Dairy Celebration Days

Billings Farm is celebrating Dairy Celebration Days and our 150^th Anniversary as a Jersey cow dairy and you are invited to join in!

Saturday & Sunday Activities:

• Enjoy a complimentary bite of birthday cake and pair it with our Dairy Bar Birthday Special: homemade Strawberry Rhubarb ice cream, made with Billings Farm milk, available for purchase at the Dairy Bar, 11AM-5PM.
• Learn about Billings Farm’s most famous cows and view artifacts and images from the past 150 years.
• View our “historic” Birthday Cake and miniature farm scene. Sign the giant Birthday Card and share your favorite Billings Farm memories!
• Sample award-winning Billings Farm Cheddar Cheese.
• Make a Jersey cow craft (Activity Barn)
• Live demonstration on how to make Cheese Straws, enjoy a sample! Pick up some of our best dairy recipes and view a recorded demonstration featuring a historic Mac-n-cheese recipe. Learn all about the history of our dairy. (Learning Kitchen)
• As our gift to you, take home a Billings Farm Dairy mini milk bottle.

 Saturday Only

• Step behind-the-scenes and visit with local youth in the Show Barn as they groom their cattle and prepare to compete in Sunday’s Youth Invitational Dairy Show.
• 11AM & 1PM Join the Farm staff for the Judging Dairy Cattle program and learn how to identify certain characteristics that make up a prize dairy cow. (Show Tent)
• 11AM-3PM Goat’s milk soap making demonstration with Tina Tuckerman of One Chicken at a Time Farm. (Wagon Barn)
• 12:00-12:45PM Take an Instagram-worthy picture with one of our prize-winning Jerseys (Outside the Horse Barn)
• 2PM Brush a Heifer! (Outside the Horse Barn)

Sunday Only

• Watch local youth and their cattle compete in the Third Annual Youth Invitational Dairy Show. (Show Tent)
• 12:00-3:00PM Purchase a fresh Billings Farm Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Tomato Jam and a garden-fresh side salad prepared by the Woodstock Inn & Resort.

Billings Farm Celebrates 150 Years:

One hundred and fifty years ago, Frederick Billings imported Jersey cattle from the Isle of Jersey, building a prize herd and transforming his Woodstock estate into a model farm that employed the latest sustainable agricultural practices.

While the intervening years brought successes – as in 1893, when Billings Farm’s Jerseys garnered top honors at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago – and heartbreaking challenges, as when the herd was sold off during hard times in the 1930’s – the Billings family’s dedication to Frederick Billings’ vision held true.

Today, the Billings Farm & Museum breeds and milks a herd of nearly 50 blue ribbon Jerseys, producing more than 650,000 pounds of milk, some of which goes to Agri-Mark for Cabot products and some of which is used to craft award-winning artisan cheeses in partnership with Grafton Village Cheese. The Woodstock landmark is a Vermont destination which attracts thousands of visitors annually with its educational exhibits, engaging programs and special events that bring to life Vermont’s rural heritage.