(Photo from The Herald of Randolph, July 21, 2011 issue.)
Brandon, age 21, runs Cer-Krit Jerseys, a 60 cow dairy farm. He grew up in southern Vermont and was not involved in agriculture until he was a young teenager when he began helping a neighbor with haying and eventually took an interest in raising beef animals.
After high school he chose to go to Vermont Technical College to study Dairy Herd Management and graduated with his associate’s degree in 2009. After a year of working for other farmers, Brandon decided in May of 2010 to start farming on his own. He purchased 60 cows and found a farm in Randolph to rent. After a year of high culling he was faced with heading into the fall with lower cow numbers, making his operation less efficient. For this reason he turned to FarmStart and applied for an investment to purchase replacements.
Brandon is the type of business owner that FarmStart was designed for: skilled, young entrepreneurs that show promise of success. We look forward to working with Brandon in helping his business succeed so that he may have a strong future in Vermont’s dairy industry.
Brandon's FarmStart Advisor is Morgan Greenwood Rilling, a loan officer in the White River Jct. office.
