About Us
The Story of Six Springs Farm
I was born and raised in the Milwaukee suburbs. While I didn’t grow up on a farm, I’ve always considered myself a farm boy at heart. When I was in College at UW Madison, my friend and I took advantage of having a car and a day off. We decided to head west towards the Driftless area of the state. We didn’t have to drive far before we were surrounded by sprawling open fields and impressive hills and bluffs. It was an experience that I'll never forget because it was my first glimpse of beauty I didn’t know existed in Wisconsin. At that moment, I knew if I was ever lucky enough to own land, I wanted it to be in the driftless area. Once I started my career in the NFL, a lot changed, but the promise I made to myself that day remained intact – I wanted to buy a piece of land where I could take my family to get away and bask in the beauty of God's country in Southwest Wisconsin.
Once I was able to make this dream a reality, I started to search for the right farm. Then in 2012 I was introduced to the Studnicka family, who were selling a beautiful farm that had been in their family for over 100 years. The Studnicka family did an incredible job maintaining this land. My family and I have been blessed and fortunate to carry on the tradition that the Studnicka family started.
Once we got settled and the kids got a little older, we realized it might be time for some animals. Our kids, like many kids their age, had their hearts set on horses. After picturing myself trying to get on a horse, I proposed that we get some cows. Everyone was on board.
At the beginning, the idea was to have a few cows as part of the farm. We wanted to make sure the cows we got were going to be well-raised, stress free, and safe to have around children. Ultimately, we ended up with our first five heifers and a bull. The six new additions to Six Springs Farm quickly became part of the family. The kids were able to get into the pen with them and we were able to feed them by hand with no worries about safety. We quickly realized this is something we enjoyed doing and wanted to expand on.
Once we had the farm set up, we started raising a couple of steers just to serve family and friends. It was important to me that we knew where the steers came from, what they were fed, and how they were harvested. We wanted to do everything we could to make sure they were raised humanely and ethically and lived a low-stress life.
As soon as we started giving steaks to friends and family and feeding it to the kids, we realized everyone was impressed with the quality and taste. From there, a lightbulb went off in my head – this is too good, and the way we raise them is too pure, to just keep it to ourselves. That's when I decided It was time to grow the herd. I consulted my friend Daniel Bonanno, Co-Owner of the unbelievable, James Beard Nominated restaurant in Madison called Pig in a Fur Coat. I gave him some of our meat out of the freezer and I said, “Hey, you take this. Just let me know what you think. I think they're great, but you’re the one with a discerning palate”. After tasting it, he said, “Joe, you got something going on here. I'll take as much as you can give me.” That’s when the second light bulb went off. I wanted to raise enough beef so that we could give people the opportunity throughout the country to taste what my friends, family, and local restaurateurs described as the best beef they ever put on their plates.
As we started growing the herd, we added different genetics to achieve the best beef available. Now we're raising our Hall of Fame beef, a Black and Red Angus, Simmental, and soon-to-be Wagyu blend. The genetics are hand-selected for premium marbling with unbelievable tenderness, and of course, we always ensure they're the most docile animals possible. When you have chill animals, you're going to have excellent beef.
As we grew, I knew we needed to find a processor and somebody who would have the same amount of care, love, and respect for this meat and the animals that we did. The Prem Brothers processed our first animals and got to see firsthand how well these animals were raised and the marbling these animals had. They bring their cooler trucks right up to the barn, and they're able to do all the harvesting right there quickly, humanely and ethically. It was a natural fit, so we began the process.
Six Springs Farm got it's name because of the six beautiful bubbly springs on this property. We wanted to make our beef brand just as unique and personal. We decided to name it “Hall of Fame Beef” because The Hall of Fame is the pinnacle of any sporting or entertainment career - It's the best of the best. Our hope is when you get an opportunity to eat this beef, you'll realize it lives up to the name.
Six Springs Farm got it's name because of the six beautiful bubbly springs on this property. We wanted to make our beef brand just as unique and personal. We decided to name it “Hall of Fame Beef” because The Hall of Fame is the pinnacle of any sporting or entertainment career - It's the best of the best. Our hope is when you get an opportunity to eat this beef, you'll realize it lives up to the name.
Our goal for Hall of Fame Beef is to raise our own breed, not a certified breed of beef, but something that's specific to southwest Wisconsin, something everybody from this area can be proud of. We hope to be able to continue increasing the size of the herd and to be able to allow as many people as possible to experience Hall of Fame quality beef, but never to shortchange or shortcut the methods and the process with which we raised the first original five animals on this farm.
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