How Critter Barn Uses Farmbrite To Bring Farm Education To Their Community
- Joshua Brock
- Aug 26
- 7 min read
Discover how Critter Barn is using Farmbrite to help educate future generations of the importance of farming.
“Life is a journey, and if you fall in love with the journey, you will be in love forever.” – Peter Hagerty –
1984 was a pivotal year in the history of the United States, but also, around the world.
Globally, the world saw a mix of significant political events, cultural milestones, and technological advancements. That same year, in a rural area of the lower peninsula of Michigan, just east of Holland, an incredible story of agriculture, education, family, and faith was just getting underway in Zeeland.
Mary Rottschafer and her family had just made, what can only be understood in hindsight, the life-changing decision to move from the city to the country. As family and friends often do, Mary had planned a surprise party to celebrate this decision and welcome her and her family to their new community.
As sometimes happens, original plans morphed into something different. Over the course of the first six years, their dream of tending to a simple, small garden turned into hosting school field trips for unique, educational, and hands-on experiences for children of all ages. Today some forty years later, Critter Barn has welcomed over 100,000 visitors to their farm.
“Agriculture Is A Gift of Nature”
Founder, Mary Rottschafer, reflected on the role Critter Barn has played over the last four decades.
“We teach that agriculture is a gift of nature and give people of all ages the opportunity to witness the wonder of new life. Together we study the impact of the seasons and the role that plants, animals and the environment play in our sustainability.”
- Mary Rottschafer -
Recently as part of our Customer Success Stories project, we had the opportunity to sit and chat with two current employees and stewards of Critter Barn and its mission to serve children from all walks of life.
Tony McCaul, Executive Director, and Ian Klaes, Livestock Operations Coordinator, were kind enough to carve some time out of their busy schedules to talk about all things Critter Barn - the challenges, the rewards, and the unique programs that draw visitors in from all over the country. And as new users, they shared how Farmbrite has brought a new level of operational management, details, and efficiency to their crops, livestock, and office responsibilities.
We will post the full interview at a later date, which runs slightly over 30 minutes long, covering a wide variety of topics in a very casual, but upbeat conversation. For the purposes of this article, we’ve gone through and pulled some gems of our discussion and included snippets in the paragraphs that follow. It was a wonderful experience for us at Farmbrite and we think you’ll quickly see what a gem Critter Barn is to the local, regional, and national agricultural community.
The Importance of “Hands-on” in Farming and The Future
Critter Barn is a 36-acre non-profit Christian-based agriculture education farm located in Zeeland, Michigan with over 600 animals, functioning almost as a small farm zoo with 3,000 to 6,000 visitors monthly. The organization has been operating for 35 years and recently moved to its current 36-acre location.
Tony grew up on a pig farm, and later earned his undergraduate degree from Michigan State in Agricultural Education. He then went on to obtain Masters in Sustainable Agriculture from Colorado State, and taught for 14 years prior becoming the Executive Director of Critter Barn.
Ian is a graduate of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln with an Agribusiness degree focused on livestock industries. He joined the organization in January 2025. His responsibilities cover all animal and livestock-related planning, inventory management for feed and bedding, and veterinary checks.
“Technology can never take over farming completely, but it can assist in agriculture.”
- Ian Klaes -
Ian’s comment above really set the stage for the basis of our incredible conversation. He continues that this is one of the critical things Farmbrite has shown them and what they hope to pass along to the children, “Technology can be beneficial if used correctly. It can never replace farming totally, but it can be used in accordance with farming and together with farming, it can make our decisions more sound…”
Agriculture, Technology, and Education Combine As One
During our conversation, we touched on a variety of topics, but one theme that weaved throughout was the interplay of agriculture, technology, and education at Critter Barn and how Farmbrite helps makes that possible:
Livestock Management - The entire Critter Barn crew can see at a glance the number, type, gender, age, and a variety of other pieces of information on all their animals. They can schedule tasks, reminders, and record notes, track treatments, feedings, inputs, breeding and offspring - it’s all available and more.
Reporting - Ian offers a great example of this “trifecta” with one of his classes with the kids, affectionately known as the Critter Crew. He asks his Crew which two rabbits, in their opinion, they think would have the best breeding results. After each gave their answers, he pulled out the reports from Farmbrite which quickly showed based on past data, in fact which two rabbits would produce the best results.
From Many Tools to One - Tony explains their journey to find the right farm management software for them. They looked at them all, some software excelled for instance at sheep and goats, another at poultry, they’d worked in spreadsheets - but nothing was able to capture the breadth and depth of the variety of animals they work with like Farmbrite.
Accountability - With the number of visitors to their farm - an average of 6,000 per month - there’s lots of questions regarding hundreds of animals. Farmbrite gives Tony, Ian, and their entire team the ability to find the information they need right then and there.
With a grant received funding that helped them purchase three iPads. Staff working with Critter Crew are also to pull up all the records. Kids learn to teach themselves all the information they can access on the animals.
The Impact and Overall Experience with Farmbrite
“Before we had Farmbrite, we had one person that was the gatekeeper of all information.”
- Tony McCaul -
Going from 3 acres to 36 acres in recent years, with near-term plans that include the construction of a variety of commodity barns (poultry layers, dairy, pigs, etc.), Critter Barn is experiencing well-deserved growth and prosperity. However as you might expect, growth like that can come with growing pains.
Prior to Farmbrite, there was a small handful of individuals who managed all the farm’s data. To borrow an appropriate pun, information was siloed and not available where and when it was needed by Critter Barn’s management and staff. Now, over thirty employees and where applicable for educational purposes, Critter Crews, also have access to that information.
Thanks to a recent grant, Critter Barn was able to purchase a number of iPads to put that data right in the hands of those who need it. As a result of implementing Farmbrite throughout the Farm, communication has improved, new efficiencies have been realized and for staff, students, and visitors alike, they can see how data helps support Critter Barn’s efforts to provide an exceptional level of animal stewardship and care.
Advice to the Next Generation of Farmers
Probably the most fundamental piece of advice the folks at Critter Barn try to impress on the kids and visitors, is that each of the animals on a farm serves a different purpose. Some are for food production, others for fiber production, some are for companionship.
“The big thing we always like to start off with is, our animals have different purposes.”
- Tony McCaul -
Instilling the lost art of animal care is a high priority for the entire Critter Barn organization. Tony, Ian, and their entire team work to instill the importance of starting off with the basics.
“I cannot imagine doing my job without Farmbrite.”
- Ian Klaes -
For instance, when a new animal arrives on the farm, performing a complete wellness check and documenting that information. Teaching the skills needed to look for and identify patterns in the data. When you walk into a barn or a stall, the use of your five senses to yield a complete assessment of that animal’s well being.
Start with the elemental aspects of good animal husbandry - love and care for the animals - and part of doing that goes beyond basic “animal care”. Nowadays, it involves using tools like Farmbrite to track all the aspects of an animal’s livelihood to ensure the animal is not only surviving but thriving.
As Critter Barn continues to flourish—expanding to a thoughtfully designed, accessible 36-acre campus that blends heritage with inclusivity Critterbarn—the integration of Farmbrite underscores how passion and purpose can be amplified by modern tools. With seamless livestock tracking, task management, reporting, and real-time access to data, Farmbrite isn’t replacing Critter Barn’s hands-on, heartfelt teaching—it’s enriching it. In celebrating this union of tradition and technology, we’re reminded that when you fall in love with the journey—as Critter Barn has—there’s no limit to the lives you can touch and the futures you can shape.
No matter your farm’s size, its focus of operations, its geographic location, crops only, livestock only, crops and livestock, doesn’t matter - Farmbrite has the tools you need to manage your agricultural operation efficiently, profitably, and sustainably.
If you’ve been searching for a farm management tool like our friends at Critter Barn had, we invite you to give us a try and discover all we have to offer. Set up a free 14-day demo to explore all the features. Check out our extensive offering of Farmbrite documentation, helpful resources, and how-to-Farmbrite videos.
Joshua, his wife Jenn, and their dog Rooster, live in PA. Joshua is the owner and operator of Hoffman Appalachian Farm where they grow Certified Naturally Grown hops. Joshua has over twelve years of experience in growing crops, including growing in an organic system. In his spare time he enjoys trail running, backpacking, and cycling.