1848 – William Bradley (1818-1888) comes to Sun Prairie from Ireland. Wisconsin becomes a state this same year. Sun Prairie was the name given to the area by early settlers because of the way the sun rose over the prairie as they searched for places to homestead.

William and his wife Maria had eight children, including William Jr. who continued to build Bradley Farms as a dairy operation.

William Jr. and his wife Mary had 10 children including Ernest and Arthur. Ernest is the grandfather of Jerry and Mark who now own and operate Bradley Farms.

1930’s – Arthur’s’s son Bob and Ernest’s son Jim and a yearling draft horse in the farm yard of the current Bradley Farms location. Ernest Bradley in the straw hat supervises.

1940’s – Bradley Farms thrives as a dairy and crop farm. At its peak as a dairy, there were 65 Holstein dairy cows housed in the large barn. This photo shows a chicken coop, grainery, machine sheds and two houses. Bradley Farms is currently located at this site and the original farm house constructed in 1878 is where owner Jerry Bradley lives today.

1950’s – Bradley farms continues as a dairy. In this photo, Jerry’s dad Jim drives a John Deere G and a swather used to windrow grain used for livestock feed.

In 1977 a fire destroyed the dairy barn. Luckily no animals were injured, but at this time, the decision was made to convert the farm from a dairy to a grain farm. Bradley farms continues today as a grain and seed corn operation.

Today – Bradley Farms was involved in canning crops from the beginning. As the farm transitioned away from livestock, canning crop acres increased, including sweet corn, peas, beets, snap beans and even 10 acres of cabbage!

In the late 90’s, the decision was made to start growing seed corn for local seed company Wm F. Renk and Sons – now known as Renk Seed. This relationship continues and today 75% of Bradley Farms acres are devoted to seed production.