Dolly Run Farm

05/28/2026

Do you know what happens on a small farm when you've had ten calves born in a month? 1) There are a lot of calves to feed. 2) The cows start making a lot of milk!

1) The baby calves here get 2qts of fresh milk twice a day. We take milk directly from the bulk tank and put it into bottles. We then submerse the bottles in buckets of 180°F HOT water. After approximately 15 minutes the milk has warmed up from 38°F to around 105°F, right where the calves like it best. They all get extra excited at feeding time. As they get older, they'll get water to drink between feeding and high quality hay to munch on as much as they like. After Couple months, when they no longer need milk, they get moved to group hosting where they get all the hay they want, pasture if grass is growing (snowballs didn't grow calves very well) and a small amount of supplements (salt, mineral tubs and blocks, and some protein and energy sources) they need for their growing bodies. Because when someone grows from 75 pounds to 1000+ in two years, it takes a lot of nutrition to do that. Did you know, a cow will grow for over three years? Although they are considered mature at 2 years when they've had their first baby. They continue growing to full maturity at three years old. The first year a cow is producing milk, she's also still using a lot of her nutrition to continue growing, all the time she's also produced offspring. The cow is truly an amazing animal....

Now for point number ...

2) That milk from all these mamas... Milk production here on this small farm has nearly tripled in the last couple months. That means there is no shortage of fresh raw milk for you and your family to enjoy. The extra gets to go to one of the big cheese plants. We do the work, testing, and quality control to sell directly to our friends and neighbors. Not every farmer wants to go the extra step to legally sell raw milk to consumers and that's ok. The milk companies are more than happy to process and market milk, so long as the farmer agrees to take what they give them for payment. We here at Dolly Run Farm don't see that as a sustainable model for the future, because rarely has that price been sufficient to cover the production cost for the high quality of milk we produce.... So much more to add here, but I must get back to providing these girls with feed for the coming winter... They are doing pretty good at harvesting their own feed from the pasture right now....

Enjoy your day!!

Feel free to stop out for a visit at:

Dolly Run Farm
16633 State Hwy 89
Centerville, PA 16404

Just 6.5 miles North of Titusville on 89 Westside of the road, or 7 miles South of Spartansburg on 89 Westside of the road.

The sales shed is always open to self service customers. If you need assistance there is usually somebody around, or my number is posted on the bulletin board. 814-758-1423

Raw milk $7/gal, $4/half... Is it possible to sell 100 gallons a day? That's what these few girls are making on pasture and a pound or two of supplement. Great tasting Golden milk without all the nutrition killing/diluting additives commonly found on today's modern dairy farms. We love our natural and regenerative type production system here. We believe that's worth something to those who consume our milk, too....

Again have a great day, we'd love to see you here.

05/28/2026

We have some beef quarters still available for immediate customization, $650 and $800 approximately. These are out last ones until late July/August. Pick up for these will be in Elgin. Send us a message, or give us a call for more details... There are plenty of smaller portion sizes available at the farm, too. Individual cuts for a great tasting dinner, or $250 custom boxes for what you need this month.

Please, Like and Share, Thank you

05/23/2026

Is anyone interested in some beef marrow bones? If so how many pounds would you like at $3/pound? We need to make room for more beef. You get to benefit from a great price on our beef products, before prices go up on the next beef coming in. We still have lots of roasts, steaks, and burger. Several $250 bundles, too. Stop in or send us a message and we can have some packaged up and ready for you..... 5/25 update... Approximately 20-25 pounds of bones left in this freezer. We also have a lot of roasts available for $11/pound (Chuck, London Broil, Rump, Eye of round, Sirloin tip, Arm)... Send a message if you want something specific, or look through the freezers to find what you like ....

05/22/2026

There are still two quarters available this week. These are at the butcher and ready to be customized. Send us a message or give us a call ASAP. These are the last ones before July that can be customized. We also still have some split quarters available at the farm and lots of options in the shed, as well. Thanks

05/20/2026

One of our favorite events of the summer‼️

It's worth the drive to Mercer. 🚗

If there is ice cream left we will likely have a limited supply available after the social in the shed. 🍨

🍨We look forward to seeing you on July 10th! 🍨

📌Note - We will be using a different building on the grounds this year. More details to follow. 📌

05/14/2026

We have some beef going to the butcher this coming week. If you haven't reserved your beef, contact us soon. There is only two quarters left for these. If you need a smaller amount or, you would like one of the $250 bundles be sure to send us a message.

Thanks

05/07/2026

Just a quick side by side comparison of our milk to a couple other regional processors. I'm not in to bashing of others, so their labels are turned and cap colors are meaningless. Everyone has different caps for different purposes. Which do you think contains the better nutritional value? My view here is clearly biased. This is just for you all to see. Comment your answers by cap color, if you'd like. My jugs are in two different states of suspension: one is settled for two days, and the other was recently stirred and just put into the jug.

If I were a to guess. One of those other processors has more Jersey and Guernsey producers than the other. I'm sure neither of them are anywhere close to 100% though.

Thanks for looking.

If you want to stop out and pick up some of our great farm products, please do. We'd love to see you, and if you happen to catch us while visiting, we'd happily answer any questions you may have.

16633 State Hwy 89
Centerville, PA 16404

Just 6.5 miles North of Titusville on 89, Westside of the road

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05/06/2026

Why are you grass fed and pasture?...

Answer... To simplify things, initially, then the cows and the soil got healthier.

Back story coming...

Pastures and hay is how most everyone farmed with cattle hundreds of years ago. Yes, there were fields of oats, barley, wheat, and some corn. But those were all very labor intensive when farming was done with horses and manual labor. Once tractors became common on farms, more extensive tillage became easier to accomplish. Tractors weren't over the moon expensive then, they weren't near as powerful and many were borderline dangerous to operate. They also didn't have every creature comfort like their modernized counterparts of today. Back in the day, chemical pest control and fertilizers weren't a part of every farm's production management plan, either. A lot has changed on the farm over the years. Different farming philosophies and practices. Some were good, others not so much. Other things that have changed is life and our culture. Larger centralized corporations that distribute food and other goods that we buy everyday, price controls, and government programs, just to name a few. All these have had influence on farms, in productivity, prices received, prices charged to consumers, and even food quality. Some of these had minor effects at first, and they didn't seem like that big of a deal. They helped with " efficiency ", or simplified tasks so the farmer could devote more time to his livestock or field management. Every change often has unintended consequences, though. More tillage caused depletions in soil fertility and damage to the microorganisms that keep soil alive and productive. Greater chemical usage damaged those same microorganisms, and risk of those chemicals entering the water systems or even trace amounts reaching the feed the livestock ate or the produce that we ate. Higher amounts of grains fed to livestock could cause digestive issues, reproductive issues, lameness, or unintended or unexplained death. High levels of corn silage feeding causes digestive issues, though it does boost milk production considerably. People and nutritionists tend to forget that nearly half of that corn silage is grain starch, combining that with even higher levels of other grains becomes detrimental to the cattle and the resulting milk nutritional value. Modern confinement of dairy cattle, has led to more lameness issues, more equipment needs to handle feed and waste, greater potential for disease transmission between cows from environmental challenges of air quality or just sanitation concerns. Modern confinement systems have greatly increased the number of very large farms because those systems do allow for greater production, specialized jobs, perceived convenience to management, convenience for processors to limit the number of farms they need to work with, and much more. Unintended consequences continue to build. Rural life isn't the same as it used to be. Food quality isn't either. Farmers don't get a fair price for their products due to flooded markets of sub-par food from commercial sized production facilities, whether they're family owned or not. This is intended to squeeze the small farms out simply from economics and scale....

So that being said, and there is much more that could be added... We are in the position to change much of that here. Our cows are different than the majority of commercial cattle, our facilities aren't the most modern highly specialized for groups and extensive managing. Our equipment is aging faster than we'd like to admit. Yet, we still love our farm, our cattle, and our family.

We aren't necessarily wanting to jump on the super niche markets of certified this and that. We're going to tell you how we farm and why. It's up to you all to decide if you want to support us in our endeavors to produce a clean and healthy food supply for you and your families.

More to share in the future.

Thanks for your interest.

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05/05/2026

We have some $250 split quarters available here are some example pictures. Give us a call or send us a message. Thanks for looking. Please like and share.

05/05/2026

It's a beautiful sight, when the cows are right out my back door....