Since 1777, Brigeen Farms has been a successful dairy farm located in Turner, Maine. The current owners, Betsy and Bill Bullard, are the 10th generation on the farm. They have been working full-time on the farm since 2000 and took over ownership around 2010.
The Bullards own 1,400 acres of land and 600 registered and mature Holsteins. Throughout the past few decades, the Bullards have gradually improved their facilities and increased their herd from 65 milking Holsteins in 2000 to 530 milking animals today. The farm is equipped with a double-12 parallel milking parlor, where the cows are milked three times a day. They have a rolling herd average of 31,966 lbs.
As members of Dairy Farmers of America, “the vast majority of our milk goes to be further processed, not on the farm,” Betsy said. The small amount of milk they keep on the farm is used to make frozen custard that they sell seasonally at the Canty Cow Creamery.
When it comes to making the Holsteins’ feed, Betsy said they have a local family that custom plants and harvests corn and mixed grasses for them to use. Although the cows do not graze on pasture, “we work with a nutritionist that designs the diet” and helps them fill in missing components.
All breeding on the farm is through AI, and the cows are fitted with Allflex SCR collars to help track health and breeding activity.
Betsy and Bill, along with their four working family members and eight full-time employees, are very passionate about cow comfort. Betsy said the cows are housed in sand-bedded free-stalls. “That certainly seems like the gold standard for cow comfort, and cow behavior tells us that that’s the case,” she said.
With the Allflex SCR collars, the staff can recognize indications of heat stress. The team makes a point to look at the collar data and try to brainstorm on what they can do better, Betsy said, such as adding fans or adjusting group placement.
Brigeen Farms has staying power – it is currently being run by its 10th generation. Photo courtesy of Brigeen Farms
Although it may seem straightforward that cow health and comfort is important, it’s not always the top priority for farmers. Betsy believes this extra attention dedicated to the cows’ comfort has a clear payback. From an economic standpoint, there are “some simple changes you can make that increase milk production without huge investments, or decrease cull rates.”
The Bullards are also passionate about educating the public about where their food comes from and how a modern dairy operation is run. For the past two years, Brigeen Farms served as a host farm for the Adopt a Cow Program, run by the Dairy Excellence Foundation and Discover Dairy. With this program, the Bullards hosted farm tours to educate students about their dairy production. Looking back, Betsy said, “It was a great opportunity to interact with classrooms, provide some factual information … and teach people some more about dairy.”
Brigeen Farms was one of 12 dairy businesses to earn a 2024 Dairy Food Safety & Certification Grant Award by the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center. With their grant, they plan to update their milkhouse that was last updated in the 1950s.
Betsy admitted, “As [the farm has] grown, there are certainly infrastructure aspects of the farm that are lagging behind” – the farm was not originally built to milk over 500 cows. The milkhouse project is currently in progress, with the goal to have it up and running this autumn.
Betsy also hopes to improve their milk storage and handling systems, as it would be a “tremendous benefit for us to be able to have a centralized location that’s more efficient.” A more centralized location would allow for better communication between employees, provide a more sustainable set of jobs and would help them standardize processes around the farm.
The Bullards are very proud of the improvements and growth they’ve made on the farm, but there’s always more that can be done. Especially since this is a multi-generational farm, Betsy added, “When we look to do any upgrades, we certainly have in our minds that we need to be doing work to make sure the business is viable long-term.”
Their goals include continuously updating their facilities and processes and transitioning older parts of the farm to be more efficient.
For more information, visit brigeenfarms.com.
by Kelsi Devolve
Kelsi, I have enjoyed seeing your articles. Looks like you are really into what you started at UNH. I would like to get in touch to talk about possible article(s) about CREAM. Drew