After farming up and down New Hampshire, and even a few stints in Massachusetts as an accomplished herdsman and dairyman, Herbert Elwin Fowler picked up the pieces and money he was able to save through the Great Depression and at the age of 50 started all over again -
He purchased and settled on the old Allen Farm in Rochester, New Hampshire in 1931. Details of his saga up until that point can be found here.
With his sons, he developed a well respected dairy herd and farm known as H.E. Fowler and Sons’ and later Egwanulti Farm. They had 100 head of dairy cows.
They employed the latest dairying methods with the help of his oldest son, Kenneth, who was herdsman at the University of New Hampshire. They were among the first to use artificial insemination to develop their herd. His sons, John and Verne, worked on the farm and eventually took over the business.
The farm was in continuous operation as a dairy farm by the Fowler family from 1932 until 1986. Their herd grew to more than 120 registered prize winning Holstein-Friesian cows, the finest in the state, that provided the milk that arrived on
many of the doorsteps in Rochester during the years his brother, John, ran one of the last continuous milk routes in Rochester.
The end of an era - the start of a new one:
Verne made the difficult decision to go out of the dairy business in 1986 when the country was suffering from national milk surplus. The dairying on the farm ceased along 57 other New Hampshire farms under the federal Whole Herd Buyout program. While the intent was to resume operations after the required waiting period of five years out of business, getting back into the market proved an insurmountable challenge. Verne missed his herd very much - he knew each cow’s name from sight, 20 feet away, and often recounted that he wish had never let them go. Not one to be idle for very long, Verne shifted almost exclusively to a hay-making operation with his children carrying on that legacy.
Since then we have focus on producing high quality feed hay for horses and cattle. We produce over 10,000 bales a year on our 360 acre farm. While we used to exclusively do small, square bales, in recent years we have started to move into the large round bale market.
We still love our farm and who knows what the future holds, but we are happy to provide feed hay to those that are still fortunate enough to have their animals.
If you are in the market for quality feed hay please contact contact us.
