Late April 1960 Robert Gervais Sr. was fixing fence with his father when he was approached by a man. The man offered him a job as a hired hand. Robert Sr. replied to the offer, “the next time I go onto a farm it is going to be mine.” A few hours later the man returns and offered to sell Robert Sr. the farm. did not have a nickel to his name and stated that to him. The man insisted that he should
at least look at the farm before he refused his offer again. proceeded to look at the farm and thought that it was an alright farm that he would be interested in purchasing. The next step was going to an attorney and transferring the farm to Robert and Gisele Gervais. was able to borrow ten dollars to complete the deal. He then had to go home and tell Gisele that he just purchased a farm and they had cows to milk that night. He had purchased a 35 cow farm which was large during that time period. As Robert and Gisele’s family grew their farm also grew. In 1972 a 100 cow free stall barn was built. This was considered cutting edge technology. While, Robert Sr. was building the barn people had expressed their doubts on a free stall barn working. His peers were concerned that it was impossible to care for that many cows. His innovated design was a success. His sons decided to branch out on their own and each ran their own farms. Eventually they realized they could be a stronger business if they pooled their farms together and worked as one farm. Another barn was built in 1995 to accommodate all the cows that were moved from the individual son’s farms to one main barn. That barn is still in use today and referred to as the “home farm.” Four sons now own the farm along with their parents. The larger scale farm gave them the opportunity to segregate their work. The roles were given by the strengths they possessed. Gervais Family Farm is now home to 3,400 cows and young stock. Gervais Family Farm has been able to stay in business for 50 plus years because they have been willing to try new things and be innovative.
