Trout farm update:

A Twin Cities couple who own and operate a number of group homes for the developmentally disabled have purchased the Star Prairie Trout Farm. Tim Madden closed on the property last week. Current owners Mac and Marcy Graham have agreed to spend the next two months training staff on the farm’s operations before turning it over to Madden.

Madden, by way of Wisconsin corporation Rainbow Springs, LLC, purchased the park-like property which borders the Apple River in the Village of Star Prairie. A natural spring runs into the property on which several ponds have been ideal for commercial trout raising since 1856. More than 300,000 trout of all sizes thrive in the constant 48-degree temperature. Hatching, feeding, processing and marketing take place all year.