The High Lawn Story
Our 100-year quest for the world's best milk and cheese started with the love of a little girl.
Our story begins in the early 1920s, in the beautiful Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts.
As an adolescent, Marjorie Field spent the years of her upbringing split between her home in New York City and memorable Berkshire summers here at High Lawn. Her parents had a vision to start an all Jersey cattle farm. They knew that Jerseys (named after the Isle of Jersey where the breed originates) produced the richest, creamiest milk out of all the breeds for drinking and for making butter.
After the passing of her mother in 1934, a newly married Marjorie and her husband Colonel George Wilde took over High Lawn with the desire to expand it.
With the rapid changing of the times and the Great Depression affecting lives near and far, Marjorie knew that she had an opportunity to not only share the nutritious milk from her Jersey herd with her community, but that she could better the Jersey line through special selection and breeding which would allow her herd to live longer, healthier, more productive lives.
“She carried around her records book like it was her Bible.”
For Marjorie, it was never just a numbers game or a mission for profit. It was truly her life’s calling. Her daughter once said that her mother knew everything about every cow, every heifer, every calf. She devoted her life to them and she treated them with the deepest regard, kindness, and respect. Her desire to give her Jerseys the best life any animal could possibly hope for was the foundation that the High Lawn Farm legacy was built upon.
Although Marjorie was never trained in genetics, she became a world-renowned pioneer in the field of Jersey breeding. It was because of her work that High Lawn Farm cows produce about four times as much milk with 17% more protein and 20% more calcium per unit of feed than do average cows.
“High Lawn Farm has been called ‘the cradle of the Jersey breed.’ It may be one of the greatest examples of cattle breeding ever witnessed — certainly one of the single-most-successful endeavors of the 20th century.”
— Jersey Journal, April 1990
Marjorie and the Colonel went on to win Master Breeder Awards from the American Jersey Cattle Club, first the Colonel in 1960 and then Marjorie in 1977. They also received a Dairy Shrine’s Distinguished Dairy Cattle Breeder Award in 1978 and were the first Jersey breeders to ever receive this prestigious award. Jersey cattle owners all over the world know the name High Lawn Farm, all because of Marjorie.
Certain cow families in the present herd trace direct lineage across 15 generations to the original herd Marjorie knew as a child.
Breeding stock from High Lawn are widely sought by Jersey farmers seeking to improve milk production, and our cows have been shipped across the Americas and even as far as India for breeding purposes! We’re proud to say that more than 100,000 Jersey cows can trace their heritage back to High Lawn Farm.
On September 26th, 1997, Marjorie left us at the age of 87. But her loving spirit and presence is forever felt on the grounds here.
Today, nearly 100 years later, our farm is still owned and loved by the Wilde family.
We joyfully carry on Marjorie and the Colonel’s vision and dedication to the integrity and quality of our herd.
Our Jersey girls graze on fresh grass in the summer months, have waterbeds to sleep on in heated barns for the winter, are never given rBST, and almost all of their winter feed comes straight from our own corn and hayfields – which guarantees the best quality.
So here’s the way we see it: Our Jerseys have always been cared for in the same, extra-special way. And in return, their gift to us is the most delicious, nutrient-dense, 100% natural milk. Our team of artisans finds great joy in exploring new ways to express the freshness of our pure Jersey milk. We like to think that that love is the foundational ingredient in every High Lawn dairy product.
With just a single sip of our rich milk or cream, a chewy bite of one of our artisanal farmstead cheeses, or a slathering of our slow-churned butter on your favorite toasty slice, we guarantee that you’ll be able to taste the Jersey difference. Always handcrafted with love, as it’s always been, right here at our Berkshires farmstead.
Ready to Taste the Jersey Difference for yourself?
We offer local pick-up here at our Farmstead Creamery shop, and also ship Nationwide!