Escobar Farm

Jane and Lou inspect a barn-warming gift

On Aquidneck Island, in Portsmouth, RI, and right next door to Newport, you can stop by and see farm life in the middle of a modern active community. We invite you to stop by and learn something of the life on what has been a traditional Family Farm for years. Today, in order to survive, we have learned to diversify. In so doing, we feel that we offer benefits to the Portsmouth community, not the least of which is the opportunity for young people to learn what farming is all about.

When the old 1920’s barn burned down, it seemed like the end of an era. It was, in fact, but in a good way, and the change forced upon the farm has offered the opportunity to modernize. We now had the chance to bring in the newest technology, with great improvements in milk handling and great improvements in labor requirements. Because of these improvements, we expect to continue running the dairy part of the farm for a long time.

The old milking stanchions after the fire.

Highland Farm is one of a vanishing breed of family agricultural businesses in this country. Close to Portsmouth and Providence, it provides valuable green space for the increasingly populous region. So while Milk is our main product, we also help pump out the Oxygen you need to breathe! Dairying is a perilously marginal life style today, and most successful dairy farms milk a large number of cows. Small farms struggle to stay in business by diversifying, so we have put in Christmas Trees, our Pumpkin Patch, and our Corn Maze to offer local residents more than just Oxygen. Family Fun and the opportunity to see both Plants and Animals close up is an increasingly important learning resource for our children, in our rapidly developing area. We invite you to schedule Tours of the Farm for your Clubs and Classes.

Out Standing in a Crowd. We love this picture. If you click on it, you will find an enlargement, suitable for desktop wallpaper. (800 X 600)

Jane Escobar, in addition to helping on the Farm, is a highly regarded dairy artificial insemination technician; she was written up in Hoard’s Dairyman, (8/25/94, page 570) the “New York Times” of dairy farm magazines, for her outstanding record. She breeds cows of other farmers in the area with frozen semen of carefully selected bulls, which is collected and stored by very large businesses engaged in the highly technical job of assuring that each calf born will mature into an outstanding milk producer. The genetic database and registration of these animals and their milk production is the business of the Holstein Association USA in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Audience above watching milking
through the big window.

The Escobars and the Highland Farm are easy to find on the internet; active in their community and in dairy farming groups, they are the best kind of progressive responsible citizens and friends in their community. In the best of American traditions, when the Escobars faced great difficulties after their barn burned, the Portsmouth community supported their rebuilding efforts.