May Hill Farm Gives Life to an Old Area Farm

Joe and Carrie Stevens purchased their farm in 2018, now known as May Hill Farm, located at W4855 Super Dr, Campbellsport.
They converted the cropland into pasture to raise their beef cattle, pigs, meat chickens and egg-laying chickens, as it was an operating dairy farm for many years, with the barn built before 1900.
“We follow management-intensive grazing practices for our cattle and move them daily to a new section of pasture,” said Carrie Stevens. This practice is good for the livestock and the soil as it builds soil health and helps increase nutrients in the forage.
“Making the change to regenerative agriculture was a good fit for our farm and our family when we purchased the farm and continues to be a good fit with our customer base,” said Stevens.

May Hill sells its beef, pork, chicken and eggs direct-to-consumer through their website (mayhillfarmwi.com), the Fond du Lac County REKO and several vendor fairs and markets.
“Agriculture plays a big role in our local area and economy,” said Stevens. “To operate our farm, we work with many other local businesses from the feed mill, butcher, implement dealers and veterinarian. Having these businesses in the area is critical to the success of our farm.”
“We see local agriculture evolving similar to how it is evolving across the country,” said Stevens. “Larger, more specialized operations will continue to grow and smaller-scale operations will focus on niche, direct-to-consumer product offerings.”
“To produce products we are proud of and offer those to our community,” said Stevens. “We enjoy the reward of seeing progress and growth daily.”
The Stevens’ have had many great mentors and are part of several organizations of like-minded farmers.
“Through the Grass-fed Beef Cooperative, we connected with Daniel Wagner who lives near us,” said Stevens. “Daniel raised hogs and cattle for years and is a great resource when it comes to finishing high-quality beef on pasture.”
“Rachel Bouressa from Bouressa Family Farm has been a wonderful resource and cheerleader as we transitioned our crop land to pasture,” said Stevens. “Rachel wrote our pasture plan and is an expert at all things soil health, grass, cattle and bugs!”
The Stevens have found many interesting things on the farm, but the most unique was a tombstone from the 1860s.
“When cleaning out under the old summer kitchen, we found a tombstone and we were a little concerned at first that there might be more there than just the tombstone,” said Stevens. “We connected with the Lomira historian and found out that the tombstone had been replaced with a double headstone when the other spouse passed away and this tombstone was given to the daughter and ended up stashed under the summer kitchen.”
The tombstone is now housed at the old schoolhouse in Sterr Park in Lomira.
“Our farm allows us to enjoy country living with our family,” said Stevens. “Campfires under the stars, climbing on hay bales and digging up worms are some of the perks our kids enjoy growing up on a farm.”
“Experimenting with different projects, growing a business and being able to feed our community are things we take pride in doing,” said Stevens.