History of Norwich Farm

Norwich Farm is known broadly as the historical dairy farm in eastern Vermont’s Upper Valley region. A long-time working dairy under a series of names, the farm underwent extensive rebuilding in the 1990s with the raising of four new barns designed for elite cattle care. After running under two prior operators, the property was gifted in May 2015 to Vermont Technical College (VTC), a Vermont State College, based in Randolph, VT, by its owner Andrew Sigler of Norwich, VT. At that same time, the Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT) based in Hanover, NH, raised $300,000 to purchase and conserve the approximately 350-acres of surrounding forest and agricultural land, including the pastures and hay fields.

The Milking Barn is fully functional with all equipment needed to operate a dairy. It features a 45-cow tie-stall system, eight box stalls, and four nursery stalls. In addition, there is a bedded pack Heifer Barn, a sand bedded pack Dry Cow Barn, undercover storage for purchased forages, and an eight-ton bulk commodity grain bin.

We hope to lease the 30 acres of existing pastures on which to establish an intensively managed grazing system for lactating cattle, with additional pastures for dry cows and heifers during the summer months. There are 10 acres of hay land for added forage also adjacent to the farmstead.

There are two homes on site: a single-family farmhouse, where the cheesemakers live, and a mobile home, which we plan to replace for housing for a herd manager.

Through Federal and State grant funding, VTC purchased a suite of micro-dairy processing equipment and, together with Norwich Farm Creamery (NFC), renovated parts of existing buildings into a dairy processing facility. The facility contains the following processing equipment: 100 gal Vat Pasteurizer, 30 gal Vat Pasteurizer, HTST Continuous Flow Pasteurizer, Cream Separator, Bottle Filler Capper, Ice Cream Batch Freezer. This equipment remains in place under lease-to-own agreement.

Norwich Farm Creamery has been operating on the site for the past 7 years. The creamery produces bottled milk, yogurt, cheese, rice pudding and ice cream from milk it purchases from Billings Farm in Woodstock, VT.

NFC products are sold within the region at:

Coop Food Stores
King Arthur Baking Company
Woodstock Farmers Market
Dan & Whit’s
Norwich Farmers Market
Brattleboro Food Coop
Mac’s Market Woodstock
Abracadabra Coffee Co.
Sweetland Farmstand
Sunrise Farm CSA
Crossroad Farmstand
Upper Valley Food Coop