Bee Tolman

Dairy sheep consultant

Tolman Sheep Dairy Services, LLC

State: NY

About

BEE TOLMAN. Ms Tolman has worked on, owned, or managed livestock farms for 44 years. She managed Meadowood Farms, a 150-head sheep dairy in Cazenovia NY for 22 years. Now as Tolman Sheep Dairy Services, Bee facilitates projects that progress the dairy sheep industry. Her prior experiences have involved her in a variety of livestock enterprises: 6 years as owner/operator Tolman Sheep Dairy Farm in Upstate NY, milking 350 ½-dairy ewes; 5 years as a [cow] dairy farm worker in New Zealand; 7 years as a shepherd in New England and Scotland.
Bee received an MS in Animal Science from Virginia Tech, focussing on farm business management, agronomy, and genetics (Thesis: Budget analysis of crossbred ewes in two lambing systems). As well as milking cows in New Zealand she also worked part-time in ag journalism (NZ Dairy Exporter series on “Systems Comparison Trial at Massey University”) and as Managing Editor of a North Island farming newspaper. She worked as Pasture Technician at Massey University’s research farms. Since 2017 Bee has served as President of DSANA (the Dairy Sheep Association of North America).