Margaret started out growing turkeys in sixth grade and has since moved on to raising and showing dairy cattle.
By Lauren Moore, FSA Public Affairs Specialist
Named after the Scottish Highland cattle it is home to, Shaggy Coos Farm is owned and operated by the Brady family – Tim, Bernadette, Matilda and Margaret.
While the Bradys started out only raising cattle in 2007, they have added chickens, pigs, turkeys and ducks to their Easton, Connecticut, farm over the last 10 years.
“We’ve added a bit more each year,” Tim said.
Having a passion for agriculture, his daughters, Matilda and Margaret, have participated in the USDA Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) youth loan program to help finance their 4-H and FFA projects.
FSA’s youth loans help youth start and operate income-producing projects of modest size, providing the opportunity to gain experience and education in agriculture.
Matilda, now a senior at West Point, used her youth loans to raise and sell pigs. Margaret, 16, started out growing turkeys in sixth grade and has since moved on to raising and showing dairy cattle.
“The youth loan program has taught me about budgeting money. It’s helped me learn the different aspects, financially, of how to run a business successfully,” Margaret said.
Her first dairy project was a leased Jersey calf from a dairy farmer friend, who named her “Dream On” after the song by Aerosmith.
“Margaret was really excited about dairy,” said Tim. “We knew we needed to get Holsteins.”
The Bradys purchased two Holstein cows, Madison and Ivory, and began milking them twice a day.
With the FSFL microloan, Shaggy Coos Farm added a bulk tank to store their milk for pasteurization.
Figuring out what to do with the milk was the next challenge, and a microloan through FSA’s Farm Storage Facility Loan Program (FSFL) became the solution. FSFL provides low-interest financing so producers can build or upgrade facilities to store commodities. Their application became the first microloan approved for this use in Connecticut.
With the FSFL microloan, Shaggy Coos Farm added a bulk tank to store their milk for pasteurization. They pasteurize and bottle their milk, selling whole milk and chocolate milk out of their farm store and in local retail stores around the community.
“When I met Tim, he had just one cow and a dream,” said Aimee Fusco, FSA county executive director. “I was happy to work with his family and make the dream become a reality. It was so rewarding to see a bottle of chocolate milk with their logo on it.”
The farm now has five dairy cows that Margaret works with daily, from pasturing them to pasteurizing their milk.
“For a kid who doesn’t even have a driver’s license yet, it’s amazing what she can get done at such a young age,” Tim said.
Aside from milk, they sell their pork, beef and poultry products in the farm store, along with soaps and lotions they make from milk. Their farm fresh yogurt will soon be on the menu.
They pasteurize and bottle their milk, selling whole milk and chocolate milk out of their farm store and in local retail stores around the community.
Margaret will start her junior year at Trumbull High School in the fall, where she participates in the Agriscience and Biotechnology program. She was elected vice president of her FFA chapter for the 2018-19 school year. After graduating from high school, she plans to earn a degree in agribusiness or agriculture education to become a dairy farmer or teacher.
“Nothing’s ever handed out,” she said. “You have to be ready to work for what you want.”
For more information about USDA programs, contact your local USDA service center or visit Farmers.gov.
