More Than Just Milk
A Partnership Celebrating Life-Long Animal Husbandry | by Lucas Farrell
Solaris (pictured), Noon, and Meridien are the first Big Picture Farm goats to be celebrated at Retreat Farm. Photo Credit: Big Picture Farm
STARTED IN 2019 BY LOUISA CONRAD AND LUCAS FARRELL (and now joined by our daughters, Maisie and Minna), Big Picture Farm is a small hillside goat dairy and farmstead confectionery and creamery located in Townshend, VT. Our award-winning goat milk caramels and farmstead cheeses are made with fresh, creamy goat’s milk from our small herd of healthy and happy, free-ranging companions.
Part of our mission at Big Picture Farm has always been to demonstrate careful and compassionate animal husbandry by treating our goats like family. Our goat dairy was one of the first in the state to become certified Animal Welfare Approved, whose standards are still the most rigorous and progressive animal care requirements in the world. We rotationally pasture our herd on 100 acres from May-November, using solar-electric fences to move the goats each day to ensure fresh, delicious, and diverse forage.
Having entered our 13th year running this farm, we spend a lot more time thinking about retirement. No, not of our own retirements! But about the beautiful retirement we owe to each one of our goats. That’s because nearly all of our original goats, as well as the ones that were born here in the early years, have outlived their milking days. Heartbreakingly, some have already passed. The reality is, keeping dairy animals beyond their “productive” years (an unfortunate phrasing, to say the least) is difficult to do financially. Most dairies don’t or can’t. To provide high-quality, low-impact feed and supplements–not even counting veterinary care, supplies, or labor–we need to spend upwards of $600-800 per year per retired goat. One has to prioritize care over profits while also “pricing in” lifetime costs at the very outset of the business – or the margins will never work. And sometimes, even after doing all of that, it’s still extremely difficult to pull off.
One of the ways we’ve managed to do it over the years is by continuing to diversify our farm’s income. We offer “goat hangouts” in the summer by appointment, as well as farm stays and occasional on-farm events–so our customers can meet and spend time with these magical creatures and gain a better understanding of how they, through their affection, playfulness, and companionship, provide us with so much more than just milk. Louisa has also designed a line of goat-bedecked apparel and other milk-free art products to sell on online and at farmer’s markets. The milk may be our medium, but the beautifully rich and full life of each one of our goats is the message and the meaning.
And so, we’re thrilled to announce a new partnership with Retreat Farm to extend this message of high-quality and life-long animal husbandry to the greater community.
Starting this spring, the Retreat Farm will host a rotating cast of some of our most beloved and affectionate retired Big Picture Farm legends. It’ll be our way of publicly celebrating these storied ladies – where they can bask in the affection of thousands of doting animal lovers. And it will also initiate the collaborative effort to redefine what a “productive” life can mean for our big-hearted (and furry) friends.
