Fuel Alex and Rachel's Micro Dairy Dream

Priest Farm is located in the beautiful Higganum, CT. We have a very small herd of Jersey cows that spend their lives raising their calves, grazing in the fields and being milked by their humans, Alex and Rachel.

Alex and Rachel came to live at Priest Farm in the summer of 2016. It was a very familiar place for Rachel as she had spent much of her childhood on the farm with her grandparents, who fostered in her a deep love for this land filled with so much beauty and steeped in family history. She got her first Jersey calf when she was 12 years old, and it was then that she caught the bovine bug and she’s been smitten with cattle ever since, particularly the beloved Jersey cow. When Rachel and Alex met she moved across the river for a couple of years to be with him, she and Alex lived in an apartment and went on countless adventures together. The two eventually found themselves making a very important decision. Rachel loved the farm with all her heart and felt called to return, Alex had visited and fallen in love as well, and besides, they had a kitchen full of ducklings that they had been raising in their tiny apartment. So they did what felt right and packed up their things and moved into the hay loft of one of the barns, and they haven’t looked back since.

They welcomed two Jersey heifers to the farm in the spring of 2017, Eleanor and Louise. In 2019 Ellie and Lulu had their first calves and Rachel and Alex began milking. There was a lot to learn as they both strive to care for the cows in the best way possible. They work hard to provide the cows with a life that is comfortable and relatively stress free. Not only is it a great feeling to look at your cows and see them glowing with health and vitality, but it also means that they are making some of the most delicious milk. Rachel and Alex are passionate about bottling up only the freshest, most wholesome raw milk from their cows.

They have now been milking cows together for over 5 years. They have 6 Jerseys, 3 of which are currently milking. They graze in the fields by day and in the evening they return to the barn yard to nurse their calves. They are milked in the morning and they then return to the pasture for the rest of the day. Alex and Rachel have worked hard and overcome many obstacles. No matter how difficult things got, they have never wanted to give up. Their love for this farm is too strong and they have the belief that everything will work out and so they keep moving forward.

In the spring of this year, Rachel found out that she was expecting, she and Alex are so excited! Their little boy, Graham Robert, is due in November and they are busy preparing for his arrival. They are also thinking a lot about the future of the farm. They have loved every moment of what they do but they have consistently spent most of their off farm income to keep things afloat and they been putting a lot of thought into making the farm a place where they might possibly make a little living.

Alex and Rachel are hoping to begin the process of selling their raw milk, a goal which is going to take some time, but they hope to start by growing their raw milk herd share. In order to do this, they’d like to acquire a milk cooling tank so that they can very quickly chill their milk, greatly extending its shelf life. They are also hoping to make a few much needed repairs to the old barn and improve the milking areas. Any help with funding these goals would be so greatly appreciated, it will help us launch the business of our dreams and help keep our cows at the farm so that folks can continue to see them grazing out in the fields or hunkered up by the barn in the winter. We are truly blessed with the best community and we can’t wait to be able to provide more for the people who live around us!