Kim Shaklee grew up on an irrigated crop and beef farm in Colorado. Kim and Janice Brown met in college in 1972, and unbeknownst to either of them at the that time, this meeting would lead them down a path in agriculture together. They would begin raising their 3 children and farm irrigated crops first on a rented farm for 5 years, then move to Kim's family farm to continue raising irrigated crops and beef. This arrangement only lasted a year due to intergenerational conflict. They then found another farm to rent near a college town, farmed with horses, grew vegetables for farmers' markets, and broilers, turkeys, and pumpkins for on farm sales. As irrigation water was being sold off from farms to the city of Denver they decided to move in 1989 to western NY, to be closer to Janice's aging mother.
After working on a dairy and vegetable farm for 3 years Kim and Janice, now with their 4 children found a farm in Allegany County in 1992, that was set up to grow crops and milk cows. In January 1993 they began milking cows with the vision to set the farm up as a grazing dairy, and they added to the mix child number 5. Fast forward to 2022, their family of 7 has scaled back to just Kim and Janice on the farm, with all children college educated and scattered east to west. They now seek for this farm to continue under the baton of another farmer/farmers as this will be their last year to milk cows.
Birds All Dairy is a currently operating dairy farm set up to house over 40 head of cattle. Janice and Kim are open to a variety of tenure options, but ideally want to find someone with a long-term vision for the farm. In the past they have had Dairy Grazing Apprentices on the property and would be willing to offer some mentorship to an incoming farmer who wished to lease the land or steward a portion of it for towards their own goals. The property was appraised in 2021 so a sale price could also be provided but will be negotiable upon meeting the prospective candidate and his/her goals and type of operation.
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Published February 2022
