For many years after the death of her grandparents, the Farm (then owned by Judith's father, aunt, and uncle), was operated as a dairy farm. After her father's death, the Farm was diversified into stock cows and hogs, but after the milking tenants moved onto their own farm in the early 1980's, the Farm was switched to a stock-cow-only operation.

The Janssen family always enjoyed hunting and trapping an abundance of wild game on the Farm, which was a love shared by Dell. He knew the Farm had tremendous potential as a habitat for pheasant, quail, and wild turkey, and when the opportunity presented itself to foster that potential with the help of the DNR, Dell and Judith took it. In 1985, the process of moving the entire Farm into various government-sponsored conservations programs, like the CRP, began by removing the cows from the creek bottom and shutting down the stock cow operation. Since that time, 100% of the Farm has been taken out of production and steps taken to return it to its natural splendor.

The planting of trees and shrubs for windbreaks, transforming gullies into ponds, sowing grass and wildflower seed, creating giant brush piles for cover, cleaning the timber of dead trees, stabilizing the Creek's banks, killing thistles and multi-flora rose, and numerous other "projects" began as soon as Dell and Judith took possession of the Farm and continues to this day. After decades of hard work, in 1999, the Farm's Iowa Prairie was officially registered with the State of Iowa as a private game and hunting preserve.

On the Prairie, over 250 acres of the tallest, thickest Prairie Grass you will ever see provides cover and nesting for pheasant, quail, wild turkey, and deer. The Prairie includes several corn feed plots, and the Farm's eight ponds and Brush Creek provide plenty of fresh water, for the many species of wild game that winter on the Farm. Prairie grasses, including Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Switch Grass, and Wildflowers, provide cover, insects, and seed during the nesting season. Each year, a minimum of 500 pheasants are released onto the Prairie to reproduce and replenish the birds which are harvested by hunters.

Wild turkeys roost in the Farm's approximately 200 acres of timber which line the Prairie to the east. It is not unusual to see flocks of 100 or more wild turkeys running across a road or taking flight out of a Prairie food plot. The Farm's timber also provides refuge for the coveys of wild Bobwhite Quail that make the Farm their home. In the Spring, the Quail can be quite noisy as they call to their potential mates. We think their songs are beautiful and love to hear that they are still alive and well come Spring, but our teenagers complain of being awakened at 4:30am by those horrid birds!

In 2005, 40 acres of land adjacent to the northern Prairie were purchased and rehabilitated into a wetland area, further diversifying the Farm's habitat, wild game, and hunting landscape. Seven terraced ponds were constructed and planted with Midwestern marsh plants including Cattail and Wheat Grass. A new, large pond was created that is continually replenished by a small, spring-fed stream. This pond, since named, "Duck Pond," frequently has as many as a hundred ducks on it.

Brush Creek, which runs the length of the Farm from north to south, adds to the diversity of the Farm with approximately 50 acres of reforested creek bottom. Home to the first governor of Iowa, Brush Dale boasts not only a diverse and picturesque landscape, but a unique history. A walk along Brush Creek to the south will take you to an engraved stone marker, marking the place where Governor Ansel Briggs built his home overlooking the Creek and Bluff Mill. Brush Creek is stocked by the DNR with brown and rainbow trout just across the southern border of Brush Daledssd, on a neighboring farm. This section of Brush Creek is open to the public for fishing, but the Farm's property, adjacent to the north, is private.

In 2007, the Poolers were joined on the Farm by their daughter and son-in-law, Michelle and Mark Wilbers, and their three grandchildren. After nearly ten years as an entirely private enterprise, Brush Dale Farm was opened to the public for hunting. Mark and Dell guide hunts, Judith cooks the wild game feasts, and Michelle raises and trains the gun dogs.