HaR-Go Farms, Pavilion NY, owned and operated by Stephen and Jill Gould and family
By Ris Pareti, NODPA Contributing Writer
In 1956, Harold and Rose Gould had a dream: build and run their own dairy farm. Three generations later, Stephen Gould - their grandson - is keeping that dream alive. Stephen Gould runs HaR-Go Farm, an organic dairy in Pavilion, NY, with his wife, Jill Gould. “Being able to work together is special,” he shares in earnest.
HaR-Go Farm owns 550 tillable acres and rents an additional 450 acres. The farm also has 100 acres of woodland, 190 acres of permanent pasture, and crops approximately 800 acres each year. “My grandparents bought the farm in their late 20s… I was in my late 20s not too long ago. It’s hard to imagine going out, buying a farm, getting it started, and keeping it going.”
Gould speaks about the farm with the familiarity of someone who has spent his entire life there. The buildings, fields, and cattle reflect years of steady investment, adaptation, and hard work. The business feels less like something that was built all at once and more like something shaped gradually: one project, one season, and one decision at a time.
Today, HaR-Go milks 220 cows, with a full-time team of seven. Most of the herd is Holstein, with some crosses with Jersey and Brown Swiss and a few Guernsey recently added to the herd. The Goulds have operated a closed herd since 2019. The farm's housing system varies by stage of life. The cows are housed in a freestall barn built in 2016. Calves begin in hutches, and then move to various pens in older barns, while weaned calves are housed in packs before moving into freestalls at approximately five months. Dry cows and maternity cows have separate accommodations, including a calving pen.
Balancing Tradition and Organic Innovation
HaR-Go Farm has evolved in tandem with the progress of farming technology. Though a lot has changed around the farm, Stephen emphasizes the values of perseverance and hard work as the threads of influence his grandparents wove into the family and their dairy production system that are still present today. “They were fairly open-minded to doing what they wanted to do. And, they went out and did just that. I think that kind of attitude has lasted.”
While Stephen is quick to acknowledge the gusto of his grandparents in starting the farm, he’s just as swift in showing the same admiration for his parents. “My parents showed that same courage when they transitioned the farm to organic pretty early in the organic movement.” HaR-Go became certified organic in 2009. At the time, Stephen was still a teenager and his parents, John and Sue Gould, led the farm through the transition. “That was a big, big jump. It was basically a new way of learning to farm. It wasn’t a style that was intuitive to them, but they saw that it would set the farm well and provide a better opportunity than what they could see was the path of conventional farming at 120 cows.”
“When they were making the transition, they leaned on the Cornell Cooperative Extension office - especially Nancy Glazier. She helped a lot with the pasture plan.” The Goulds also turned to other farmers and producer networks. “We’d go to NYCO (New York Certified Organic) meetings, and we’d talk to the community.” Today, Stephen says conferences remain one of the resources he turns to for keeping the organic operation running smoothly.
Transitioning to organic production meant rethinking fertility programs, weed management, crop rotations, and herd health. One example was a no-till hay establishment system the Goulds developed during the transition.
“You have to develop new systems,” Stephen explains. “So my Dad decided to try a no-till hay establishment, but May seedings are tough to get in organically because organic weed control in the spring is a challenge. Take alfalfa seed - you can only plant it so deep, so you can’t just go in and blind weed it.” In the spring, when moisture encourages both crops and weeds to germinate, the Goulds found success establishing fall-seeded triticale and then drilling alfalfa into it.
“Late spring, early summer, we come through and harvest the triticale and let the hay seed grow from underneath. It’s a practice we’re still doing today because it’s a good fit. It’s expensive to transition ground. On most of the acres, we’re able to inter-seed into something we’ve established in the fall. Even in one situation, we went in and no-tilled after a conventional corn crop, and it looked pretty good.” “You're really just trying to lose as little money as possible,” Stephen says. The comment is delivered with a laugh, but it reflects the practical mindset required during transition periods. Sustainability requires both ecological and economic resilience. A practice can have environmental benefits, but it also has to function within the financial realities of running a business.
Feeding the Herd
Grazing is an important part of HaR-Go's feeding system. During the grazing season, pasture accounts for approximately 35% of dry matter intake for the milking cows. As pasture quality and production change, the Goulds adjust the amount of haylage, soy, and energy fed to the cows. For heifers and dry cows, approximately 50% of dry matter intake comes from pasture. These animals are fed haylage in the barn during the day to balance out their rations.
The grazing system is built around daily movement. All animals receive a new paddock each day. Heifers and dry cows remain outside around the clock as weather allows during the spring and fall, while the milking cows graze from dusk to dawn. During the summer, heifers and dry cows are brought back to the barn daily. In winter, the farm uses a total mixed ration (TMR), balanced with the help of a dairy nutritionist. The Goulds have not planted annual forages specifically for their grazing system.
Integrating Technology On the Farm
In 2016, HaR-Go Farm built its first robotic barn and installed four Lely robotic milking robots. At the time, John and Sue Gould were still leading the operation.
The Goulds’ legacy has not been defined by preserving the farm exactly as it was, but by embracing change. Each generation has faced a different set of decisions: Harold and Rose starting the business, John and Sue navigating the transition to organic production and investing in robotics, and Stephen and Jill managing a modern dairy operation in an increasingly complex agricultural landscape. “The transition was definitely a learning curve,” Stephen explains.
Today, the robotic system gives Stephen access to more information for managing the herd. He regularly reviews data from the milking program, including milk quality indicators such as somatic cell count, butterfat, and temperature, as well as production measures such as yield, fat, protein, and lactose.
The system provides near real-time information that Stephen can evaluate alongside his own observations of the herd. Changes in milk conductivity, visits to the robot, or rumination behavior can help identify cows that may need additional attention. Still, Stephen does not view technology as a replacement for stockmanship. Instead, the information gives him another management tool, one that complements daily observation and experience.
That same data also informs the farm’s breeding and herd-selection decisions. HaR-Go breeds entirely through artificial insemination, with longevity as a primary breeding goal. All heifers receive sexed semen, while the remainder of the herd receives beef semen. With continuously collected individual data on milk yield, milking speed, and udder health, Stephen identifies the top 10% of the most efficient, high-producing cows to retain in the dairy herd. The farm has also been able to maintain its own replacements.
The Goulds purchased animals after the new barn was built in 2016, but have not needed to purchase additional animals in recent years. They have not yet sold animals for the dairy market, although Stephen hopes to sell some heifers in 2027.
Animal Health
The Goulds' preventative herd-health program centers on vaccinations, hygiene in barns and stalls, and managing heat stress with shade and fans. Their biggest calf-health challenges are coccidiosis and pneumonia. Calves are weaned at three months, with calf starter and hay introduced during the first week of life. The calf vaccination program includes Inforce3 during the first week, Titanium 5, Vision 20/20, and another dose of Inforce3 at weaning. For scours, the farm uses electrolytes; hygiene and diatomaceous earth are used in managing calf-health challenges. For certain health problems, Stephen says the farm uses Banamine for pneumonia and severe mastitis and infused povidone iodine for metritis. The farm works with its veterinarian primarily for pregnancy checks and problem-solving, with an emphasis on pregnancy checks and preventative systems.
Looking back at the transition to organic production, Stephen sees a long-term improvement in the herd. “Over time we have a more resilient and healthier herd with less disease and higher recovery rates.”
Biosecurity on the farm includes asking visitors coming from another farm to wear clean clothes and boots.
The Challenges of Staying Organic
It is notable how quickly Stephen redirects praise away from himself and toward the people who help keep the operation running - Jill, Ron, Jeff, German Sr., German Jr., Monji, Amy, Tim, and Dermot. “Our farm team is a group of hard working people with shared ideals. We do a good job. I think that’s what I’m most proud of. You can see it in our fields; you can see it from the road looking at our farm. We are a competitive business for the neighborhood, which is an excellent farming area.”
The farm markets its milk through the farmer-owned Upstate Niagara Cooperative, connecting the milk produced in Pavilion with consumers across the Northeast.
For Stephen, the motivation for transitioning to organic production was straightforward: “Better future for our farm.”
HaR-Go is currently certified through PCO, and admits that certification is one of the less glamorous parts of organic farming. Still, Stephen sees it as necessary. “It’s painful but essential; difficult for a small business to manage and to farm.” The farm’s experience with organic certification has reinforced the amount of administrative work required to operate a certified organic farm alongside the day-to-day demands of farming. For Stephen, however, some of the biggest questions facing organic dairy extend beyond certification.
His primary concern is the Northeast’s ability to produce enough organic milk to meet demand. “My biggest concern is the Northeast cannot keep up with the demand and milk continues to move from the west where they operate under variances from the rules every year.” He believes the organic dairy industry would be better served by more producers making organic milk, particularly small and midsized farms that could transition to organic production. But Stephen believes misconceptions about organic farming can make that transition harder.
“I think conventional farms have many misconceptions about organic farming. I think we need better language to promote organic farming that finds more common ground with all the farming community.” For Stephen, organic farming is about more than which inputs are allowed or prohibited. He sees it as a broader philosophy and a different approach to the way farms function within their communities and economies. He believes the organic industry needs a less polarizing and more cohesive message—one that can bring more farmers into organic production rather than creating a divide between organic and conventional producers.
Good Things Take Time
When it comes to dairy farming, Stephen Gould comes across as relentlessly patient and committed. His reflections often return to the satisfaction of making changes whose benefits may not be immediately visible. “You just have to enjoy the incremental improvements.” That mindset seems particularly well suited to dairy farming, where many of the most meaningful changes take years to reveal themselves. Breeding decisions made today may not show their full impact until a future generation of cattle. Improvements to soil, pasture, infrastructure, or herd health can accumulate slowly, with each season providing another opportunity to adjust. “I think there’s something oddly rewarding about slow and steady improvement, whether that’s cattle or land.”
Stephen points to the farm’s experience with organic production as one example. The Goulds had to learn new approaches to fertility, weed management, forage establishment, and herd health when they transitioned to organic production. Some of the systems they developed during that period, like their fall-seeded triticale and no-till alfalfa establishment, are still part of the farm today.
The same long view shapes the way Stephen thinks about the herd. HaR-Go’s focus on longevity means breeding decisions are made with years, rather than months, in mind. “To improve an animal over a generation, you had to think about that three years ago. And then to see that improvement? That’s very motivating.”
The farm's evolution reflects that same willingness to make decisions with the future in mind. Harold and Rose Gould started the dairy from scratch in 1956. John and Sue later transitioned the farm to organic production and invested in robotic milking. Stephen and Jill have continued to refine the operation through changes in technology, grazing, genetics, infrastructure, and herd management.None of those decisions happened in isolation. Each one built on what came before it, while giving the next generation something new to work with. For Stephen, that may be the most important lesson of being a third-generation farmer: progress does not necessarily mean abandoning what came before. It can mean understanding what matters, keeping what works, and being willing to change the rest. “Find joy in slowly moving the needle over multiple years.”
When asked what he has learned from the generations before him, Stephen keeps his answer simple. “Think for yourself and do the things that are important to you.”
HaR-Go Farms is located at 10965 South Street Road, Pavilion, NY 14525, and the Gould's can be reached at office@hargofarms.com
Posted: to Featured Farms on Sun, Sep 6, 2026
Updated: Sun, Sep 6, 2026