Get to Know Drumlin Farm’s Livestock Manager
May 02, 2025
Managing the farm animals year-round, including making sure the lambing and kidding season goes smoothly each spring, is no small feat. Our resident Livestock Manager, Caroline Malone, along with the amazing livestock team, makes it all happen.
Caroline started at Drumlin Farm as an agriculture intern in 1995 and initially worked as the Crops Manager. After taking a brief break, she came back in the role of Livestock Manager and has been in the role ever since.
Q: How did you get your start in farming?
A: When I was four years old, my parents brought home sheep and goats for the first time. There was a ram that I fell in love with, and that was it for me. After college, I spent time working on farms in Maine before interning at Drumlin Farm.
Q: What does a day-in-the-life look like for you?
A: I’m usually up at 4:00-5:00 am and arrive at work by 7:00 am. After the livestock team does our routine morning chores, we regroup and work off a list made for the day. We could be doing anything from cleaning out a barn to moving sheep, delivering lambs or kids, checking on sick animals, skirting fleeces, weed-whacking fence lines, shoveling snow—it all depends on the time of year. No day is the same!
Q: What does sustainable farming mean to you?
A: There are a number of sustainable practices we employ. These include composting all animal waste and turning it into fertilizer for our crops, rotational grazing, using unused hay for bedding, having our sheep graze on invasive plants, and more. We try to keep sustainability at the core of what we do.
Q: What's the biggest challenge of working with livestock, and what's the most rewarding part?
A: I would say the biggest challenge is figuring out what might be causing an animal to be sick. The reward is getting to see them healthy and thriving.
Q: Do you have a favorite animal to work with?
A: I love them all, but sheep are my favorite. Our sheep are so calm.
Q: What's your favorite thing about working at Drumlin Farm?
A: This is hard, because I really enjoy my job. There is never a dull day, and each season has things I enjoy doing.
Q: What's something people may not know about Drumlin Farm’s livestock?
A: This is something the livestock team and I can brag about! Over the last 30 years, our sheep have had 97.6% live births out of 569 lambs born, and the goats 97.4 % live births out of 200 kids. The cows have had 100% live births. This is not easy to achieve, and it’s due to around-the-clock care from the livestock team and making sure we have healthy animals.
See Farming in Action
Visit the farm animals, and you’ll likely see Caroline and her team working out in the field. Feel free to say hi and ask any questions you might have, the team is always happy to answer!
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