His grandfather, Douglas Mahannah, purchased it and turned it into a working dairy which provided milk to many Bristol residents for decades. Eventually, the herd was sold off to Guida's where Doug worked as a dairyman for the duration of his life. Dan and Elyse re-established Echo Farm in 2009 in Harwinton, CT. Today, it serves as a hobby farm and produces: maple syrup, honey, hay, eggs, and vegg
ies in the summer. It has many residents including: 2 horses, 10 goats, 1 rabbit, a flock of laying hens, and 1 dog. In 2012, Echo Farm added the addition of Aspen, a naturally polled black Nigerian Dwarf doe and CrossDrive Galena (Lena), a black Nigerian Dwarf doeling closely related to Jester, to its herd. These two girls join CrossDrive Miss Layla (Layla) and EchoFarm I'm So Bravo (Bravo) in, what we hope to be, our milking herd. Echo Farm also welcomed 15 white broad breasted turkeys in July that were raised on our farm, and processed by us, for Thanksgiving. Our most exciting news however, is that we became members and are a recognized herd by the American Goat Society. In 2013, Echo Farm produced maple syrup for the first time entirely on it's property. Prior to this, we were collecting sap from the farm and boiling it all at Dan's parents' house. 2013 proved to be the highest yielding year we have seen yet. In addition, we produced our first, ever, goats milk soap made entirely from the milk our Nigerian Dwarfs produced. We tested scents such as: sweet orange, lemon, lavender, spearmint, honey oat, and tea tree. Aspen and Layla gave birth to a combined, 7 kids, and we were surprised to see that Nitro carries the buckskin gene. Echo Farm retained one doe, rightfully named Echo Farm's Trifecta, and she will be bred in the fall of 2014 alone with Bravo, Lena, and Aspen. In 2014, Echo Farm's Nigerian Dwarf herd produced 3 bucklings out of Aspen. However, it's most exciting addition was the birth of Dan & Elyse's daughter Lillyan on April 29. In addition, the farm produced over 2000 bales of high quality first and second hay for its animals and Echo Farms' clients animals. While maple season ran a bit short, the farm was able to produce 42 gallons on syrup and took a stab at candy for the first time ever.
