Farmer Spotlight > Lee Hatfield
Education is key for seventh generation farmer
Our farm name is Hatfield 7 Dairy, which means that seven generations of our family has worked on the farm. Over the past 10 years, we realized that in order to be successful in the dairy business, we needed to expand, so we grew from 40 cows to approximately 900 Holstein cows.
Even with 35 employees the dairy is truly a family farm, with my brother, Gail, and my parents actively involved in the operation. My grandparents also still live on the farm, as do our children.
A few years ago, we realized that some of our community didn’t know what life on a dairy farm was like, so we created Moo School, with the goal of connecting people to life on the farm and educating them about dairy products. When entering our farm, our motto, “Where Learning is Fun” greets visitors. We do what we do because we love producing safe, wholesome dairy products for the general public.
The chairs in our classroom are made from bales of straw and the math assignment consists of animal feed like hay and a scale. In the classroom, visitors can see the cows, learn about the dairy industry and try some of the delicious products that exist because of cows.
We’ve also built an alley in one of the barns, so school buses can drive through the barn and see first hand how cows eat and live. Every tour group gets to see the cows being milked, baby calves and all of the good stuff cows eat.
On our farm, not only do we believe in taking care of the animals, but also the earth. As my mom likes to say, “If we as dairy producers do not implement good conservation practices, we would not stay in business very long - - God has provided us with the best resources possible. Now it’s up to each man, woman and child to take care of it for future generations.”
We work hard to be good stewards of the land, because we live here too and drink the same water that our neighbors do. In 2001 our family won the Ohio Environmental Stewardship award, honoring us for our management practices on the farm in regard to conservation.
If you’d like to take a virtual tour of our farm, visit www.mooschool.com/.
