The following is a post from Laura Ginsburg about the dairy she and Connie Surber started with the help of Land Link! Enjoy…
Connie and I joined the Land Link program late last summer and started narrowing down the list right away. Because we are going to have a grass-based dairy, we needed a substantial amount of land, good irrigation, and a strong stand of pasture grass. We also wanted to be close enough to Missoula for people to come up for tours and to meet the cows. The property we decided on, and started leasing in November, is exactly what we were looking for.
We are now living on 40 acres outside of St. Ignatius. Our landlords have been great, and are very open to the idea of a small dairy and making improvements or building infrastructure as we need it for our operation. Without Land Link, I think we would still be on the hunt for a suitable and affordable piece of land. Land Link presented us with many options, which allowed us to figure out exactly what we needed and wanted. And because the Land Link program focuses on new and beginning farmers and ranchers, our landlords have been incredibly flexible with us in terms of the lease and using the land because they know we are working out the kinks as we go.
— Laura & Twister
While our dairy will not be in full operation for another 18 months or so, we have started to purchase young stock to build our herd. For more information, see our farm’s Facebook page at: facebook.com/thegoldenyoke
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