By-Design Farm – Thank a Farmer

We’ve teamed up with Whites Farm Supply and James Wesley to ‘Thank a Farmer‘ at FrogFest.  We’ve been asking you to nominate farmers who deserve recognition and 2 will be James Wesley’s special guests at FrogFest June 15th. Today we recognize By-Design Farms in Ava, NY and Rodney Wilson.

Rodney and  his wife Brianne, have a herd of roughly forty dairy cattle. Primarily they raise Holsteins but they also have a handful of Brown Swiss. The farm is made up of about 200 acres where they raise their animals, hay, and corn.

Aside from producing quality milk, they strive to produce quality cattle. They have shown locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally. Brown Swiss was a wedding present and was named All-American in Wisconsin at the World Dairy Expo in 2008! Last year at the Boonville Oneida County Fair they won several more awards.

Brianne, Rodney's wife sent in this nomination for her husband:

I’d be lying if I said our farm is a 50/50 partnership. While we both work very hard on the farm, the majority of the decisions and effort comes from Rodney. His background of growing up on his family’s farm in Lee Center has been a great asset to our endeavor.

Rodney works hard daily to make sure the cattle are healthy, equipment is running correctly, and we are planning for the farm’s future with crops and breeding. This is all on top of the daily running of the farm. Days begin at 5a.m. and usually end well after 9p.m..

Living on a farm is a lot of work. Rodney’s hard work and dedication are shown every day. Farming is truly a 24/7/365 job. I am not only proud he has worked so hard to make our farm so successful, but I am especially proud to call him my husband. He has been a great partner in this endeavor; through the ups and downs that we’ve been handed. I would not want to celebrate all that we have made of By-Design with anyone else. Thanks Farmer Rodney!

Rodney is a great farmer and I look forward to him sharing his knowledge, work ethic and pride with our son! Great job Rod!  I love you!

Thank you to By Design Farm and Rodney Wilson for what you do everyday. We’ll put you in the random drawing to be James Wesley’s special guests at FrogFest June 15th, so he can ‘Thank a Farmer.’