This blog is part of our series of Wolfe’s Neck Center Stories, focusing on the people and the programs that drive our work for farmer viability, thriving ecosystems, and vibrant communities.
Cooper Giblin cuts an impressive figure standing in the back of his ancient pickup truck, going over his plans for grazing a small pasture in Freeport, Maine, with his three lowline Angus cows. Every aspect of the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship curriculum is on display, from the practical (How will the cows exit the trailer? Is the portable solar-powered electric fencing set to the right voltage?) to the ecological.
“The best way to improve the soil is to put animals on it,” Cooper says. The cows are in a symbiotic relationship with the land: taking the nutrients from the grass and “depositing their fertility” in return. Cooper betrays the intense focus on grass quality and health of a grassfarmer. “If you’re stewarding the land as a grazier, it’s in your best interest to improve the land as much as possible.”
In the fall of 2025, Cooper graduated from the two-year Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (DGA) program at Wolfe’s Neck Center. The program, which has apprentices across the country and is registered with the US Department of Labor, teaches aspiring dairy graziers everything from animal safety and tractor handling to business planning and networking. The central focus of the DGA is transferring the knowledge that is vital for this special type of dairy farming, which improves soil health while keeping “inputs” low – reducing the carbon footprint and the financial overhead of the operation.
Cooper has taken the lessons on entrepreneurship to the next level. Before graduation, he had already started a company, the Giblin Cattle Company of Maine, and worked with the Freeport Historical Society to graze his small beef herd on the grounds of the Pettengill Farm. At Pettingill, Cooper deployed a “temporary, low-cost, and very mobile” version of what he learned on the 600 acres of nearby Wolfe’s Neck Center, including using solar-powered fencing to create small sections of pasture for livestock to graze rotationally, so that the grass has time to regenerate, and a solar pump that drew water from the farm’s original well. These regenerative methods rebuild soil health and are a fitting reminder of how hyperlocal grazing can be a viable small business. As a graduate and an advocate, Cooper will be taking these lessons out into the wider industry.
To that end, the Giblin Cattle Company is focused on breeding cows that are well adapted to grazing. Cooper believes in the low overhead approach, which he hopes will bring grazing animals to more and smaller pastures so that they can improve the health and resilience of the soil while giving young ranchers a way to enter the grazing workforce.
Visit our website to learn about the DGA program at Wolfe’s Neck Center as well as Growing Graziers, the new hybrid cohort curriculum we have launched with partners including DGA-National and Pasa Sustainable Agriculture. Cooper’s classmate Annabelle Williams wrote this recollection when she graduated earlier in 2025.
