Twin Birch Dairy Farm History

“Then and Now”

Back in April of 1960, Kenneth Young, Sr. and his wife, Georgienna, left East Homer, New York, with three young children in tow and headed north to Skaneateles, where they purchased 290 acres of land, a 74-stanchion milking barn, a tenant house and a 17 room main house at a Walrad Brothers auction. After lots of hard work, the family farm was incorporated in 1981and became Twin Birch Farms, Inc.   Ken, Sr., and sons, Dirk and Ken II, were the three principal officers, while two, full-time employees helped with milking 120 cows twice a day and working the 500 acres of land.

Soon after, another nearby farm was purchased, bringing the total working acreage to 1,500 in 1990. It was also at this time that the Young’s built a new dairy facility to accommodate its expanded milking herd of 500 head. A dry cow barn, hospital area, calf greenhouse, commodity buildings and bunk silo were also now part of the farm complex. The new milking parlor, a 24 cow parallel style set-up, enabled workers to milk six times faster than they could in the old stanchion style facility.

As the years went by, a few more acres were purchased, a few more milking cows were added and today, the Young’s, along with 25 full-time employees, raise and care for 2,050 total head of cattle and work over 2,500 acres of land.

While much has changed on the farm, much has not. Twin Birch Dairy still strives to be environmentally conscious by keeping abreast of all farm related issues such as watershed use, strip cropping techniques (to inhibit erosion) and nutrient management plans. In 2002, the farm was awarded the Conservation Farm of the Year Award by the Onondaga County Soil and Water Conservation District.

TWIN BIRCH DAIRY LLC

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