Dairy producers migrate to the Ozarks
By James D. Ritchie

While Missouri's dairy numbers are in general decline, some see opportunity in Ozark hills.

On April 15, David and Sheila Modranski did the evening milking on their farm in southeastern Ohio. The next morning, their 60 Jerseys were being milked in a barn nearly 800 miles away, on Modranski’s new dairy farm in Howell County, Mo.

“The cows were tired and thirsty when we unloaded them here, but they didn’t miss a beat,” said David. “We expected them to be off for a while, but they didn’t go down in production very much.”

“Making this move has turned out to be the best thing we’ve ever done,” added Sheila. “But we had a few reservations at first.”

In Ohio, the Modranskis were farming land that had been in David’s family for three generations. They also operated a full-time trucking business.

“That’s how we found out about the Ozarks,” David recalled. “I hauled a load of farm equipment for friends that were moving to southern

Missouri. While I was here, I looked around and liked the country.”

Back home in Ohio, the Modranskis began discussing the possibility of relocating. In April, 2004, they found a fully-equipped dairy farm for sale near the Hutton Valley community in northeastern Howell County. After quite a bit more discussion, they sold out in Ohio and bought the

Missouri place. On income tax day, 2004, the Modranskis and their two daughters—Maddie, now 11, and Josie, four—along with about 100 Jersey cows and heifers, moved west.

“While we were in the process of moving, I admit to having some doubts,” said David. “Some people in Ohio had given us a bad time about moving down here, especially with Jerseys. But we were at the point where we had to make some changes.

“Most of the farms around us had been bought by developers and broken up into home sites,” he continued. “City people were buying up land all over southeastern Ohio. City dwellers think they’d like to live in the country, but they don’t always like what goes with it. They aren’t ready for the sights, sounds and smells of living next door to a working farm. Also, most of our family and friends were there; it was a wrench to move off and leave them.”

But as milk producers, there have been more benefits than drawbacks to migrating southwest, he admitted.

“Land is much less expensive here, and our property taxes are half of what they were in Ohio,” said David. “It’s a different way of dairying here, too. Jerseys are efficient grazers, and they can stand the summer heat better than other breeds. We have a better forage base here; our cows can graze for more months out of the year so we don’t need to store as much harvested feed.”

“We were lucky enough to find a working dairy farm in good condition from the previous owner,” said Sheila. “That made the transition easier.”

The Modranskis are making changes on the ground. They have seeded legumes—chiefly alfalfa—and stretch seasonal forages with small grains pastures for fall and winter, sorghum-sudan hybrids for hot weather.

“We’ve had a closed herd for several years,” added Sheila. “The only new genetics we’ve added come through the sire side, mostly by AI. We aim for milk with 5 percent butterfat, and we average close to that. Extra fat and extra solids earn us a pretty good premium on our milk.”

Owning a closed herd means the Modranskis raise all their female replacements. Heifers are not forgotten females on their Green Gate Dairy farm.

“We take a lot of care with heifers, and are raising 22 calves on the bottle now,” said Sheila. “We grow them out well before we breed them at

18 to 20 months with their first calves. Our daughter, Maddie, is a lot of help with the heifers.

She’s sometimes like the farm foreman and is taking her turn at milking. She takes a lot of pride in her responsibilities.”

“I wanted to milk cows for a living all my life,” mused David. “We’re doing that, although dairying here is a different kind of enterprise. We have found that by bringing a little of what worked before, along with some good advice from the people we have met here makes a good combination in farming.”

“Moving here was a good decision, all the way around,” said Sheila. “We’ve done very well and our cows have done well. People in this area are helpful and friendly; we try to be an asset to the community and I hope that we are. We’ve had no regrets about making the move.”

David and Sheila Modranski believe other Ohio dairy producers could benefit from re-locating. In fact, Sheila’s father has moved to the Ozarks and now lives on a place adjoining their dairy. “I don’t know that I would extend the invitation to too many city people; not the kind that were buying up rural property near our farm in Ohio,” David amended. “I sure hope this area doesn’t go that way—at least, not any time soon.”

Latino producers like the hills

Jose Moncada and his uncle, Salvadore, had little more than a dream and the determination to make it come true when they bought a 300-acre former beef cattle farm in Wright County, Mo., in 1998.

“We both worked for a food processing company in Chicago,” said Jose. “When I told people at the company that we had bought a farm and planned to milk cows, they thought I was headed for trouble, especially since I’d never milked cows before.

“And we had to learn everything from the bottom up,” he added. “We didn’t have any contacts when we started; I didn’t even know who to ask where the contacts were. We moved here in July. It was hot and dry. The weeds were tall, and we had no machinery—no tractor, no

mower, nothing.”

Jose began asking questions of neighbors, the DHIA inspector, the MFA fieldman—whoever he thought might be able to help. He found equipment in the newspaper classified ads and a neighbor cut and baled hay on shares.

“That neighbor helped us a lot,” offered Jose, who moved to the United States from Mexico in 1978. “He was a dairyman, too. I looked at his facilities and watched his operation. We were able to use an existing barn for part of our milking parlor. Neighbors were very helpful throughout.”

By 2000, the milking facility was completed and the Moncadas began milking cows.

They were in the lead of a wave of Latinos who are starting farm operations. From 1997 to 2002, the number of Latino farm operators

in Missouri more than doubled, from 508 to 1,059. Most, like the Moncadas, have been in the U.S. for a number of years. And many of them have little awareness of agriculture services or programs available.

“Jose and Salvadore were in the county for a while before I even knew they were here,” said Ted Probert, extension dairy specialist, University of Missouri. “Jose gets good production from his cows and owns one of the cleaner milking parlors you will see. Considering that they started from scratch, the Moncadas have done very well.”

“From the first, we tried to keep everything as clean as possible—I learned that from being in the food business for several years,” he added. “And we kept our cows healthy. But for a while, our cows had a lot of mastitis and we couldn’t figure out why, until we realized that we were over-milking the cows. We were leaving the milkers on too long.

“We’ve been accepted very well in this community,” said Jose. “People are friendly and helpful. When you are honest and friendly, people treat you that way. I’m happy we moved here.”

“This has been a continual learning experience,” he said. “I guess you never learn everything you need to know, and we haven’t learned it all yet. But we no longer make the same mistakes we made in the beginning.”