This is the story of two families…
…the Hodge's and the
Schofield's and the dairy farm they founded in 1990. The
farm is affectionately referred to as a "4-H project
gone haywire."
It all began twelve years ago when the Hodge's purchased
Echo Farm in Hinsdale, NH with the intent of owning a horse
and a few sheep. That all changed when they met the Schofield
family, who had recently built a barn and were raising and
showing Jersey calves. The two families became good friends
who agreed on virtually everything, except the breed of
cows to own. The Schofield's loved the Jersey breed, while
the Hodge's preferred the Milking Shorthorn breed. In 1990,
the Hodge's purchased five Milking Shorthorn heifers: Lolly,
Ticket, Candle, Royal, and Megan. That same year, Maple
(a Jersey) was born into the Schofield family, from their
cow Misty. Misty was bought in 1988 as a show calf and lived
at a farm in Walpole after Maple was born (almost every
Jersey on the farm with a name beginning with "M"
is related to her). Both families had no idea that the purchase
of those first few animals would give rise to the modern
dairy farm that exists today.
Eight years ago, our first Milking Shorthorn, Ticket, gave
birth to her first calf and instantly we were in the dairy
business. We all vividly remember camping out by her pen
for days, anxiously awaiting the arrival of that calf. After
the calf arrived, we milked Ticket in the Hodge's garage.
As more cows calved, plans began to surface for a full scale
dairy operation.
Today, we milk 80 cows and have more than 160 animals.
In the spirit of a true partnership, the herd has remained
half Jerseys and half Milking Shorthorns. Although our herd
has grown since those original six cows, we have not changed
the way we treat our animals (we have even been known to
bring newborn calves in the house on cold winter days).
The two families started the farm with the intent of being
unlike any other farm. Our cows have names, not numbers;
in fact, they are treated like members of the family. We
pride ourselves on providing our cows with a pleasant and
loving environment. They show their appreciation by producing
award winning, great tasting, high quality milk, to which
we add all natural ingredients to bring you our premium
line of puddings.
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