Category Archives: New England Farm Weekly

by Tamara Scully
Dairy farming is a family affair. When an improperly installed milking system almost drove Will Kennedy’s Vermont dairy out of business, the family refused to fold, and re-evaluated their priorities. A return back to Connecticut, where Kennedy’s brother was milking cows, gave them the opportunity to begin again. Continue reading→

by Lorraine Strenkowski
Jeffrey Cone, owner of River Plain Dairy in Lebanon, CT has his registered Holsteins evaluated annually. He met with classifier Mike Nolan, a former dairy farmer from New York state, for an early morning appointment. Cone provides registration papers for his herd and he and Nolan stay ahead of the milker as they move through the 45 cow dairy barn.
“This is important to me,” Cone states. “I’m proud of my herd and their milk production.” Continue reading→

by George Looby, DVM
In October the first of a series of three statewide workshops was held at the Senexet Grange in Woodstock, CT to discuss the workings of the several land trust programs existing within the state and means of achieving greater uniformity and clarity in the way in which they are presented to the land owners who may be interested in participating. This series of meetings was developed by the American Farmland Trust (ATF) in partnership with the Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC) and the Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT) to develop model easement terms and conditions to include in conservation easements that are protecting land for agricultural use. Continue reading→

by Laura Rodley
When Louisa Conrad and Lucas Farrell came to Peaked Mountain Farm in Townshend, VT three years ago to help with farm-caretaking, they didn’t know that they would start a thriving candy business, selling award winning caramels made from their own goat’s milk online and wholesale to 200 stores nationwide. They had an inkling only of a small business when they took on caretaking of sheep for the sheep dairy with permission to bring their own goats.

Since then, they have purchased 87 acres of the farm on top of steep Peaked Mountain Road, renamed it Big Picture Farm, and have four full time employees. Continue reading→