Hannan Dairy Farm
Not city kids
Brothers Chris and Todd Hannan are first-generation dairy farmers, but “it wasn’t like we were city kids,” Chris says with a chuckle. The pair grew up with one other brother in a family that raised sheep and beef cattle and their dad did crop work for a hobby. There was farming further back in the family tree, Chris adds, with dairy and vegetable operations. Both worked for other farms milking and Chris had a “farmsitting” business, where he would take care of local farms when the owners took a break.
Getting serious
The brothers chose to study animal science and other aspects of agriculture in college and were working in associated fields, but they didn’t make the leap to having their own dairy herd until 2009. It was not a good year for milk prices; “People were like, ‘What are you thinking?!’” Chris recalls. But the pair had built up a small herd of prized registered Holsteins – “project cows that we had collected,” as Chris describes them – that were spread out among several other farms across two states. “It was getting kinda chaotic,” he admits. “We decided we’d better get serious about it.”
All-American pride
The brothers take great pride in their herd of black and white and red and white Holsteins, which include the offspring of an All-American cow they raised in the early 2000s. The herd has set some state records for production, also thanks to the high quality of feed crops they produce themselves. “We like being our own bosses and getting to see a variety of things every day and through every season,” Chris says. Looking back on the decision to commit to dairy farming full-time, he reflects, “We kind of had to figure it our ourselves; we weren’t born into it. If we wanted it, we had to make it happen.”
Hannan Dairy Farm is doing things right, and folks are noticing – they are the 2019 Green Pastures Award Winner for Connecticut!