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<\/a><\/p>\nWhat is your favorite dairy product? <\/u><\/h4>\n
Anybody who knows me know that my favorite dairy product is CHEESE!! I freaking love cheese, if it was up to me I would just eat cheese for most of my meals. My philosophy is that if a recipe doesn’t include cheese then firstly that’s silly, secondly that it should, and thirdly that I’m going add cheese! My dad has always been the one who would buy all sorts of different types of cheese and cheese curds and cottage cheese, etc. etc., and would share with anyone who wanted to try. So I blame him for my undying love of cheese. People always try and tell me that cheese isn’t good or healthy for you, I point out that cheese offers you a great source of Calcium and I’ve yet to break a bone in my body so thank you Calcium. That and I’m going die sometime, so if I die eating cheese I’ll be a happy girl!<\/p>\n
The following recipe, chicken enchiladas with sour cream white sauce<\/a>, is one that I LOVE!! Anytime you get to use cheese, Sour Cream and Butter in the same recipe then you know it’s going to be a good one!<\/p>\n Favorite cow… hmm… I think one of my favorite cows on our farm would be a little cow we call “”Cini””. Cini is this tiny little cow who’s this deep red color, a very uncharacteristic color for a Guernsey. Cini was out of a cow named Mini because she was also very small; to be honest the whole family is small. Cini is owned by my brother and he would baby her tons when she was little, he would let her out while he would feed heifers and do chores and she would just follow him around. From that time on she just LOVED people, she actually became so friendly she became a pain if we were ever trying to move calves around because she was just stand right by you. To this day she’s still down for a good scratch or pet.<\/p>\n To be honest though I think most at my house would say that their favorite breed was the Guernsey which surprises most people. What we’ve noticed at our farm is that our Guernsey\u2019s are so calm and have great dispositions. Almost all the Guernsey\u2019s you can walk right up to and pet or catch with a halter. Unfortunately we can’t say the same about the Holsteins or Jerseys. They tend to be spookier and high strung, not all but a majority of them. Although I will say our Holsteins and Jersey’s tend to be a little hardier in terms of dealing with the stresses that come with being a dairy cow.<\/p>\n I want to share that the dairy industry is a way of life. It’s a family oriented way of life! Behind the word “Dairy Industry” are thousands of dairy families and a lot of hard work. People seem to want to make farmers seem like bad people these days. In my short 25 years I don’t think I’ve ever met a farmer whose main reason for farming was money, there are hundreds of easier, faster and less stressful ways to make money than farming. Farmers, especially dairy farmers, do it because of passion. Dairy farmers are busting their butts 365 days a year, 12+ hours a day because they love what they do! They love and appreciate their cows, their land and raising their families on the farm. That what they want most in life is to raise a happy family, give their kids the chance to be successful, and maybe even someday have a generation to hand down all their hard earned work and success too.<\/p>\n I think production agriculture has a lot of rewarding aspects. I think the best one is getting the opportunity to work with and around your family and I spent my childhood and even now spending time around my family…Parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, grandparents, “”adopted family”” as my grandma would call them. We worked together, we sweated together, we all got yelled at and we all did some yelling, we did stupid things, but we spent time together and we usually had fun! I think the other great thing is the opportunity to work outside and to get to work around nature at its finest, and sometimes it\u2019s not so finest. You get the opportunity and responsibility to care for these animals. They teach you things and they keep you in touch with the way the world works.<\/p>\n Anyone who’s ever raised Livestock would probably agree the most challenging thing is when the cows get out, that’s about as high stress as it gets. I guarantee that you’ll never hear as many bad words said at one time and I bet you’ll learn a few new ones too. You also learn a few names to NOT say when someone asks if you have a preferred nickname. You’ll cuss, be cussed at, probably fall, maybe lose a shoe, and then all retreat to the house for ice cream floats!!<\/p>\n But in all seriousness, I would say that production agriculture can be so incredibly challenging and frustrating! Anyone involved in Ag, especially dairy farming can tell you that there are good days and there are bad days, and sometimes the bad can just be plain crappy. The weather can always pose a challenge; she doesn’t take requests real well. Of course working with Livestock poses its own problems. Growing up on the farm you get to understand the life cycle which can be so cool but it can be not so cool sometimes. Having to watch a favorite cow go to the sale barn or trying to help a ‘down cow’ get back up but with no success. There are days you when you just want to cry and go back to bed but that’s not an option. I think this is a learning experience though, you learn to take the good with the bad, knowing it will be better tomorrow!<\/p>\n I would encourage anyone who even has a slight interest to look into it. And my number one advice I give to kids that have an interest in something is to go find somebody to go talk to who you thinks has a cool or interesting job. I’ve never met anyone in the Dairy Industry, or Agriculture who isn’t willing to talk about what they do and share some knowledge. They want you to see and understand what they do. And even if you find out that what they do maybe isn’t for you they still might be a great resource and connection to help you find something else!<\/p>\n What I hope the future looks like is equal opportunity for small and large farms. As the trend in Ag seems to be that operations continue to grow, I hope that there will always be room for our smaller scale producers. For the guys who really love what they do but don’t necessarily have the resources to grow. I’m also hoping that the local foods movement continues to grow because I see that as a GREAT opportunity for dairies to bottle and process their own milk. I’ve always told myself that if I ever went back to the farm permanently that I would look into that! I think it’s a great opportunity for the farmer, the economy and the consumer.<\/p>\n Melisa, thank you for sharing your story with us! Make sure you follow Melissa on Twitter at @m_konecky<\/a> and on Instagram @mkonecky.<\/a><\/p>\n Melisa’s Story in Her Own Words: My name is Melisa Konecky and I\u2019m a bit of an Agricultural wonder here in Nebraska. I was born and raised on a dairy farm here in Nebraska (Go Big Red!). Which if you know anything about Nebraska you know you can throw a rock in any direction and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[396],"tags":[471,470,266,290],"yoast_head":"\nWho is your favorite cow? <\/u><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nAs a millennial what do you want to share with others about the dairy industry?<\/u><\/h4>\n
What is the most rewarding part of production agriculture? Challenging?<\/u><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat advice would you give someone interested in production agriculture?<\/u><\/h4>\n
What do you envision the future of the dairy industry looking like?<\/u><\/h4>\n
\nEntire Women in Dairy Series:<\/h4>\n
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