Porter Family Farm begins with Josh Porter, who has been farming for practically his entire life.  Josh grew up on multiple dairy farms and began his investment of animals very early, starting with purchasing his own first pair of oxen at the young age of 11.  Josh hasn’t looked back since then, and through middle school and high school, he continued to buy young stock, improve on them, and then resell in order to grow his herd.  He graduated from Smith Vocational High School in 2001.  Josh’s vast knowledge of animals and how to properly care for them developed from a lifetime of experience and observation on what works and what doesn’t.  His dedication to raising quality livestock and his life long experience has taught him that shortcuts don’t work and in order to raise the quality of meat he wants, he needs to invest in each animal and fully support them in all stages of their lives.  

Josh met his wife, Anne, while working at a horse farm in Easthampton, MA.  While Anne was not raised in the same farming lifestyle as Josh, she began taking horseback riding lessons at the age of eight and her love for horses quickly took a front row seat in most of her decision making in life.  While continuing to take riding lessons and also spending just about every afternoon at the barn, Anne finished high school and continued on to Westfield State University to earn a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, and shortly after a Masters Degree in Education from Elms College.  While always keeping at least one foot in the barn, Anne worked full time as a classroom teacher for fifteen years, beginning in Springfield, then in Easthampton, and finally in Williamsburg MA.

Josh and Anne married in 2011 and were excited to grow their family.  They added Sean to the family in 2013 and were blessed again, this time with twins, with Addison and Hayley in 2015.  The Porter family purchased the farm on Steady Lane in Ashfield on January 31, 2018.  The balance between running a farm, teaching full time, and raising a young family was not always easy, but the benefits of being able to raise a family in this environment always largely outweighed the cons.  As the business grew (and the kids grew), it was decided that Anne would step away from teaching in the fall of 2023 and take on a more active role on the farm to help maintain and grow the business.  As part of this change, Anne found herself with more time to get back into the saddle herself and shortly after purchasing a new horse, she found herself searching for places that offer cattle sorting practices.  Even though it had been about 20 years since Anne had last done any ranch shows or cattle work, she was quickly reminded how much she loved it!  Long story short, Josh had a great idea of running events ourselves as it was difficult to find places to go that weren’t hours away from home.  In 2024, we started running ranch sorting events at local indoor arenas and we now offer cattle sorting events, intro clinics, and summer practice nights.

Sean, Addison, and Hayley have always been active members on the farm and gained a good understanding of what hard work is at a young age.  They love to be involved in the daily happenings on the farm, from the exciting spring days when baby animals are born all the way to those less exciting days of loading or unloading hay, restocking freezers, or helping to fix fences along the pastures.  Sean enjoys raising a new pair of calves each year and competing at local fairs with them.  Addison and Hayley have their own horses that they love to ride with friends on trails and compete on at local gymkhana events.  All three kids also enjoy participating in cattle sorting events as well!

The Porter Family is honored to supply the Ashfield community, and beyond, with high quality meat and eggs.  We continue to work hard to make sure we are offering the best of the best in our farm store and raising our animals in a low stress environment with all of the nourishment they need to produce delicious farm fresh, pasture raised meat.