Logue Farms, Inc. is the winner of the 2024 New England Green Pastures Award from Connecticut. This dairy farm has been in continuous operation since 1905, with fourth generation as the current operators and 10 children in the fifth generation. David and Debbie Logue own the farm with their sons Michael and James; their daughters Rachel and Sarah are also involved on the farm as well. Debbie and Dave started setting their partnership in motion at Nonnewaug High School where Debbie was the first female FFA president in Woodbury, and they will soon be celebrating their 47th wedding anniversary.
With their home base on a 325-acre farm in Woodbury, Connecticut, the Logue’s milk 320 Holsteins, with 650 head total. Their cows average 85 pounds per day with cows separated into two groups. They milk in a double six herringbone parlor, three times a day. Cows are fed a mixed ration of silage, haylage, corn and grain. In addition to the home farm, and their farm in New York, Logue Farms, Inc. rents an additional 1,500 acres. They have 900 acres in corn and 300 in hay, 50 acres in sweet corn, and 25 acres in pumpkins. They also grow assorted vegetables for their very popular farm stand.
Debbie’s roles including running the mixer wagon for the five feedings every day with Mike and feeding the family and farm hands breakfast and lunch daily. She and Rachel, share responsibilities in the office of paying and maintaining bills and records. When not working on the farm Debbie is very active in her church. She is the assistant to the pastor as well as regional prayer ministry coordinator for Operation Christmas Child. Debbie also takes great pride in helping to care for her 10 grandchildren. David has stepped away from hands on responsibilities with the cows but is a vital asset in tilling the fields, mowing the hay, and spreading manure.
Their son James set up a hoof trimming chute and trims feet as the Logue’s place a lot of emphasis on cow comfort, movement and mobility in their milking herd. He also delivers corn, hay, and pumpkins the farm sells with his Kenworth, and runs the chopper for making haylage and big square bales for feed and bedding. Michael, the oldest son, often takes a leadership role. He is responsible for many facets of the farm, including ordering all feed, corn seed, fertilizer, and parts. Mike plants the corn and pumpkins, as well as harvests the corn for chopping and combining. He is also the head mechanic and an expert welder.
Rachel left her nursing career and returned to the farm to raise her two sons. She oversees raising all the replacement heifers, and shares herd health responsibilities and management with her brothers. Sarah is heavily involved with the summer harvest of corn and vegetables, as well as running the pick your own pumpkin stand on the weekends in October; her other duties include overseeing the roadside stand and garden.
This year the farm purchased a John Deere sprayer; it is beneficial for spraying the corn and allowed the farm to better utilize hay ground and pastures with improved weed control. Both Mike and Jim are involved in the daily milking, with both having 4 am milking shifts. Mike and Jim also started their own trucking business in 2018. This allows them to haul the milk from the farm to the dairy, as well as pick up local milk in the area.
The Logue’s capitalized on the increasing desire by families to purchase locally grown vegetables and meat. With a very diverse population nearby, the home farm and stand are located in western Connecticut between the cities of Danbury and Waterbury, they offer vegetables and corn varieties that appeal to their customers. Pork and beef are also sold on the farm, at the stand, as well as to local restaurants.
Logue Farms, Inc. is an exemplar for the dairy industry, while diversifying their farm to meet consumer needs and that of their growing farm family. The respect they receive in the dairy and geographic communities is further testament of their strong history and present successes, and we congratulate and recognize them as the 2024 New England Green Pastures Award Winner for Connecticut.