Much has changed since Snell's era, but a few of his buildings survive: the 1845 farmhouse, a machine shed/garage, a horse-barn/heifer shed, and the core of the main dairy barn.

Snell's farmhouse is a two-story Italianate-styled building, with walls of brick made nearby at a brickyard owned by Snell himself and Milo Jones.

Before then he had served in the Civil War, edited the Jefferson County Union newspaper, started the Wisconsin Dairyman's Association, founded the important agricultural journal Hoard's Dairyman in 1885, and served one term as governor of Wisconsin from 1889 to 1891.

Despite his venture into politics, Hoard remained very interested in agriculture and the scientific improvement of dairy practices.

He bought the farm to use as a lab for testing the effectiveness and practicality of the ideas that he promoted in his magazine.