Cows come first at the two dairy farms owned and operated by Chris and Mary Kraft. Chris has been known to skip dinner because he’s hanging out with the cows.

“He would totally stand me up to take care of a cow,” said Mary, which she adds is one of the reasons she married him. “That’s the guy I want.”

Tom and Angie Meyer have been through some hard times, milking 125 Holsteins in the same barn Tom’s grandfather built. Sometimes really hard times.

“He just keeps saying, ‘If you can just give me six more months,’” Angie says with a little laugh. “That was 25 years ago. He just keeps saying that. But, when you love something like we love dairying, it’s easier to do that.”

Peter Eldred’s family has been in the dairy business since his father began in 1974 in New York. While looking for another place to start a new dairy, Peter fell in love with Colorado and found out what a great climate it has for cows. So, Peter, his wife Tammie, and their children, Brooke, Sierra and Hunter, packed up and moved to Colorado to build Lost Creek Dairy.

The couple has been together over 20 years and loves being able to raise a family on a dairy farm.

“We love being self-employed and being with family,” said Tammie.

The only downside to Susie Jones’ work on the dairy?

“Those boring times I’m stuck in the office instead of out enjoying the farm,” she laughs.

Susie didn’t grow up in a dairy family, but married a third-generation dairyman, her high school sweetheart Dale Jones. The couple has three children, Brandon, Bradley and Brittney.

Susie’s favorite part of dairy life is sharing it with the elementary school kids who visit on field trips. Susie and her mother-in-law, Linda, teach them everything from how the milking machines work to basic animal nutrition.

Dennis and Jennifer Koolstra have always loved agriculture, and their family has always been involved in farming of some kind.

Dennis is a second-generation dairy farmer and runs an operation in eastern Colorado. He and Jennifer have three children: Isaiah, Micah and Samuel. Dennis’ parents, Wilbert and Marie, started dairy farming after Wilbert took on work as a relief milker for a farm near Berthoud, Colorado. The farmer paid him for that work by giving him a Holstein cow, and the rest is history – the Koolstras have been running a dairy farm ever since.

Happy Cows, Happy Life

The first time Lauren Hackfeld saw Will Collier, she knew she was going to marry him. She was a high school freshman at a Future Farmers of America convention. He was a college freshman and a featured speaker. She wasn’t a dairy farmer, but she loved the way he talked about his cows. 

Donny and Sherry Chapman built their 150-cow dairy from the ground up, starting when they were just newlyweds, fresh out of high school.

Their days start before 4:30 a.m. with milking; though their kids pitch in, the work isn’t done until after sunset. But they all love it.

“One of the best parts about working on the farm is working with our family,” says Chapman. “Each of them has a deep appreciation and respect for dairy farming.”

They say if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. The same holds true for Scott and Jean Berend, the owners of the Scott Berend Dairy in Texas.

“We are proud to be farmers, and we enjoy being able to produce products from the land and animals we care so much about,” says Jean.

With the help of their three sons and support of their three daughters, the Berends work together to overcome many challenges.

Hard work and lots of teamwork; that’s what it takes to keep a family dairy like SD Farms, based in Texas, running smoothly.

And, according to Chella Vasquez, they’ve assembled just the team to do it. Her husband, Mondo, manages the cows – all Holsteins – while she manages the office; their oldest son, Jeremy, manages breeding operations when he’s not off studying at West Texas A&M University, and their dedicated employees fill a myriad of positions on the farm.

Everyone’s goal? To produce the safest, most delicious milk products possible.