From Busy Farmer to very busy dairy farmer

This is last in a four-part series that ran through the month of June (National Dairy Month) about women dairy farmers in the Northwest Corner. The series is written by Amanda Freund, of Freund’s Farm in East Canaan.

NORTH CANAAN — Showing up to Birch Mill Farm at lunchtime, you’ll likely be met with a flurry of activity. Every seat around the farmhouse kitchen table is filled, with 10-month-old Emma at the head of the table. Katlyn Kinsella knows I’m there to interview her for this feature. 

With a big grin, she starts the conversation with,“You want to know my biggest challenge as a woman dairy farmer? Keeping everyone fed!” 

The farm crew and family gobble up their sandwiches and are quick to head back outside while a teething Emma stays preoccupied at the end of the table sucking on a dishcloth.

Katlyn didn’t come into dairy farming in the usual way. At the age of 7, she joined the local 4-H Club, the Busy Farmers. 

Meetings were held in the basement of Bob and Dottie Jacquier’s farmhouse at Laurelbrook Farm. Local kids could practice leadership skills and learn how to raise and show calves. 

This extracurricular activity ended up defining her life path. Eventually, those calves she raised for 4-H joined the milking herd on Dennis Jasmine’s farm in Falls Village. 

In March 2009, Dennis was ready to retire. The next month, Katlyn and Tim,her partner, started milking cows. This past April marks seven years since taking on the 365-day-per-year role of dairy farming. 

When asked what accomplishment she is most proud of since coming to the farm, she has an immediate answer that she affectionately calls, Operation Comfy Cow. In 2011 she and Tim decided to renovate the 1960 barn to accomplish that very goal: to improve cow comfort. 

The stalls were made longer and waterbeds were installed for each cow. It was an expensive and time-consuming endeavor but she said the response from the herd was immediate, with improved leg health and increased milk production.

A typical day for Katlyn starts at 6 a.m., when she and her husband start their day together milking their 40 dairy cows. It’s during these first few hours that she welcomes the peaceful feeling of the sun streaming in through the barn window as they discuss the goals for the day and listen to her grandfather “hootin and hollerin’” and playing with baby Emma.

Like all dairy farmers, Katlyn wears many hats. Her passion is the cows and taking care of them, but you can find her in a dump truck or on a tractor helping with the crops, in the office keeping track of the books or working with her husband on other tasks around the farm.

The economic realities of low milk prices are a real concern. But there is a community of people, from parents and grandparents to siblings and friends, who are committed to seeing Birch Mill Farm succeed. They all want to share the joy and passion that Katlyn and Tim have for this life.

 They’re not sure what the future holds, but Katlyn’s dream is that when the day comes, Emma will have the choice to come home to the farm.