Welcome to the Farm!

I would like to introduce myself, my name is Sara Murray. Although I did not grow up on a farm, my interest in cows began in high school. I was lucky enough to find work on a friend's family farm. In college, I majored in everything, but finally ended up at Cornell University where I decided on Animal Science. This is where is met my lovely husband, Mark. After graduating in 2006, Mark and his family hired me as a "swing shift" milker. (I still think this was some sort of test, but they swear it was the only available position on the farm). By December of 2006, I was hired by Genex as a breeder. This is where I gained most of my experience in the dairy industry. After working with Genex for 3 years I realized sales was not the job for me. Luckily, Murcrest was looking for a calf manager. I knew nothing about raising calves, but I thought, why not?  And i couldn't be happier with my decision. Currently, I am one of the managing partners on the dairy. One of the benefits of a large dairy is that each person can specialize in an area. I manage the calf program, the breeding program and was elected to be the public relations person. So, let me introduce you to the rest of the Murcrest Team! Lynn, my father in law, is the General Manager and runs the crop side of things. He is also a Cornell alum and has been on the farm since 1978. (Lynn's father, Doug, had moved his family dairy down from Herman, NY to Jefferson County after he graduated Cornell.) Peggy, Lynn's wife, is the office manager. Not only does she run all the books and payroll for the farm, she also works for Cornell Cooperative Extension in the Lewis County. Mark, Lynn and Peggy's son, returned to the farm in 2006 and is our Herd Manager. As I said, we attended Cornell together, he concentrated on Dairy Science. Mark is in charge of all things cow related; including the cows and the people that work with the cows.

The goal of this blog is to share with you the adventures of running a modern 850 cow dairy in Upstate New York. Before I can do that, I need your help. In order to keep things interesting, I need to know what you want to read about. Please share your thoughts either here or on our Facebook page!
                                                     ~Sara