Fourth-Generation Maplebrook Farmer Brings Raw Milk to Sterling

By Caroline Lanni, Reporter
Maplebrook Farm was a dairy farm for many years until having to sell their herd in the late 1990s. Now a fourth-generation family member, Hannah Miller has brought dairy cows back with her own business.
Miller is owner of her own small business, Maplebrook Farmstead. In this business she has given the town of Sterling the chance to purchase raw dairy milk and other products at her family farm.
“I would describe it as a diversified livestock farm, that is based on rotational grazing of all my livestock. I raise chickens for eggs. I have about 450 egg laying chickens, I have dairy cows for raw milk, and goats that go on goat rides,” which is [hiking with goats,” Miller said.
Maplebrook Farm has been in business since 1935 selling mostly hay. Miller running her dairy business there for about three years now.
The breed of cows she uses is Ayrshire cows and it’s the same breed her family raised, she said.
“To have that connection to my family history is really special to me,” Miller said.
Growing up, Miller said, she was never pressured to join the family business. One day she found her love for farming while working at another farm next door. After that she knew that she wanted to go to college for agriculture.
Miller graduated college in 2017 from Umass Amherst with a degree in agriculture and a goal set in mind – to be one hundred percent self-employed five years post graduation and to start her own small business at her family’s farm.
She said that now four years later she is one hundred percent self-employed at the farm.
Miller said that she was very “lucky” to come back after college to a farm with land to use for her own small business.
She added that her raw milk business is the only legal raw milk producer in a 20-mile radius of Sterling.
Miller said they milk the dairy cows twice a day and use a 12-hour milking schedule.
“They have to get milked every single morning and every single night. Usually that happens at 6:30 a.m. for me and they are out grazing, resting, and doing whatever they want outside for pasture 23 hours a day,” she said.
Miller has a “strict process” that she sticks to for cleaning the equipment before and after milking.
“It is not painful for them at all, they enjoy it, they get a snack when they get milked. They are very much creatures of habit, so they pick up on routines super well,” Miller said.
Currently Miller has four cows – Polly, Indigo, Eliza, and Krimson on the farm and they’re fed grass and hay.
Miller said having the ability to access raw milk in Sterling is “super important.”
She added that she understands that it’s something that not everyone wants to consume but having that safe legal access to raw milk is important.
“Raw milk has tons of health benefits that may or may not be known to most people. Being able to educate people on that and being given the option to try it is valuable,” Miller said.
According to Maplebrook Farmsteads website the health benefits of the raw milk consist of, “high nutrient content that supports our immune systems, gut health, skin, and so many other vital systems of our body.”
Miller added that it is great to show people that the animals are happy and that they are providing us with a product that we sell and use for our own health benefits.
The raw milk is only sold on the farm and is sold in plastic jugs. Miller said she is looking into selling the milk in glass jugs in a couple of months. Miller just added the dairy cows a couple months ago, and the raw milk is sold in pints for $2, half gallons for $5, and gallons for $8.
“I knew I always wanted to have dairy cows, and it was just the matter of making sure I was prepared and that the farm was ready to have them here again,” she said.
She added that she is currently working on getting the word out there about the raw milk being available on the farm.
Miller added her and her family are still in a “transition process” to hand the family farm business over to herself overtime.
Maplebrook Farm is open year-round seven days a week from 9 a.m. to dusk. It is located on 155 Tuttle Road and their website is https://www.maplebrookfarmstead.com/.