FARM BUSINESS PROFILE: Morris Hill Farm

November 10, 2022

“The local community has just been so open and supportive of what we’re trying to accomplish so it’s been great to be here.” So says Dave Haberkorn, owner of Morris Hill Farm.  The small family farm, located in Tracy’s Landing in southern Anne Arundel County, raises animals and sells meat products such as pasture raised chicken, eggs, pork, duck and holiday turkeys.

The journey to owning a farm based business started in 2013 when Haberkorn and his wife Vicki moved into a house on land owned by friends in Tampa, Florida.

“One day we decided to get goats because it was overgrown. Then decided to get 20 laying hens thinking ‘let’s get eggs.’

The hard manual work of farm life was a professional and lifestyle pivot that appealed to Dave. “I did cabinetry and sprayed lacquer for a living.  I thought I already work hard in elements that aren’t very pleasant. So if I could work outside with animals and make a living for myself, then this fits with how hard I am willing to work for this amount of money.” He says he sees local gardening and local farms as “the most positive thing you can apply to the society we live in today.”

Through some friendly connection and mentoring from Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Virginia, the Haberkorns co-founded Trailbale Farm. “We did that for about five years,” says Haberkorn. “I was farm manager for two or three years full time farming.”

His in-laws owned 13 acres in Tracy’s Landing but were traveling often and could not keep up the maintenance of their farm. “We had the opportunity where they said ‘Hey we want to sell the house. Or do you want to live up here and inherit it in the long run?’ So we decided it was too big of an opportunity to pass up. We came here.”

During a past visit to Anne Arundel County, the Haberkorns did a tour of local farmers markets. Dave said “It seemed there was space for a regenerative agriculture farm here.  There were tons of farms and people doing great stuff. But nobody really doing rotational grazing to the extent that we had been doing it.”

The opportunity to run their own farm was so unexpected that Dave transported an unfinished hoop house that he started in Tampa in their rented moving van.  The first chicks showed up two weeks after the couple arrived Maryland and they’ve been busy ever since.

“We’re coming to the end of our fourth season in Maryland. The first year or two we were just trying to keep up with demand. Now it seems like we’re starting to hit that “we not sold out all the time” phase,” said Dave.

The work at Morris Hill Farm varies from day to day but regularly starts with getting their three and five year old kids to school. “We’re usually just moving animals around, taking animals to the butcher or processing birds on the farm or trying to organize and keep up with orders and freezer sorting and all the managerial stuff. We spend a lot of time rotating animals around. It’s enjoyable but it’s a lot when you’re trying to do everything all at once.”

The multiple responsibilities of running the farm primarily fall on Dave and Vicki’s shoulders.  “We have a friend who helps with the processing and packaging. So we have two or three people who are in and out helping here and there.  But for the brunt of it, is my wife Vicki and I.  We’re hoping to hire someone full time or at least to help two or three days of the week next season.”

The couple sells their meat products all year round, in person at the Anne Arundel County Farmers Market on Riva Road and through online orders.  Dave says, “I am in the Severna Park Farmers Market as well which is every Saturday from the end of April to the end of October. That was the first market where we started when we got here and it’s been great for us.”

With the holidays coming up, Morris Hill Farm sees an uptick in sales. “We do a lot of turkeys and even just people stocking up because winter is coming and many of the farmers markets not being open.”

As their business has grown, they have scaled up production enough to consider selling bundles such as a breakfast bundle of meats or a chicken bundle and products such as a whole or half hogs. But Dave says they still have some things to learn.

“Our challenges now are the business not the farming. Farming always got a surprise. We’ve raised enough large numbers of animals for long enough that we can handle it. Now it’s turning into a business and figuring out how to market more. Our numbers have been constantly growing so I know. But I’m at a point now where I’d like to spread out a little more and be open to selling avenues that I have not yet done.”

Which is not to say that Dave believes that bigger is always better. “The capitalist mindset is you always have to get bigger. That doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t need to have 20 employees. But I would like to have one or two and have my family be comfortable. And it seems like we might, in this environment where we’re at, be we’re able to hit that goal of being this nice, established farm and working at a comfortable scale.”

What advice would Dave give a young person who is looking to get into farming as a business venture? He says to gain experience by working for someone else for a few years. “If I had to learn everything I know on my dollar, we would not be a farm. We learned so many lessons in those first years where we weren’t the ones fronting the bill.”

To learn more about Morris Hill Farm’s products, visit their website and follow their pages on Facebook and Instagram.

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