Massachusetts Outstanding Dairy Farm of the Year

The University of Massachusetts Crops, Dairy, Livestock, and Equine team would like to congratulate Clessons River Farm for receiving the 2022 Outstanding Dairy Farm Award. Clessons River Farm is a five-generation dairy farm. The farm transitioned to robotics in 2019. Currently, Melissa and Paul Griffin are milking around 60 cows on roughly 330 acres of land.

Bree-Z-Knoll Farm, nestled in the beautiful pastoral hills of Leyden, MA began in the early 70’s when Warren and Sandie Facey purchased their first cows for their children, Lisa, Scott and Randy, to show in 4-H.  Warren and Sandie grew the herd to 40 milking cows with a focus on rotational grazing and in 1997, Warren and Sandie became founding members of the Our Family Farms Cooperative - a successful, local brand of milk found throughout Massachusetts.

Tully Farm has been a family owned and operated business for six generations. In 1872, The Tully Family began farming in Dunstable MA with Henry and Mary Tully’s  purchase of the original farm on Hollis Street. Their sons, Charles E. and Herbert, purchased the Drake Farm in 1901. Charles E. purchased the Rideout Farm property at our current location on Fletcher Street in 1919. Charles and his son George continued to add land to the farm in Dunstable, Pepperell MA and Hollis NH.

Rogers Farm is a story of determination, perseverance, and the effort to remain viable as a small farm in an increasingly centralized, commodity driven age.

Growing up on my father’s and uncle’s farm, Earl and Wesley Rogers in Mendon, MA taught me the virtues of hard work, and making do.  Losing both of them within a year while attending Stockbridge School of Agriculture, UMass forced me to drop out and put that mentorship to work running the farm until liquidation. 

Pine Island Farm is a third generation diary farm located at 1474 Hewins St, Sheffield, MA. The Aragi family has been farming at this location since 1964. Thomas Aragi, Louis Sr’s father, purchased the original parcel of 179 acres. Today the farm consists of over 1594 acres. The dairy operation is a partnership jointly owned by Louis Aragi Sr. And Louis Aragi Jr. Pine Island farm houses approximately 1500 head of diary cattle. The farm generates approximately 20,000,000 pounds of milk annually.

Barstow’s Longview Farm has been a working dairy farm since the early 1800s situated in a small picturesque hamlet called “Hockanum” which has been designated as a National Historic District on Route 47 in Hadley. They are member-owners of Cabot Creamery, a 1,100+ farm family dairy cooperative with members in New England and upstate NY. Barstow’s Longview Farm is run by 6th generation brothers, Steven and David, along with Steve II, 7thgeneration.

Sidehill Farm is a small, family-run dairy producing fresh, delicious yogurt, sour cream, and raw milk from the milk of their grass-fed cows. Sidehill’s Normande and Jersey cows graze and kick up their heels on a little piece of big sky country right at the top of the Berkshire Hills – 225 acres of rolling ridgetop and waving grass at 1830 feet of elevation, under the watchful gaze of Mount Monadnock.

Carter and Stevens Farm, Barre, Massachusetts 

The Carter and Stevens Farm was established in 1938, when Donald Carter purchased the Allen Farm in Barre, MA and began milking cows under a tent.  Five generations later, the farm continues to produce milk of excellent quality.  The farm currently has the largest acreage of pasture in the state, producing exceptional feed for the milk producers.

The University of Massachusetts Crops, Dairy, Livestock, and Equine team would like to congratulate Hornstra Farm for recieving the 2013 Outstanding Dairy Farm Award.  Hornstra Farm has been a family owned and operated business for four generations.  In 1912, Anske and Agnes Hornstra, together with their six children, left their native home in Holland and boarded a ship bound for America, the land of opportunity.  Eventually, the family made their way to Hingham, Massachusetts and Hornstra Farms was born. 

The University of Massachusetts Crops, Dairy, Livestock, and Equine team would like to congratulate this year’s Massachusetts winner of the Green Pastures Award. A 5^th generation farm, Jordan Dairy Farm has been in existence since the late 1800s, and at its present location in Rutland, Massachusetts since 1941.

Chase Hill Farm, which is owned and operated by Mark and Jeannette Fellows, was established by Mark’s parents, Oliver and Virginia in 1957. After purchasing 200 acres from Oliver’s mother, his parents built the house and barn on the property. They fed their small herd of Holstein cows with continuous grazing and hay and sold the milk to Snows Dairy, H. P. Hood, and then to Garelick Farms. In the late 1970’s their oldest son Steven returned to the farm. With Steven’s help they intensified the management, fed more haylage and corn silage and raised production levels.

The farm was first established in 1719, by Solomon Holman and in time was passed down to his son Col. Jonathan Holman after the Revolutionary War; the original farm of 3,000 acres was a land grant from the King of England. The Fjellman Brothers bought the farm in the late 1920s, it was then passed down to their sons and eventually purchased by Robert & Barbara Pearson in 1987.

Joseph Allard established Allard’s Farm in 1935. The farm milked 120 Holsteins in a brand new and state of the art 226 foot x 36-foot gambrel stanchion barn that is still in use today, but it has been converted to a free stall facility. Joseph’s Grandson, Wayne Goulet returned to the farm after receiving his Master’s Degree in Economics from The American University in Washington, DC. After Joe Allards death, Wayne assumed full operational control and ownership, and has been running the farm for over 45 years.

In June 2008 the Shaw family celebrated the second century of their dairy operation. In 1908, Mark Loran Shaw founded a farm when dairy farmers used to do all the work without the aid of power driven equipment. "All of our dairy products were delivered door to door throughout the Greater Lowell area with a horse drawn wagon" Warren Shaw says. In 1927, 19 years after Henry Ford introduced the Model T Ford, technology came to Shaw Farm. The family traded in their delivery wagon, pulled by a horse, for a Dodge truck. In 1933, when M.L. Shaw died, Mark Jr. and Albert took over the operation.

In 1636 the Richardson's came to America from West Mill, England. They stopped at Charlestown and then helped settle the back pasture, Woburn. By 1695 David Richardson left Woburn and came to a part of Salem Village now known as Middleton. Since his arrival the Richardson's have milked cows in Middleton everyday since.

The Crop Dairy Livestock Committee members of University of Massachusetts Amherst Extension selected Robert and Martha Richardson in Warren as the Massachusetts 2006 Outstanding Dairy Farm. The Richardsons will be honored at the Green Pastures Awards Banquet to be held September 15 at the Big E. They honored on along with the honorees from the other New England States. The Green Pastures Award Program is in its 58th year and recognizes outstanding dairy farm management, forage crop management, and for leadership in the agricultural industry.

The New England Green Pastures Committee has announced its selection of Jerry and Mary Smith’s Smithson Holsteins in North Brookfield as the 2005 Outstanding Dairy Farm. The Smiths will be honored at an awards banquet to be held in conjunction with the Big E on September 16 along with the honorees from the other New England States.  The Green Pastures Award Program is in its 57th year and recognizes outstanding dairy farm management, forage crop management, and leadership in the industry.

John Kokoski was selected together with his family for this award in recognition of a very successful dairy enterprise in terms of soil management, crops, milk production, processing, and marketing. Located in rural Connecticut River valley in view of the University of Massachusetts campus in Amherst the Kokoskis operate small dairy farm with a long and interesting history.

David and Debbie Duprey were selected for this award because of their outstanding commitment and contribution to the dairy industry in Massachusetts. They are two of the founding members of Our Family Farms of Western Massachusetts who have shown innovation marketing their milk under the Our Family Farms label. Debbie is currently one of the co-managers for eight member farms in Our Family Farms. David attended the University of Massachusetts, and in the early 1980's during his last year of college, was joined by Debbie at the farm.