I love cows – always have. (This is a picture of me at 2 years old with my first A2 Guernsey). I especially love new calves. I love to feed them for the first time, watch them learn to walk and see them grow and develop. I love when they run to you and want to be scratched or get your attention. My dad, recognizing my love for calves put me over raising the babies at the age of 8. That was my job and I loved it. I knew every calf by name. I knew her mom and dad, how she liked to eat and her personality.
That love for those calves grew when I halter trained my first 2 calves and took them to the Jefferson County Fair at the age of nine. I was hooked and now as a family we try to go every year.
As a 7th grader, my English teacher asked us to write a paper on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I had never thought of it before, but as I thought of what I loved and why, I knew that I had to be a dairyman. As I grew older, my responsibilities increased and my dad placed me over milking the cows, feeding cows, and fencing so they could be out on pasture.
Although these were tough times and we didn’t have much, I loved my growing up years on the dairy and I wanted those same experiences for my kids. I wanted them to feel the rewards of hard work, to experience the miracles of nature, and to love the cows like I did.
As I grew older and began to date with an intent to eventually marry, my major criteria was to find someone who was tough enough to handle the dairy lifestyle. As I dated, there were many girls that made my heart flutter and some even had me thinking twice about dairying. I always, however, came back to my roots. I wanted to dairy and I wanted someone tough enough and capable enough, that would share my dreams with me.
That’s when I met Michelle – she was smart, ambitious, and beautiful. As the relationship progressed, I sat down with her and told her I was going to dairy. I prepared myself for a negative response – maybe even a relationship breaking one. She said, “Great, I always wanted to marry a farmer.” I told her it wasn’t going to be easy and there would be tough times. She said she was not afraid and she has been true to her word. She has never faltered. She gets up with me in the middle of the night when a cow has calving problems, she cries with me when a favorite cow dies, and she gets excited with me when a new heifer calf is born. She doesn’t complain or get negative during tough times and she simply pushes forward with faith and strength – how grateful I am for her.
We saved our money and started a dairy in 2005 with 10 cows and 2 children. We continued to grow in cow numbers and have had 4 more children along the way. In the process of growing, I started to lose sight of why I chose to dairy in the first place. The dairy had become a business instead of a lifestyle. I expressed my concerns with my wife and we talked quite extensively about what to do. We looked at every angle and even looked at selling the cows and farm. I was heartbroken at the thought, but then a friend suggested we go back to the basics and share with you what we love.
With that said, we bring you our pure raw milk from the cows we love. Pure, undefiled delicious milk with nothing added and nothing taken away. Our cows enjoy a non-GMO ration with all the pasture they want during the warm months of the year, and we enjoy bringing you the milk that is fit for the gods - our raw milk with the A2/A2 protein.