BOOTSTRAP @ BLUE SAGE FARM – DEVELOPING A MARKETING PLAN:
By Laura Sluder Farmer’s markets have been the mainstay of my marketing plan for the past 9 years. They are a great way to get a small farm up and running with some cash flow but there are downsides to farmer’s markets. For one, they are usually only open in the summer but farm expenses […]
BOOTSTRAP @ CHASEHOLM FARM – REFLECTIONS ON MARKETING
By Sarah Lyons Chase of Chaseholm Farm This is post is coming at a good time for the farm, we were approved for raw milk sales last week and concrete was poured in our future tiny farm store. Getting into dairy farming from cheese making was like taking a step further behind the scenes, further […]
BOOTSTRAP @ THE GOLDEN YOKE – MARKETING & SALES
By Laura Ginsburg of The Golden Yoke For marketing, like the rest of our farm venture, we are starting small with big visions for the future. We currently have a logo, a Facebook page, a domain name, and the makings of a Kickstarter campaign. We have visions of shirts, stickers, ice cream cartons, a scoop […]
BOOTSTRAP @ CHASEHOLM FARM – THOUGHTS ON PASTURE MANAGEMENT
By Sarah Lyons Chase of Chaseholm Farm This is a big one. This is my first season ever and also my first season managing a rotationally grazed dairy herd. I think I have a lot to learn about how to maximize productivity of both grass and cow and it is fun to feel like I have […]
Bootstrap @ Chaseholm Farm – Marketing and Sales
This is post is coming at a good time for the farm, we were approved for raw milk sales last week and concrete was poured in our future tiny farm store. Getting into dairy farming from cheese making was like taking a step further behind the scenes, further away from farmers markets and retail pricing, […]
Bootstrap @ The Golden Yoke – Pasture Management
Pasture management in Montana is not just about building fence and moving cows. First and foremost it is about irrigation. Because of our arid climate we rely heavily on irrigation water, which is dependent on mountain snow pack. Every winter farmers and ranchers in the west look to the mountains as they plan for the […]
BOOTSTRAP @ THE GOLDEN YOKE – BUILDING EXPERIENCE
By Laura Ginsburg of The Golden Yoke I remember hearing a statistic once, that to be an expert at something you had to do that activity for 10,000 hours. Connie and I tried to calculate all of the hours we have stood behind or next to a cow (or under during some unfortunate events), and […]
BOOTSTRAP @ NORTH COUNTRY CREAMERY – REFLECTIONS ON TRAINING FOR A NEW FARMER
By Ashlee Kleinhammer of North Country Creamery I first landed on the east coast almost a decade ago, my initiation into dairy farming was watching the herdswoman, Judith, at Hawthorne Valley Farm tend the sixty Brown Swiss beasts. “I can never do that, but how freaking inspiring…” It’s an understatement to say that much has […]
BOOTSTRAP @ THE GOLDEN YOKE – EQUIPMENT AND CAPITAL
By Laura Ginsburg of The Golden Yoke This past month has been a big one for decision-making at The Golden Yoke. Unlike the other Bootstrap farmers, we are not currently milking any cows, do not have any facilities, and do not have any real equipment to speak of. And having just finished grad school, we […]
BOOTSTRAP @ THE GOLDEN YOKE – ON BREEDS
By Laura Ginsburg of The Golden Yoke Montana is considered a fluid milk state, which means that one of the primary goals for dairy farmers is to breed cows that produce a lot of milk without much regard for components. Across the state, the vast representation of cows are of the black and white variety, […]