through anything!
Eva
Eva was born in 2019 and although she’s 3 ½ years younger than Brielle, they play together like twins.
She is substantially more shy than Brielle, but becomes extremely chatty once she opens up. Eva is a loving and nurturing girl who’s incredibly – almost suspiciously – observant, and even at a very young age, seems to understand the subtle nuances of communication and can sense the emotions of others. She loves to play pretend and take care of her stuffed animals and babies, as well as anything messy like painting or kinetic sand. She is always looking for the chance to help Mom, especially in the kitchen.
Haleigh
Haleigh was born in 2020, just after we moved to Arizona. She is 18 months younger than Eva.
She is our wild-card, as most families with three kids would say. Haleigh has progressed on physical milestones, like bouncing on the trampoline, riding a bike, jumping off the couch – the usual stuff – much earlier than the other two and has learned to be careful and nimble on her feet. It’s hard to hold her back from anything her older sisters attempt! Haleigh is incredibly cuddly and doesn’t mind sitting with us on the couch.