The Wilcox Dairy Farm, also known as Silver Springs Farm in Manchester, Vermont is not your average barn with some cows in it. The name may be familiar to you since you probably have had Wilcox Ice Cream on more than one hot day if you live in Southern Vermont. And if you’ve lived around here for a REALLY long time, then milk was probably delivered to your house in Silver Springs Farm bottles.
Five generations ago, in 1898, Erwin Austin Wilcox traded the Wilbur Farm on River Road in Manchester for the current Wilcox Farm property, which was then owned by Richard Pettibone. It was an even trade, both gentlemen just wanted the other’s property … and that’s where the history of Wilcox Farm started.
Fast forward to May 7th, 2001. A tragic fire ripped through the Wilcox Dairy milking barn completely destroying the structure. Most of the cows were saved and taken to a friend’s barn in Pawlet, Vermont. The construction of a new milking barn started with the foundation, but as usually happens with farms, hurdles such as finances and other obligations prohibited the complet
ion of the building.
It is now 2014. The foundation is still in place but the 4th and 5th generations of Wilcox still running the dairy need your help. The cows have been on the farm since 2007 in a makeshift milking and housing facility, which makes it nearly impossible to keep the farm running as efficiently as possible. It takes twice as long to do milking and daily chores in the current facility, leaving minimal time for necessary farm work and getting the crops in for winter. All of these factors drastically effect the future of the farm. Family life is pretty much nonexistent because all of the energy has been put into keeping the farm afloat. The dairy farm has slowly been losing steam and has gone from bad to worse, nearly extinguishing any hope that the farm will survive much longer. With your help, the 5th generation of Wilcoxes (Adam and Brittany) will strive to keep the farm going for many more generations to come.
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