Dairy Farming

The first Labor Day was celebrated on September 5, 1882, in New York City where it was celebrated by a single labor union. It was then adopted as a national holiday in 1887 to be a yearly tribute to all the hard work of Americans who contribute to the success of our country. Even though dairy farmers are definitely part of the tribute on Labor Day, we don’t get the same day off.

For many, Labor Day means a day off work, a BBQ or maybe one last camping trip before fall. But on a dairy, Labor Day is another typical day.

It takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication to run a farm. The Bernhardt family understands the commitment required for their family farm to be successful, and have been in operation for nearly 100 years. The farm is part of who they are, it’s their life – they’ve invested so much into their cows and land for so long that their devotion to their farm is apparent in everything they do.

Shelly Dickinson isn’t sure what her great-grandfather would think of a woman running the family farm, but she knows she’s qualified. Since coming back to the farm after college and a few years of working off-farm jobs, Shelly has worked every job on the farm - from the bottom up.

“I begged my dad to let me come back to the farm,” Shelly says. “He put me in the lowest position on the dairy and I worked my way up.”

Dairy farmers often say they work 24/7/365. Vacations are rare and time off the farm is unusual. So. what happens when a dairy farmer retires? Can someone who works from sun up to sun down and beyond just sit back and enjoy their retirement when they’re done farming?

Simply put, the answer is no...

For retired dairy farmer Erin Barkey, realizing she had time to spare meant she had the opportunity to help the next generation understand their connection to agriculture and how it impacts their lives.

Fourth generation dairy farmer Shelly Dickinson is no novice when it comes to community interaction. After all, her family has lived and worked in Larimer County for four generations and good relationships with the community are paramount to her farm’s continued success. This January, Dickinson decided it was time to make a difference in a new way – so she worked with us to donate over 800 gallons of milk to the Food Bank for Larimer County.

Today's blog comes from the Feldpausch family, who recently gave us a tour of their dairy farm with the help of an American Sign Language interpreter and their daughters Nina and Avelyn (video is below). Here is Nina's story as told by her mom, Nora:

Although Chuck's older sister began experiencing hearing loss in early childhood, it was not until Nina was diagnosed and got hearing aids at 20 months that we really began thinking about what it is like to live with progressive hearing loss day-to-day.

Milk is one of the most requested, yet least donated items at food banks, a generous donation of milk goes a long way in the community.

On Tuesday, the dairy farm families of Montana donated 2,000 gallons of milk to the Montana Food Bank Network to ensure that their friends and neighbors who don’t normally have access to fresh, nutritious milk have the opportunity to take it home to help feed their families for the holidays.

Chisum Docheff knew all about hard work when he took up steer wrestling at 15 because he grew up on a dairy farm feeding and caring for calves and doing odd jobs.

“It taught me to work hard,” Docheff says. “Dad always had little jobs for us to do on the dairy – ones that a kid could figure out and I could do by myself.”

October is National Farm to School month and the Feldpausch family from Greeley, Colo. is taking students from across the country behind-the-scenes of their dairy farm. In partnership with Discovery Education and Undeniably Dairy, Chuck, Nora and their four children (Gilbert, Nina, Avelyn and Elthea), are helping others learn and understand how dairy farmers care for their cows and nourish communities.

The world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, yet fewer people are choosing to become farmers. Which begs the question: Who is going to feed us?

Today’s farmers are keeping hope alive by actively adopting new technology and improving sustainability every day. And with programs like the U.S. Dairy Education and Training Consortium (USDETC), many dairy farmers are encouraging the next generation.