Mapleline Farm to Host Jersey Breeders During AJCA-NAJ Annual Meetings

Mapleline Farm LLC will be a tour stop during the annual meetings of the national Jersey organizations on Saturday, June 22, 2024.

Mapleline Farm is located in Hadley, Mass., on the Connecticut River north of Springfield and the intersection of two thoroughfares, Interstate 90 and Interstate 91. Mapleline Farm has been in the Kokoski family since 1904, initially raising potatoes, onions and broadleaf tobacco and milking a small herd of Holsteins. But when John Kokoski, a great-grandson of the farm’s founder, assumed management of the business in 1980, the cash crops were phased out to grow feed for the dairy herd, and the black and whites were switched to Jerseys.

Mapleline Farm began bottling milk from the herd in 1995 at Quality Milk in Ware, about 25 miles east of the farm. The Kokoskis started small, taking raw milk to the plant to be homogenized, pasteurized and bottled and bringing back just what could be sold from a store in the corner of the barn. The business quickly escalated. Customers wanted to purchase milk closer to their homes, which led to the wholesale business. Chefs at high-end restaurants wanted high-fat cream for desserts and cream sauces, which led to the restaurant business. Door-to-door delivery in 1998 generated additional demand, and the family was able to buy back all the milk the herd produced. In 2001, the Kokoskis constructed a facility on the farm, purchased and moved the processing equipment from the plant to Hadley and began using the Queen of Quality label.

In 2020, ownership of Mapleline Farm was transitioned to John’s daughters, Jessica Dizek and Jennifer Zina, who worked in off-farm careers for many years. Jessica handles sales and marketing, accounting and overall business development and works closely with the herd manager, Tyler Woodman, to supervise herd health, breeding and farm staff. Jennifer oversees daily activities in the processing plant and manages customer orders and deliveries. The sisters work together to manage supply and demand and ensure the farm and processing aspects of the business are communicating and collaborating for growth. Jessica’s husband, Chad, oversees the crops and maintains equipment, from farm machinery to plant equipment to delivery trucks.

Even though Jessica and Jennifer took the reins at the height of the pandemic, when many food service companies struggled, product sales for Mapleline have grown more than 20% and milk production has increased by 16%. The two have made significant infrastructure updates to the processing plant and branding updates to promote their reputation and modernize their brand. They have also capitalized on the growing demand for A2 milk and genotype heifers to verify the production of A2/A2 milk and assist with matings and the selection of desirable health traits.

Mapleline Farm processes milk three days every week as all grades of fluid milk, heavy cream, half and half, buttermilk and flavored milk. Much of their milk is used in the food service industry by restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and institutions like colleges and universities. Products are also sold to grocery stores and small retailers. Mapleline works closely with a specialty foods distributor to manage sales in Boston-based restaurants and retailers.

The chocolate milk produced by Mapleline was named “best in the state” by afoolzerrand.com, the world’s foremost expert in chocolate milk. Their heavy cream is a favorite among trained chefs and culinary professionals, who love the “yellow” cream produced by Mapleline’s Jerseys.

The main barn at Mapleline Farm, built in 2003, is a freestall facility that houses milking cows, dry cows and bred heifers. Cows are milked in a double-seven, rapid exit parlor that was expanded from a double-four. Breeding-age heifers are housed in another barn. Calves are raised in the old tie-stall barn that had housed the 40-cow herd maintained through the 1980s and early 1990s. A Lely robotic barn cleaner was installed last fall and health monitoring collars have just been added.

The 110-cow herd is enrolled on REAP and has a 2023 lactation average of 20,788 lbs. milk, 1,072 lbs. fat and 759 lbs. protein. With the most recent appraisal in February, the herd includes 14 Excellent and 95 Very Good cows and has an average final score of 83.9%.

Stewarding the land and commitment to sustainability have also been paramount to the Kokoskis across five generations. They grow 100 acres of brown midrib corn for silage and set aside 140 acres to grow haylage and 600 bales of dry hay each year. The farm feels the combination of silage, haylage and dry hay in the ration balanced with grain and minerals selected for health and performance by Poulin Grain has paid off with an increase in the rolling herd average. They take forage quality seriously and have benefitted from fine-tuning the crops program.

Mapleline Farm produces about 150 kilowatts of solar power, with panels placed on rooftops alone to preserve pastures and cropland. In 2005, the Kokoskis enrolled all their land in the state’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program, the nation’s first program to permanently protect farmland.

Mapleline Farm was a virtual tour during World Dairy Expo in 2016. It has been named New England Dairy Farmer of the Year and Massachusetts Outstanding Dairy Farm and earned the Dairy of Distinction by the Massachusetts Farm Bureau. The farm has been featured extensively in articles and tours sponsored by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and received a sustainability award from the University of Massachusetts in 2019.

John Kokoski has also been very active in service to the national Jersey organizations. He has served as president of NAJ since 2019 and District 3 Director since 2007.