Who Inspires Dairy Farmers?
Dairy farms are vital to the U.S. economy. Dairies support the economic well-being of rural America with every dollar spent locally by a dairy farmer creating a multiplier effect of more than 2.5 times the original dollar spent. The U.S. dairy industry supports over 3 million jobs and $49 billion in direct wages for workers in the industry. Dairy farmers are important to their local communities.
We often highlight in this blog the importance of dairy farmers, from delivering nutritious food to creating sustainable practices that help the dairy industry and other industries reduce waste. However, it is important to note how dairy farmers enter the industry. Most U.S. dairy farms are family-owned, but how does the next generation decide to return to the farm? Who supports those who enter the dairy farming industry?
It is those in the local community who support the agricultural industry we all rely on. As highlighted below, farmers turn to family, turn to friends, and turn to local groups to decide the next steps of their farm that will impact so many loved ones around them. Here are three dairy farmers who have been inspired by their community to dairy farm.
Amber Ettinger grew up on her family’s dairy farm Will-Do Jerseys in Kinards, South Carolina, and now manages it. According to Amber, “I have been blessed by so many people who have loved and supported me on my path to becoming a dairy farmer: family, as well as friends that feel like family!”
Family support is why Circle J Dairy in Gordo, Alabama, exists today. “My family has been a huge encouragement and inspiration throughout my entire farming journey. We all work together every day, so having one another to lean on has been great. I was not raised on a dairy farm; my grandfather sold the original dairy one year before I was born, but we have always been a farming family — raising beef cattle and poultry commercially.
“I always knew that I wanted to come back to the farm and contribute in one way or another once I graduated from Mississippi State, so that’s when the idea of Circle J Dairy was born. We broke ground in May of 2021 and opened our dairy and farm store in January of 2022!”
Hope Reynolds of R&T Farms in Magnolia, Kentucky, has had supporters throughout agriculture. “I grew up riding horses and tending to bottle calves, so I was raised around agriculture my entire life. I didn’t have any experience with dairy until I met my now husband and that’s when I fell in love with the dairy industry and haven’t looked back. My day-to-day on the dairy includes milking the 77 cows that call our dairy home, feeding calves, and tending to everything else in between.”
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