Get to know our Farmers
Maple Bottom Farm ~ Scottdale and Dawson, PA
Vickie and Mike Baker have been farming since 2006. They were married on a Monday, because when you milk cows it doesn't matter what day an event is, the cows still need to be milked. Shortly after their wedding, we purchased Vickie's family's cows and began milking our own herd and renting her parents farm. In 2008, they purchased their first farm where they house heifers, horses, sheep and chickens. In 2015, they purchased the "Rumbaugh" farm in Dawson, PA and installed a DeLaval robotic milker. Currently about 60 of the cows milk themselves in this state of the art facility. An additional 25 Guernsey cows are milked in a traditional tie-stall facility. Our milk is held in separate tank until it is shipped for processing. "Mike's" milk is shipped to Land O'Lakes and "Vickie's" is made into Golden Guernsey© dairy products for Naturally Golden Family Farms Co-Operative, a local milk co-op where she is President. Vickie is also Treasurer of the American Guernsey Association. Vickie & Mike have two children, Lee and Clara who are active in the daily operations of the farm including evening calf feeding. Lee has his own chicken business and offers farm fresh eggs and meat chickens for sale. Clara also has daily chores and takes great pride in taking care of the farm cats.
Maple Bottom Farm is truly a family operation and employs cousin Shelby Hawkins and they also house cows for brother Jeffery Ansell as well as several other farm families.
With less than 2% of the US population involved in agriculture, Maple Bottom Farm offers their Farmhouse to guests so that they can learn about where their food comes from.
Trotacre Farm ~ Enon Valley, PA
Family Owned and operated since 1942 by the Trotter family, Trotacre Farm is home to 4 generations of family members today. Marylou Trotter the 2nd generation owner ,and Dave and Jill Trotter , the third generation, are the farmer/ owners . Their daughters Abby, Bethany, Cara and Jamie also each have their own role on the farm. The Trotters milk 130 cows and farm 500 acres of land. Cara's husband Simon processes our Guernsey milk into great tasting chocolate milk, ice cream mix and coffee creamer!
The Trotter family's love for the Guernsey breed is evident in their day to day activities.Jim was the business manager of the Pennsylvania Guernsey Association for many years, until retirement. He has been active with the Pa and National Guernsey Association since he was young, and has been named Master Breeder and Distinguished Service. Dave is a past President of the American Guernsey Association, where he served a 7 year term, and received the honor of Distinguished Service in 2018. Additionally, Dave is the current Pa Guernsey Business Manager . Cara the youngest generation working on the farm, graduated from Penn State in 2017 and began working as the Field Representative for the American Guernsey Association until 2020. Dave's sister Debbie, nieces Amy and Holly, as well as his daughters, Abby, Bethany, Cara and Jamie have all served as Pennsylvania Guernsey Queens.
On the farm, the Guernsey milk cows are housed separately from the rest of the herd, in the freestall barn, where they have all time access to fresh water and feed, and can lay down or walk around as they please. The Trotters raise all of their young stock at the farm, and pride them selves on homebred and raised guernseys that grow up to be productive cows that provide high quality milk !