The Corfu, New York, dairy farm is run by the Reynolds family, who all work hard to keep the operation running smoothly.

“Everyone is very hands on,” Kelly Reynolds said.

Kelly’s husband, Tyler, along with his siblings Mackenzie and Andy, are the third generation at Reyncrest. Their parents, John and Shelley own the farm.

Andy’s wife, Whitney, also helps out, and the farm employs 20-25 people.

It’s a bustling operation, so each family member has a focus.

Kelly takes care of outreach and communication, running the farm’s social media pages and hosting farm tours.

“We really like sharing stuff with the public,” she said.

The farm’s Facebook page launched in 2018 and has grown to over 8,000 followers.

“Our farm was — and is — kind of always growing,” Kelly said. “We wanted our neighbors to be able to kind of have a landing page to reach out to us.”

The initial goal was to connect with neighbors, but the page’s reach has expanded beyond New York.

With a following from both inside and outside of the agricultural industry, Kelly said she works hard to be cognizant of what is shared on the page.

“I try to be really aware of what I’m posting and how I’m saying stuff,” she said. “I want people to have a positive interaction with agriculture — dairy farming — and if that’s the one thing they see, I want it to be a good thing.”

On top of sharing the farm’s story through social media, the Reynolds family hosts farm tours, keeping what Kelly calls an “open door policy.” If someone asks for a tour and the family is available, they’ll always say yes and welcome people onto the farm.

From 2017-2019, Reyncrest Farm hosted Genesee County Farm Bureau’s Kinderfarmin’ event, where about 600 Kindergarten students and their parents from around the county came to tour the farm.

Last year, the farm did a virtual tour with American Dairy Association North East.

Earlier this month, the farm welcomed 75 students and teachers. The farm typically hosts 5-10 tours each year.

“We just want to be transparent,” Kelly said. “I enjoy telling the story of where our food comes from. I think, in the future, that’s going to be a really big deal to people. The younger generations do want to know where their food comes from.”

The food coming from Reyncrest Farm is milk from 1,600 Holsteins, which is shipped to Upstate Niagara Cooperative. The farm’s average production per cow is about 28,000 pounds per year.

The family farms 2,700 acres, growing corn, hay, triticale and wheat.

“My in-laws expanded in the early ’90s. Since then, all of our herd growth has been internal,” Kelly said. “My in-laws did a really good job of planning for the future. If all three of their kids wanted to come home, they were welcome to.”

All three kids did want to come home to the farm after attending Cornell University to study animal science.

Mackenzie is the herdsperson. The cows are milked in a double 20 herringbone parlor. Mackenzie also uses an SCR collar system to help monitor heat detection and rumination.

“We implemented that to help manage the herd size,” Kelly said.

Andy takes care of the young stock and Tyler manages employees. As for the parents, John takes care of the overall management and Shelley does the financial work along with helping with the young stock.

Everyone pitches in, including work with the farm’s show cattle.

The family shows every year at the New York State Holstein Show and the World Dairy Expo, in addition to a few local shows.

Last year, Reyncrest won premiere breeder and exhibitor at the New York State Holstein Show’s heifer show.

The family breeds their show cows with IVF and typically sells about 10-12 heifers each spring.

In addition to showing, Tyler, Andy and Kelly also judge.

While life at Reyncrest Farm is always busy, the family has figured out a way to make all of the different aspects run smoothly.

“Everyone has their own responsibilities and are able to work with the team to get stuff done,” Kelly said. “It works out for us.”