Even still, some folks continue to make their living off the land. TV3 went to these family farms to find out how they stay viable in this changing community.

Traffic noise is becoming more common, but farmer William Trenary prefers the sound of cattle.

On a recent Saturday, he was one of several farmers who opened up their farms to visitors.

“I'm glad to share it because most of the time I've had people ask me, 'you have a farm, well what else do you do?'” he laughs.

Four generations of Trenarys have owned Maple Grove Farm. Despite what some people think, William's full-time job is tending sheep, raising cattle and growing hay. He says it's a to-do list he wouldn't change for anything.

“Just being able to set my own schedule and do what I want to do the way I want to do it, that's comforting and not stressful,” he adds.

His herd and His flock are his main sources of income.

Mr. Trenary tells TV3 he just got through shearing season. One sheep gave him ten pounds of wool and he says that he plans to sell all of it later this year.

He also sells cattle. While this may look like a never-ending paycheck, Trenary says in a tough economy really hurts a small farm. That's because his income is relies on what other farmers can pay for hay, cattle and sheep.

“The fluctuation of prices of things you want to sell you never know for sure what your income is going to be,” he adds.

It's the same story for Gene Doody, another lifelong farmer. He works at Oxbow Farm producing more than 50,000 bails of hay every year.

“It's hard to make a profit out of this. This farm does a pretty good job of all the hay that we sell on the farms pays for everything to be maintained and purchasing of the equipment and then employees here and that's the goal,” Doody says.

In a business where you're biggest competitor is something you can't control, it makes this living even tougher.

“The drought last year caused us to make about 10,000 less bails than we normally make so we ran out,” he adds.

Doody says even though there aren't as many working farms dotting this landscape anymore, he's not worried about Oxbow Farm's hay market.

“We make 50,000 square bails and we sell out of it every year so the demand is there for it,” he adds.

While their lifestyle may be against the grain of today's community development, both these farmers say they're here for the long haul.

Doody also tells TV3 on top of their hay farm, oxbow farm is also famous for their Clydesdale horse named, Force.