Local dairy farmers don’t wait for holidays; they help the community all year
Santa isn’t the only one getting milk this Christmas, nor are his elves alone in working to ensure great holidays for the Spokane community. While Santa and company are filling stockings, area dairy farmers are filling fridges.
“We want to do what we can to get good wholesome food into people’s homes, particularly during the holidays when so many people come together over a meal,” said Ashley Kenny, a third-generation Spokane-area dairy farmer.
Kenny’s grandparents started Darilane Farms in Elk, north of Spokane, in 1971. They still work the farm today, along with Kenny, her mother, and her brother.
“I’m better at talking to people and they’re better at talking to cows,” Kenny said of her family co-workers. Which is why she has added public outreach and community service to her farm duties of milking, feeding, and caring for cows.
“We are able to send milk into the area year-round. But during the holidays when dairy consumption is extra high, we are so thankful that food drives like Tom’s Turkey Drive help us get our products into people’s hands that really need it.”
Kenny works with Darigold, an over 100-year-old co-op owned by over 300 local dairy farm families across the Northwest to distribute the family farm’s milk and other products. Darigold also works with the Washington State Dairy Commission to organize the participation of area dairy farmers in annual food drives. In particular, Kenny is a long-time participant in the annual Tom’s Turkey Drive, hosted by retired TV meteorologist Tom Sherry.
“When I was 18, I was an Inland Northwest Dairy Ambassador for Washington Dairy. I went to drives at various grocery stores, did radio interviews, and made other appearances. I went to the KREM (TV) studio and made mashed potatoes at 4:30 in the morning on live TV on my prom day.”
Kenny wants others to make great memories over delicious food too. Through food drives, care baskets are filled with milk for mashed potatoes, butter to go on top of them, and whipped cream for pumpkin pie, are all shared with people who need a little help around the holidays. And when the holidays are over, dairy farmers make a difference in other ways.
“We sponsor a lot of sports tournaments; Washington Dairy has been a main sponsor of the State B basketball tournament,” Kenny said. “We try to be as involved as we can in the community, especially in youth events. Another thing our farm does is offer free tours to the public.”
Last spring Kenny conducted 35 tours for school groups, many that included children who had never seen a cow close up before.
“We do this because I don’t want them to graduate without having petted a calf. I want them to know where their food comes from and who their farmers are.”
Statewide, Washington has more than 270 dairy farms with about 250,000 cows. Washington is a national leader in milk production, which provides jobs for milkers, truck drivers, lab technicians, food safety specialists, veterinarians, nutritionists, feed sellers, and others.
An International Dairy Foods Association 2023 Economic Impact Study of Dairy Products Industry report showed the local dairy industry supported over 19,000 direct jobs and had a combined economic impact of $12.3 billion.
And that doesn’t take into consideration the acts of kindness farmers perform that make an equally large impact on the community.
“Because of our resources, farmers are often the first to be called on in times of need,” Kenny said. “We’re really close to where the Oregon Road fire was. After people lost their homes, my brother moved out of his house and back in with my parents for a while to house a family who lost their home. And now a second family moved in after the first family moved out.”
While dairy farming doesn’t make them rich, having their souls fed and literally feeding others goes a long way for these farmers.
“We want to do what is best for our consumers. I am feeding my family the same food that we are producing for our neighbors. That’s why we keep our facilities extremely clean, why we treat our animals with respect, why we welcome the public to our farm.”
To learn more about the role of dairy farmers in Washington, visit tastewadairy.com/