Building a first-generation dairy

Shipping milk and making cheese are a winning combination for the Webbs

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Enosburg Falls, Vermont — Tyler and Melanie Webb are first-generation dairy farmers. In fact, Tyler hadn’t ever milked a cow when his herd started calving, so he had to ask a neighbor to come over and show him how to use the milker.

But almost two decades into dairying, they are seasoned graziers with a spring-seasonal herd, an Organic Valley market, and an artisan cheese business.

The Webbs steward around 400 acres, with 275 owned and the rest rented. There are 160 acres of pasture and 120 acres for perennial stored forage, and the rest of the land is managed woodland or set aside for riparian, wildlife, and pollinator habitat. There are 70 milking cows here on the farm in northwestern Vermont.

“Efficient grazing machines”

The farm consists of mostly silt loams. Rocks abound (hence the name Stony Pond Farm), so sward change happens through frost seeding improved red and white clovers, not tillage and reseeding. Management is part of it too.

“Our main route for improving pastures is through stocking density and frequency of moves,” Tyler explains.

March 12, 2025March 12, 2025

Setting up for growth in grassfed

Changes to management and infrastructure are key for the Hershbergers

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Editor’s note: Graze likes to check in with previously featured farmers. Here’s an update from a northeastern Ohio grassfed dairy producer (Graze March 2020).

Fredericksburg, Ohio — Infrastructure and management changes have set the stage for David and Emily Hershberger’s dairy to grow.

The main goal is to open the door for the next generation.

“Our son got married, and he’d like to come home and farm,” David explains.

A new parlor, groundwork for freestall expansion, and management changes like fall-seasonal calving and nurse cows are part of pursuing that goal.

And since the couple and their 12-year-old daughter Eve are the only labor right now, those changes also make things more manageable from a labor standpoint.

February 7, 2025February 7, 2025

From once- to twice-daily milking

The Murrays spent their time on OAD on projects to make life easier

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Truxton, New York — Time is a limited commodity, and that’s one of the reasons some dairy farmers, including Ryan and Annie Murray (Graze January 2021), choose to milk once a day (OAD). With more cows than their 80-cow tie stall milking setup could hold in one batch, it was the most workable choice given their labor constraints back in 2020.

But instead of being a long-term fit, OAD milking ended up being a stepping stone back to more efficient twice-daily (TAD) milking with their expanding herd.

The Murrays had talked with a number of OAD graziers who told them that the key to success is good management of the additional time from milking less.

“It’s all about what you do with your time,” Annie says. “Lots of people use that time to make money. We didn’t earn money, but we spent time on projects that made twice-a-day milking easier.”

January 6, 2025February 7, 2025

Grazing success on a large scale

Jordan Settlage has found creative ways to make it work

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

St. Mary’s, Ohio — A decade ago Jordan Settlage started a dairy with seven cows. Today he’s milking 350 head on 400 acres with 270-300 days on pasture each year. Grazing has been key to profitability every step of the way.

Even back in elementary school, Jordan was sure that he wanted to be a dairy farmer. His father, John, grew up milking cows and wanted to make sure his son knew what he was getting into, so Jordan started helping out on a neighbor’s conventional dairy when he was 14.

He worked off and on at the dairy for a dozen years with a few years away for an Army tour of Iraq and college, and it confirmed for him that he wanted to milk cows and that he didn’t want to do it in confinement.

So Jordan dove into creating a grass dairy. He had a leg up, since there was a family farm to come home to and some existing infrastructure — his grandpa and uncle had milked until the late 80s on this farm before John took over the farm and did crops and pastured livestock.

The 1986-built milking parlor was still there, although the equipment had been gutted and sold. For just under $50,000, Jordan, with help from John, made the parlor usable again, including pouring the deck higher since the pit was too shallow.

November 8, 2024

Processor values grassfed demand

Nordik Meats finds success serving a variety of alternative meat producers

By Joel McNair

Viroqua, Wisconsin — “If there was no such thing as grassfed beef,” says Joel Morrison, “We wouldn’t be as successful as we are.”

Lots of grass farmers might make such a statement, but Joel is not one of them. Instead he is the general manager for Nordik Meats, an unusual meat processor with an uncommon ownership structure that produces some interesting end products in addition to the usual sides, quarters, and retail cuts.

Beef tallow, pork lard, bone broth — these and other products often associated with micro-processing ventures are a growing part of Nordik Meats, a USDA-inspected plant with 25 employees serving a handful of grassfed/alternative meat marketing organizations in addition to much smaller producers having processing done for their own consumption and direct-market sales.

Certainly the traditional cuts account for the bulk of Nordik’s business. Grassfed beef and lamb, plus pastured pigs, are by no means everything the plant does: Joel says that grassfed accounts for roughly half of the total volume here.

But Joel sees grassfed meats and the associated added-value products as important to Nordik’s future as “cornerstone” customers such as 99 Counties (Graze January 2023) and Wisconsin Meadows innovate and grow, and smaller, often direct-to-market ventures tap rising interest in grass-finished, organic, and local meats.

September 30, 2024

Bringing a new generation into dairy

MacKenzie Wallace finds a place on 156-year-old grazing farm

By Martha Hoffman Kerestes

Whitingham, Vermont — MacKenzie Wallace knew he wanted to make a career in the grazing dairy world. He also knew it would be a challenge since there was no family farm to work into.

A few turns in the road later, this young Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (DGA) graduate is working with seasoned dairy grazier Leon Corse in south-central Vermont (Graze April 2020) where he completed his apprenticeship in 2021.

When MacKenzie first came back as hired labor earlier this year, he started taking on more management decisions. He is now being transitioned into the operation more fully.

They’re both optimistic about the future.

Getting into dairy

MacKenzie didn’t grow up on a farm, but he gravitated toward agriculture nonetheless.