THE GREENEVILLE SUN’S
JUNE DAIRY MONTH and TENNESSEE GREENE 2018 A READERSHIP SERVICE OF THE GREENEVILLE SUN THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2018
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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
www.greenevillesun.com
Thursday, May 31, 2018
June Dairy Days Event Is Friday
I
n observance of June Dairy Month, the Greene County Partnership’s Agribusiness Committee will host the annual June Dairy Days Celebration Friday, June 1, at the Greene County Fairgrounds Livestock Pavilion from 6 to 8 p.m. to honor dairy farmers and their dedication to the nutritious milk they produce. There will be contests for all ages, entertainment and plenty of free dairy products to sample as Greeneville and Greene County pay homage to dairy farmers, according to Betty Love, event chairman. Contests will include a pedal-tractor race sponsored by Farm Credit Mid-America, pin the tail on a cow, bowling games, putt-putt contest, a milk chugging contest, ring toss for the milk bottle, a floating cow contest, a mooing contest, a milk mustache contest, ice cream eating contest sponsored by TCBY Yogurt, a bouncy cow for the smaller kids and much more. Through Saturday, June 2, June Dairy cows will appear throughout The Greeneville Sun classified ads. Count the June Dairy cows that are in the ads each day and return the total on the entry form to be eligible to win. All correct entries will be placed in a box for a drawing to
SUN FILE PHOTO
Children enjoyed taking part in a number of contests at the June Dairy Days Celebration in 2017, held at the Greene County Fairgrounds on Friday. Josh Stanley, 12, third from the left, won the milk mustache contest.
be held Thursday, June 7. Photos of winners will appear in the paper on Saturday, June 23. First prize will be announced, second prize is a farm set from the Co-Op and third prize is a farm toy from Broyles Feed
Store. The deadline for the entries is Wednesday, June 6, at The Greeneville Sun. Free food to be sampled by those attending during the evening will include ice cream provided by Mayfield and Ingles, milk
provided by Peidmont, nachos with cheese sponsored by John Deere Power Products, and homemade butter provided by the Farm Bureau Women, who will be taking turns at the churn during the event,
and members of the Greene County Livestock Association will be in attendance. Sno-Biz of Greeneville will be selling fresh-squeezed lemonade and Sno-Biz shaved ice. Parking for the celebra-
tion will be off of Fairgrounds Road — follow the directional signs. For more information on the celebration, call Lori Collins Dowell at the Greene County Partnership, 423-638-4111.
SUN FILE PHOTO
Cow croquet was a popular game at the June Dairy Days Celebration in 2017. Parker Powell, 3, and Alyssa Jennings, 7, enjoyed a round together. SUN FILE PHOTO
The pedal tractor races are a highlight of June Dairy Days Celebration. Layton Brown, 4, won the 3-4-year-old category in 2017.
SUN FILE PHOTO
Children enjoyed petting calves during the 2017 June Dairy Days Celebration event at the Greene County Fairgrounds.
What’s Inside June Dairy Days Event Is Friday ............................................ 2 Riley Ottinger Is June Dairy Month Youth Chairman ......................................................... 4 For Ottinger, Farming Is A Family Tradition .......................... 7 The Earley Farm: Rebuilding A Family Heritage ................... 9 The Johnston Farm: Growing Families ............................... 11 New Co-Op Forming For Area Dairy Farmers, But Market Is Still A Challenge ........................... 14 Mike McElroy Has Spent A Career Learning The Land ..... 15
Ad Index
SUN PHOTO BY LORELEI GOFF
Logan Rojas, 11, nails it playing milk bottle bowling during June Dairy Days Celebration in 2017.
Bachman-Bernard Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac ......... 16 Eastman Credit Union ........................................................... 8 FFA Page ................................................................................ 6 Farm Bureau Insurance/Trey Youngblood ......................... 11 Farm Credit Mid America .................................................... 14 Jeffers Funeral & Cremation Services ............................... 12 Lynn Hope Towing.................................................................. 9 Meade Tractor ....................................................................... 5 Soil Conservation Page ....................................................... 13 State Farm Insurance/Lisa Crum ......................................... 7 The Greeneville Sun ............................................................ 10 West Hills Tractor .................................................................. 3
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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
Thursday, May 31, 2018
www.greenevillesun.com
SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU
Riley Ottinger has been named the June Dairy Month youth chairman for 2018. She just finished eighth grade at Nolachuckey Elementary School.
Riley Ottinger Is June Dairy Month Youth Chairman
R
iley Ottinger has been named the 2018 June Dairy Month Chairman for Greene County. June Dairy Month activities are designed to communicate the value of milk and dairy products to Tennessee consumers, and chairpersons play a vital role in spreading dairy’s message in their communities. Ottinger was honored at the Tennessee June Dairy Month Kickoff Event in College Grove at Battle Mountain Farm on May 30. The event included recognition from Celeste Blackburn, president of the American Dairy Association of Tennessee. “I am passionate about the dairy industry because it is something that I’ve grown up around,” Ottinger said. “Being chairman helps me get more involved with something I already love.” The celebration, which officially kicks off June Dairy Month in Tennessee, recognizes Tennessee 4-H member’s efforts to promote June Dairy Month. The event is co-sponsored by The Dairy Alliance, 4-H and the Tennessee Farm Bureau. “June Dairy Month is a time when, no matter your race, age or social standing, you can come together and learn about our shared heritage,” Ottinger said. Riley is the daughter of Jake and Jennifer Ottinger and just graduated from the eighth grade at Nolachuckey Middle School. She will enroll at South Greene High School in the fall. Ottinger participates in Girl Scouts, cross country and soccer. “We wish Riley much success in her role of communicating the nutritional benefits of milk and dairy products to the people in Greene County,” Blackburn said. “Riley will appreciate the cooperation of the people SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU
SEE OTTINGER ON PAGE 5
The Ottinger dairy farm in Caney Branch has about 50-60 milk cows.
SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU
The Ottinger farm includes about 250 acres in Caney Branch, a small portion of which has been in the family since 1824.
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Thursday, May 31, 2018
The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
Page 5
SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU
Riley Ottinger says she has encountered too many peers who are unfamiliar with farming and life on a farm, which is what inspires her to try to educate as many people as she can about farming.
OTTINGER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
there. Her interest and enthusiasm will result in a better informed community from which all will benefit.” Riley is an active member of her 4-H chapter, participating in goat showing and Leadership Camp. National Dairy Month began in 1937 as a way to promote dairy consumption during peak milk production in the summer. Today, its rich history continues with communities, companies and people from the Southeast celebrating in a variety of ways, including festivals and contests. In 2017, there were an estimated 40,000 Tennessee dairy cows living on 270 dairy farms that produced 80.6 million gallons, or approximately 693 million pounds, of milk. The top six milk producing Tennessee counties were: Loudon, Monroe, Bradley, Bedford, McMinn and Washington. This year’s theme, “Get More with Milk,” focuses on the consumer, and encourages families to make milk their first beverage choice due to its unique package of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that are an essential part of a healthy diet, a news release announcing Ottinger’s position says. For more information on how you can “Get More with Milk” and celebrate June Dairy Month, go to www. junedairymonth.org.
SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU
Riley Ottinger helps both her grandparents’ dairy farm and on her own farm with her parents, which includes milk cows and goats.
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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
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Thursday, May 31, 2018
Salute to Our Future Farmers
Chuckey-Doak High School
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Officer names (left to right): Madelin Miser, Victoria Philbeck, Cristina Vazquez, Kimberly Kidd, Kristina Emmette, Gabby Stokley, Shea Thornburg, and Sarah Cantrell
Officer Team left to right - Austin Rector (Sentinel), Abi Painter (Treasurer), Evan Malone (VP), Katelynn Rector (President), Emaline Willis (Reporter), Jordan Ayers (Secretary).
South Greene High School
West Greene High School
Officer names: Bottom row l to r: Caleb Parkins, Sentinel, Aaron Smith, President, Zach Seaton, Treasurer, Brandon Smith, Vice-President. Back Row, l to r: Allison Reaves, Secretary, Kallie Renner, Vice-President, Gabbie Holt, Reporter.
Officer names (left to right): Melanie Ragon (Secretary), Sarah Douthat (President), Jonessa Wampler (Reporter), Courtney Jessie (Vice President, Jenna Williams (Reporter), Jonah Lamons (Sentinel), Kaitlin Robinette (Treasurer).
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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
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SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU
Feeding cows is Riley Ottinger’s favorite part of helping on her family’s farms.
For Ottinger, Farming Is A Family Tradition Riley Ottinger has been around farming all her life. The rising high school freshman spends a lot of time on her grandparents’ Caney Branch dairy farm, which is just down the road from her house. At her parents’ farm she helps with her parents’ cows and goats. Her grandparents’ farm is a much bigger operation. Her grandfather, Johnny Ottinger still works the farm, though he has passed on overall oversight to his sons. There they milk 5060 cows each day. The Ottinger farm comprises about 260 acres in all, 30 of which have been in the family since 1824, Johnny Ottinger said. Riley Ottinger, who has two siblings, has spent her life surrounded by the dairy farming that has supplied her family much of its livelihood. Even if she may not go into farming full-time, she plans on having something to do with farming for a long time. Below is part of an interview The Greeneville Sun conducted with Riley just after she finished feeding a calf on her grandparents’ farm. Sun: How much time are you spending on farming now? Riley: Probably not as much as I used to with school, but I try to help as much as I can. A few times a week. Sun: What does “helping” look like? What all do you do on the dairy farm now? Riley: I mostly feed the baby cows — their bottles and grain and hay. Some-
times I help in the milk barn. Sun: What all have you done so far as June Dairy Month Youth Chairman? Riley: The past few days have been going around to businesses asking for door prizes. We’re done with that. Sun: How did your family get into dairy farming? Riley: My great-great grandfather started the farm, I think it was 1953 or 1956. He started, and it’s been going ever since. Sun: Did you get involved with farming because you had to or because you really enjoy it? Riley: I enjoy it, especially the goats. It makes me feel good. Sun: Why do you think it makes you feel good? Riley: Because I’m just helping and keeping up the traditions. Sun: What farm work do you enjoy particularly? Riley: I look forward to feeding the cows. We have some at our house ... they’re the replacements for the ones we’re milking now, so it feels good to help with that. Sun: How many do you have at your farm? Riley: We have 14 or 15 and three babies. Sun: So when school is in, what does your average day look like? Riley: I go to school, and I run cross country and [so when I get home I] will try to run, and when I come back I feed the animals. I
finish at 6 or 7, maybe. Sun: What are your plans for after high school? Riley: I’ll probably end up being a physical therapist, and I think I’ll do farming part-time. [Points at brother, Jackson, 9] He wants to do it full-time. I gotta help him. Sun: Are you excited about what the future looks like for dairy farming, or are you concerned? Riley: I’m a little bit concerned about it to be honest, but it’ll work itself out. Someone’s got to make dairy [products]. I don’t think people realize how important that is, especially the ones who don’t have anything to do with it. We do this thing at school sometimes where we bring our animals and you wouldn’t believe the questions we get asked. Sun: So how do you fix that? Riley: Just by getting out there and telling people how important it is. That’s why June Dairy Month is so important nowadays. People don’t realize that. Sun: Anything else you want people to know about you, what you’re doing or the dairy industry? Riley: I encourage people to get into farming if they can. I know not everyone can do it, but plant a garden or something. Just try it. We can’t really make it without [dairy farming]. There’s a substitute for milk, but there’s no real substitute for it. You can try, but it’s not the real thing.
SUN PHOTO BY MICHAEL S. RENEAU
Riley poses with Christmas, a jersey she received as a Christmas gift.
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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
Thursday, May 31, 2018
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The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
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The Earley Farm: Rebuilding A Family Heritage BY LORELEI GOFF SUN CONTRIBUTOR
J
ust northeast of Greeneville in the Chuckey community, Jordan Cox is quietly rebuilding his family’s heritage. Cox and his wife, Marci, purchased the remaining 18 acres of his grandfather Kyle Earley’s farm after his death in 2016. Cox is the fifth generation to work what was at one time nearly 100 acres of the farm first established by his greatgreat-great-grandfather in the 1800s. The farm recently received the Century Farm designation by the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University. The Century Farm Program recognizes farms across Tennessee for keeping continuously owned family land in agricultural production for at least the last 100 years. “I think it’s an honor for me and my family to be recognized as part of Greene County history,” Cox said of the designation. “My grandfather, he had always talked about the old days around there on the farm. I guess it was more to honor him after he passed away than anything else that I wanted to get it done. He left a huge mark on me.” Getting it done required proving the property had indeed been in the family continuously. The earliest documentation for the Earley Farm that Cox could locate was a United States Census record stating that G.W. and Linnsy Early and seven children resided on the farm in 1880. When he searched through deeds, he found that his great-great-grandfather had sold it to his grandfather in 1916. Wondering how much farther back it went in his family, Cox’s strong regard for family tradition and fascination with history led him to dig deeper into the origins of the farm and the life of his great-great-greatgrandfather. His research revealed that George W. Earley served in the Confederate 19th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, from 1861 to 1865. “From what I’ve read, it was a bunch of the locals from East Tennessee that formed that,” Cox said. Cox said his grandfather was captured by the Union Army on April 16, 1865. He believes that it was sometime after his grandfather’s release at the end of the Civil War and the 1880 census record that Earley returned to Greene County and purchased the farm. The earliest deed for the property he was able to locate at the Greene County Register of Deeds Office furnished the date Aug. 15, 1896, when G.W. Earley sold it to son Will Earley and his wife, Mollie. Will and Mollie worked seven acres along with their nine children. Their son George and his wife, Fronia, doubled the size of the farm while they owned it. George and
Fronia’s son Kyle and his wife, Barbara, Cox’s grandparents, built the farm to nearly 100 acres at its peak. After his grandfather’s death in 2016, Cox purchased 18 acres of the farm. He said at least 35 acres are owned by other family members. “As far back as I can remember, and I’m guessing as far back as the founder, they produced cattle and hay, but tobacco was their biggest crop,” Cox said. All three were produced on the farm until the mid2000s when the tobacco buy-out happened. His grandfather then sold his allotment. In later years, Earley sold off his 50 head of cattle. Cox, who said he never did much farming when he was young apart from helping his grandfather with tobacco, became more interested in it when Earley encouraged him to start his own herd in PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN/JESSIE CAMPBELL Jordan Cox, owner and operator with his wife, Marci Cox, of the historic Earley Farm located northeast of Greeneville, poses the years just prior to his with the sign he received to mark the farm’s addition to the Tennessee Century Farms Program, administered by the Center passing. Cox now has 12 for Historic Preservation at MTSU. head of cattle of his own and is building his herd for production. His goal is to increase his herd to 20 head, the maximum his 18 acres can support. Cox’s wife, Marci, a self-described mountain girl from Cocke County, didn’t come from a farming family but helps with calves who are rejected by their mothers. She wakes early to bottle feed them until they’re weened. She said farming is not for the fainthearted and can be an uncertain and trying way of life. Cox acknowledges the uncertainty but said it’s important to him to keep his 18 acres of Greene County history going. “It’s time consuming but it’s something that I enjoy,” he said, noting that it’s different than when his grandfather started out. “I remember him telling me when he was growing up they used a mule and manual plows. It was a lot harder work than it is nowadays. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN George and Fronia Earley, the great-grandparents of Jordan “Back then they couldn’t PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN Cox. Jordan Cox tends to a cow on his farm. afford tractors and they didn’t have bailers or anything like that,” he said. “Back then you went out back and cut down the wood and built your own barn. Now you can get grants to help buy equipment and livestock or build barns.” The original barn on the Earley Farm burned down in the late 1960s after it was struck by lightning. In spite of losing his barn, trucks and tractors, Kyle Early rebuilt and kept farming. Cox cherishes fond memories of times he spent with his grandfather on the land and speaks warmly of the man he called “The Boss.” “He was my boss,” Cox said with a chuckle. “He would say, ‘You can do it your own way but his is how I would do it.’ He would say that until I’d do it his way. It was either his way or hang it up.” He added: “He always said a man’s good word and a handshake goes a long way. I learned a lot from PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN him.” Jordan Cox currently has 12 head of cattle but hopes to get up to 20 as he restores his family farm.
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“We Doze But Never Close”
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Proud to Serve & Salute Our Local Farmers Over the years, our business in this community has given us a healthy appreciation for just how hard our local farmers work to nourish our families and our nation’s economy. During June Dairy Month, we salute the dedicated men and women of agriculture for all that they bring to the table.
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The Johnston Farm: Growing Families BY LORELEI GOFF SUN CONTRIBUTOR Joe Johnston Lane turns off of Highway 321 to become a ribbon of fresh gravel meandering through rolling pasture land and climbing to the crest of a hill. The view at the top is as peaceful as the pastoral drive but more sublime, affording a view of farmland and woods below and the ever changing hues of a portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains known as the Bald Mountains in the distance. The hill forms the pinnacle of the Johnston Farm, recently recognized as a century farm by the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University. A farm must be at least 10 acres, owned by the same family for at least 100 years, and produce $1,000 revenue annually to be considered for Century Farm recognition. The designation celebrates Tennessee’s agricultural history. At 103 years old, the Johnston Farm has a history as long and seemingly idyllic as the lane that traverses it. Brad Johnston took his first breath on the farm 50 years ago and has lived there ever since. His great-grandparents, Pleasant and Margaret Guinn, started the farm with 93 acres in 1915. They watched eight children grow up on its rolling pastures, while raising hay, livestock, tobacco, poultry, dairy and garden vegetables. Their daughter, Maggie Ozelle Guinn, told her mother she wanted to buy it someday, an uncommon goal for a woman of that era. She met and fell in love with Joe Johnston, the namesake for the lane running through the farm. The two married and when Maggie inherited money from an uncle, they bought what then became known as the Johnston farm in 1929. Maggie and Joe, who later became affectionately known as Big Mama and Pappy Joe, raised eight children there. Their son Tommy stayed on the farm and worked it raising a family of his own, including his son Brad, who now owns it. Tommy was known for being a “rowdy rooster” and there are many family stories to prove it. “Dad was always pulling pranks on people,” Brad Johnston said, chuckling. “One day he was chasing my grandmother around the house with a snake. She said, ‘Tommy, if you’ll put that down, I won’t whip you.’ He said, ‘Alright,’ and put it down. Then she whipped his hide good!” Laughing, Brad’s wife, Ginia, added that every bit of Tommy Johnston’s mischievousness was passed along in the genes to her husband and sons. That’s not immediately evident, though, in Brad’s quiet demeanor. Brad and Ginia met when he was attending Tusculum College. She worked as a waitress in her cousin’s barbecue restaurant. She said Brad came in to see her often but was so quiet that he had to eat a lot of barbecue before they finally started dating. “I was too shy so she asked me out,” Brad quipped with grin. “I did not! You’re crazy!” Gina shot back. Brad took her to meet his mother on their first date, and they were married eight months later when she was 18 and he was 21. They began their life together in the farmhouse Brad’s grandparents and great-grandparents had lived in and which Brad and Ginia’s son Hayden now lives in. Big Mama and Pappy Joe had moved into a brick home built on the property. No one knows exactly when in the mid-tolate 1800s the farmhouse was built, but photos show it was once a log cabin. Brad eventually bought the farm after the death of his father.
SUN PHOTO BY LORELEI GOFF
Brad and Ginia Johnston show off the newest sign on their property, one that designates their property a Tennessee Century Farm.
“That was an exciting day because we wanted to keep it in the family,” Ginia said. “It’s very important that our children have been blessed to be here.” Their children, Patrick, Hayden and Allyssa, are the fifth generation and still help with the farming. The boys have been driving tractors since they were 4 and 5 years old. The family produces hay and 65 head of Angus cattle, selling feeder calves at the market and heifers to breeding operations. The farm is self-sustaining, but every member of the family also helps with another family business, Hometown Realty in Greeneville. Brad does much of the work on the farm on his own with the kids helping with the hay. Ginia says that it’s her husband’s sanity. “Cows are a lot easier to deal with than a lot of people sometimes,” Brad said. “When Brad’s daddy was alive, there were a few years when our children were young that they still raised tobacco,” Ginia said. “I remember helping, picking up lugs and stuff,” Hayden added. “Tobacco is done totally by hand. There are no machines for tobacco. You can’t drive a machine through a tobacco field and harvest it. It’s all by hand. It’s set by hand. It’s cut by hand. Spud by hand and hung in the barn by hand.” “There were 14 rows of tobacco on over three acres when I was growing up,” Brad said. “That’s long rows for tobacco!” To say that tobacco farming is hard work may be the understatement of the century, and the youngest generation of Johnstons wasn’t keen on holding onto the tradition, as evidenced by a favorite story of Ginia’s. “They would go up and pick up the scraps and leaves and lugs,” she said. “Their Papaw Tommy would pay them five or 10 bucks. Well, when my oldest was probably 5, Papaw said, ‘Patrick, why don’t you pick up those leaves and make you some money?’ Patrick looked around and then he said, ‘Papaw, I got money.’ “He didn’t want to work that!” Ginia said laughing. Both boys went on to earn agricultural degrees from Tennessee Tech. “They’ve made changes since they came back,” Ginia said, pride evident in her voice. “They did a lot with the cattle with the head chute. Our oldest is certified for artificial insemination. Hayden and Patrick both have come back and talked to their dad about things that they’ve learned. I like that. I like that they’re changing things for the better.” Ginia describes her role on the farm as supportive rather than actual farming, preferring the kitchen to a
SUN PHOTO BY LORELEI GOFF
Ginia Johnston said the farm’s wedding venue, named The Homeplace, came about because the family wanted to construct a place for her son to get married. From there, an idea for a whole new business grew.
SUN PHOTO BY LORELEI GOFF
Hayden Johnston stands on the his family’s farmhouse, where Five generations have lived at one time or another.
tractor. “Well, one year they were short on hay help and they wanted me to drive the tractor with the hay wagon,” she said. “Hayden was probably 15 or 16. I came out of the house dressed in a short dress and sandals and carrying my little Pomeranian. Well, they put it in gear for me and said ‘Just hold on and drive straight to the barn.’” “The wagon was stacked high,” Hayden added. “It had a lot of weight on it. A lot of times when you’re going down a hill on a tractor, if you’re in a low gear the load on the wagon will start to push it and you’re wheels will start spinning backwards and sliding.” Ginia continued the story, her voice rising and arms gesturing. “My wheels were going this way and I’m going that way and it starts sliding and I start screaming,” she said. “Hayden jumped off the wagon while we were SEE JOHNSTONS ON PAGE 12
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Page 12
The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
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Thursday, May 31, 2018
SUN PHOTO BY LORELEI GOFF
The Johnstons’ farm offers views of the area’s majestic mountains. Pews for the wedding venue came from First Baptist Church of Greeneville.
SUN PHOTO BY LORELEI GOFF PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Pappy Joe and Big Mama (Maggie) Johnston in the Johnston farmhouse.
JOHNSTONS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11
moving, runs up and jumps on the tractor and saved me. When we were stopped I was in tears and he said very gently, ‘Mom, you just go in the house. You don’t have to do this.’” They all, Ginia included, laugh at it now. “Farm humor is a little bit different,” Ginia explained. “What normal people think isn’t funny, we would think is funny.” Hayden shared another story to illustrate. “My cousin was probably 15 or 16,” he began, setting the scene. “We had this red and white bull calf that was probably getting to be about 600-700 pounds. He was really getting up there. We needed to sell him so we had him in the barn and he was going crazy. “We got him in the chute and he ran into the trailer, but we couldn’t shut the gate behind him fast enough and he ran back out. He started running through the barn hall and all of a sudden I saw my cousin just standing there with the bull running toward him. We yelled, ‘Run! Run!’ “So he takes off and jumps the cow panel. I mean he just clears it right before the bull hits the cow panel and goes right through it! We were out in front of the barn and we thought he’d would be dead, trampled. We looked all around the barn and then we found him up in the corner of the barn hanging on like Spiderman. “We laughed about that then, too,” he said as they all broke into chortles of laughter. For all the humor, they got lots of work done and the farm continues to grow with the family. “My grandparents added a little bit to it and then my Dad bought some that joined it so it got up to where it’s about 120 [acres] altogether,” Brad said. “Three years ago we bought an additional 12 acres. So we’re up to 132 acres now.” This year the family started yet another business, an event venue perched on the crest of the hill at the end of Joe Johnston Lane, called the Homeplace. Ginia said the idea for it came as a way for her children to be married on the farm. Hayden will be marrying Brittani Renner on June 15. “We decided to build something on the farm and it took off from there,” Ginia said. “The wedding barn, we look at as another type of ag business that will help sustain the farm,” Brad added. The Homeplace had 15 weddings booked before the barn was even completed. An altar and pews repurposed from First Baptist Church in Greeneville, that seat up to 300, are set up outside the barn. Ginia prizes their history. “These are the pews that I would say half of Greeneville got married on,” Gina said. “(The mother of one of the grooms) said, ‘We sat on those when we dedicated him.’” The barn itself is 8,000 square feet and has a kitchen, bride’s room, groom’s room, as well as a balcony and seating area on the second floor that overlooks the main hall. After their wedding, Hayden and Brittani will live
Brad and Ginia Johnston have added acreage the their farm over the years, which now spans 132 acres.
in the farmhouse, part of three generations that now reside on the farm, including Ginia’s parents and Brad’s mother. “We live on the hill above the farmhouse,” said Ginia. “Our other son is in the National Guard out in California right now but he’s in the brick he grew up in. So everybody’s still here. It really is the Homeplace. I love that all of us are here.” Brad and Ginia hope their children or grandchildren will one day take over the farm. For now they are happy to celebrate their growing family and the farm that has sustained it for more than a century. “We’re as proud of the Century Farm designation as we
are the farm,” Ginia said. Brad says his father and grandfather would be thrilled. “We were all fixing fence three weeks ago,” Ginia said. “We were tracking it through the woods and we came across a fence post and Brad said, ‘Pappy Joe put that up.’ We’re still using it. I thought that was really cool. It’s reaching back through time through layers of family to someone Hayden’s never met and he’s doing exactly the same thing that his grandfather did. Nothing has changed in that way. We’re raising the same things he did.” She adds, “But families, mostly – this farm has raised a lot of families.”
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Greene County
Page 13
2017 Annual Report
SOIL CONSERVATION DISTRICT David West and Steve drilling a pilot hole for wooden post with a hydraulic post driver on the Ramsey Farm. This fence will be used as cross fencing to enhance rotational grazing.
Mike McElroy, NRCS District Conservationist, retired on January 3, 2018. The Greene County Soil Conservation District would like to thank Mike for his 26 years of dedicated service to Greene County during his 42 year career with the NRCS.
Jasmine and Willard Clark installing electric rope fencing with vinyl T-post on their equestrian operation. This fence is used to separate the farm into paddocks, making rotational grazing possible by allowing forages to rest instead of being continuously grazed.
GENERAL
The Greene County Soil Conservation District Board of Supervisors is proud to present its 2017 Annual Report of Accomplishments. Supervisors in 2017 were John S. Waddle Jr., Chairman; Donald Swanay, ViceChairman; Samuel L. Southerland, Secretary/Treasurer; Allen Klepper and Jay Birdwell, members. The Greene County Soil Conservation District was organized in 1954 under provisions of the Tennessee Soil Conservation District Law of 1939, and the District began operation in March 1955. Local funding comes from the Greene County Board of Commissioners which provides a full-time Of¿ce Manager, Susie Wilson and Soil Conservationist, Tina Brown. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture provided cost-sharing assistance for farmers in the District. Federal funding comes from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) which pays the of¿ce rent, furnishes equipment and provides a District Conservationist, Mike McElroy, a Soil Conservationist, Jessi Linkous and a Soil Conservation Technician, Josh Jenkins.
A seasonal high tunnel installed on Maker’s Way Farm, in the St. James Community, to extend the growing season for vegetables.
The District Board and of¿ce staff attended the Tennessee Association of Conservation District Annual Summer and Fall meetings. At these meetings Supervisors share ideas and provide input that bene¿ts Greene County.
IN APPRECIATION
The Greene County Soil Conservation District would like to express their sincere gratitude to all of the agencies, businesses, groups, and individuals that continue to show their support of the district.
Respectfully submitted, JOHN S. WADDLE, JR., Chairman All programs and services of the Greene County Soil Conservation District are offered on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, marital status or handicap.
ORGANIZING FOR SERVICE
The District Board of Supervisors meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month in the District Of¿ce. Goals, staff needs, memoranda of understanding, level of service, and approval of conservation plans are discussed, and action is taken. Supervisors are represented on the Greene County Planning Commission, Farm Bureau, Greene Farmers Cooperative, the Agri-Business Council of Greene County Partnership, the Growth Planning Committee and other locally led conservation groups. Local, state, and federal legislators are contacted regularly asking for supporting legislation, which bene¿ts Greene Co. residents. The district pays annual dues to the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), the Tennessee Association of Conservation Districts (TACD), the Tennessee Conservation District Employees Association (TCDEA), and the Appalachian RC&D.
MEASURING SERVICE
State and federal funds were requested by the district and received from: the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) in the amount of $86,5260.00 and the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) $213,820.23 for a combined total of $300,346.23 in cost-share assistance. These funds were used to cost-share with 25 landowners to install fencing to exclude livestock from streams, provide alternative livestock watering systems, prevent soil erosion and improve water quality. The District continues to support the Nolichuckey Animal Waste Utilization Association (N.A.W.U.A.). Landowners continue to have a means of utilizing animal waste stored in holding ponds and waste storage ponds This provides a means of disposing of waste safely, eliminating the potential for stream and groundwater contamination. Thirteen waste systems were pumped with the irrigation equipment applying approximately 3,441,177 gallons of nutrients to the land.
GREENE COUNTY SOIL CONSERVATION DISTRICT OFFICE PERSONNEL:
Michael E. McElroy, District Conservationist Jessi Linkous, Soil Conservationist Josh Jenkins, Soil Conservation Technician Susie Wilson, SCD Office Manager Tina D. Brown, SCD Soil Conservationist
OFFICE LOCATION: 214 North College Street, Suite 200 Greeneville, TN 37745 PHONE: (423) 638-4771, ext. 3
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS Active EQIP Contracts . . . . . . . . . Active WRP Contracts. . . . . . . . . . Active CSP Contracts . . . . . . . . . . Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conservation Crop Rotation . . . . . . . Cover Crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Forage & Biomass Planting . . . . . . . Forage Harvest Management . . . . . . Herbaceous Weed Control . . . . . . . . Heavy Use Area Protection . . . . . . . Pumping Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . Livestock Pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . . Prescribed Grazing . . . . . . . . . . . Residue & Tillage Management (No-Till) . Rotation of Supplement & Feeding Areas Seasonal High Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . Stream Crossing . . . . . . . . . . . . Upland Wildlife Habitat Management . . Water Wells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Water Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wetland Wildlife Habitat Management . .
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Page 14
The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
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Thursday, May 31, 2018
New Co-Op Forming For Area Dairy Farmers, But Market Is Still A Challenge BY BIANCA MARAIS SUN CONTRIBUTOR
T
he new Appalachian Dairy Farmers Cooperative could be saving local dairy farmers who lost their contracts with Dean Foods. But coops may not be be able to do much about an overall slowdown in demand for milk. “The only bargaining power that farmers have, is through a cooperative,” said John Collins, former southeastern manager for Dairy Farmers of America, a co-op formed in 1998. Collins praised dairy cooperatives, as he has worked over 30 years in the dairy industry all over the United States. The Greene County resident said that dairy cooperatives are a good thing for farmers in the current economic climate because “farmers will have more ability to market their product.” At least three farmers in Greene County have joined the Appalachian Dairy Farmers Cooperative, which is expected to begin on June 1. Dean Foods ceased purchasing milk from about 10 Tennessee farmers, prompting these farmers to literally take matters into their own hands. Those contracts will expire May 31. Collins said that the Appalachian Dairy Farmers Cooperative will be “good because farmers can work together to solve problems together.” Piedmont Milk Sales LLC will market the new cooperatives members’ milk and manage the coop’s day-to-day operations. “The irony is there is no region in the country that has a greater imbalance in dairy demands and marketing than in the Southeast,” said Pete Hardin, editor of The Milkweed, a publication dedicated to dairy information and insights. Hardin mentioned that there are good and bad dairy cooperatives. There are good and bad aspects to every dairy cooperative, he said, depending on which region the specific co-op is in. “I think he wants to do what is best for the farmers,” said Hardin of Gary MacGibbon, board president of the Appalachian Dairy Farmers Cooperative, whom he he says he has known for many years. “I have a lot of confidence in Gary and think he is being very cautious.” Hardin said it is still too early to definitively determine how good the Appalachian Dairy Farmers Cooperative will be for local dairy farmers. Hardin said that virtually all producers east of the Mississippi River have seen decreased milk production, making the supply and demand of dairy products “tighten up” as suppliers are getting out of the business. Hardin reports that butter prices are “historically strong” and he foresees “significantly improved milk prices for the next six months of this year and farmers will like that.” “It has been a terrible three and a half years,” Hardin said of the dairy industry’s fortunues. Dairy prices were at an all-time high in 2014. Producers made more milk than the market needed and when the commodity price fell, dairy farmers took a hard hit. Dean Foods officials said earlier this year that the reason it was cutting contracts was because supply was outpacing demand. Local dairy farmers have said that smaller, family-run dairies like those found in the area
can’t compete with large factory dairies in the Midwest U.S., which can supply a whole milk tanker’s worth of fluid milk at once. Operations here aren’t large enough to do that, which is why cooperatives are formed to begin with. Dairy cooperatives offer the sale of members’ milk under their own brand directly to consumers instead of an individual farmer selling to a manufacturer. The USDA reports that a dairy cooperative business is owned, operated and controlled by the dairy farmers who benefit from its services. Members finance the cooperative and share in profits it earns in proportion to the volume of milk they market through their cooperative. Dairy cooperatives peaked in the mid-1940s, according to USDA records. The number of cooperatives have dropped so much in recent years that the last time they were comprehensively surveyed was in 2002. Though dairy cooperatives represented 13 percent of all agricultural marketing cooperatives in 2002, the total number of dairy co-ops are significantly lower since the mid1940s, which made up 30 percent. The number of milk producers who are members of dairy cooperatives, according to USDA reports, has plummeted since the 1950s, with 61,390 in 2002 compared to the 777,000 in the 1950s. On the other hand, reports indicate that the physical volume of milk handled by dairy cooperatives has spiked from roughly 31 billion pounds in the mid-1930s to about 144 billion pounds in 2002. That means a single cooperative would handle an average of 736 million pounds of milk in 2002 and only 14 million pounds in the mid-1930s. Advances in technology and also the growing population are what are driving those changes. In 2002, 56 percent of U.S. dairy cooperatives were categorized as small cooperatives, handling less than 50 million pounds of milk annually. Milk spoils quickly and is moved from farm to market almost always on a daily basis. The timeline of milk production, along with difficult marketing conditions and decreasing demand, led dairy farmers to start co-ops as a way to market local dairy products. Federal Milk Marketing Orders were first authorized under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, according to the USDA. These federal orders require regulated milk processors to pay a minimum price for milk, among other rules. Today, there are 11 federal milk marketing orders, with Greene County falling under the Appalachian Federal Order, number five. Dairy cooperatives are obligated to pool prices, but they are not obligated to pay producers the blend price, according to a UT Extension report. Dairy cooperatives commonly re-blend when paying members. Cooperatives may legally manufacture dairy products, market raw milk to handlers in different markets and divide all milk revenues among producers. Pool prices are the capital dairy processors pay and blending is when a cooperative takes all the money pooled from the farmers and divides it back among the cooperative members. According to a UT Extension report, due to milk buyers refusing
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Greene County is the leading in milk production county in the state of Tennessee.
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture permitted 32 dairy farms in Greene County this year.
SUN PHOTO BY LISA WARREN
Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture Jai Templeton speaks Saturday morning at the Clyde Austin 4-H Center.
to pay a single high, flat price for all milk, especially milk in excess of fluid needs, dairy cooperatives tried to replace “flat pricing” with “classified pricing” and “pooling” in
the 1920s. This means the cooperative determines how much to pay its members for their milk instead of counting on the federal government to regulate it. This new pricing system
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Jon Luke Myers helps with milking on the dairy farm run by his father, Kent, in Sunnyside in March. The Myers’ farm is one of three in Greene County notified that Dean Foods will be canceling their contract at the end of May.
was met with limited success due to its voluntary nature. Also, it’s possible that milk buyers could pay a farmer a higher price directly than the pooled average price and still
purchase the milk cheaper than it would through a co-op. Hence, some local farmers still believe cooperatives produce too little revenue for small dairies.
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Thursday, May 31, 2018
The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
Page 15
‘I Learn Something New Every Day’ Mike McElroy Has Spent A Career Learning The Land BY CAMERON JUDD SUN PROMOTIONS COORDINATOR
M
ike McElroy, who retired in early January as district conservationist with Natural Resources Conservation Service in Greeneville, a part of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, has followed an agricultural career trail across Tennessee and the nation. It’s a career that has progressed in stages, always centered, though, on farming, and in young days his hope was simply to be a farmer. When that didn’t appear likely to work out, he followed family advice to “do something in the farming business” even if being an actual farmer wasn’t his likely destiny. From the town of Estacada in Clackamas County, Oregon, southeast of Portland, McElroy was the son of a Navy man who went to work for an ice cream company after the naval career ended. His family had connection to Tennessee through his mother, who was from Gibson County, but nothing gave any early indication that McElroy would spend most of his career years in his mother’s native state. His parents rather adventurously found and purchased a farm in Oregon (adventurous because they knew little about farming), and the McElroys moved into a century-old farmhouse at the foot of the Cascade Mountains. Mike McElroy still remembers well the view the house afforded of Mt. Hood to the east and Mt. St. Helens to the north. McElroy’s father took a job at a lumber mill owned by a neighbor. For the McElroys those were days of a ‘57 Chevy used for family transportation and winter days and nights heated by a basement oil furnace and a living room fireplace. Living in that setting helped McElroy further his interest in farming, but when the time came for making a choice of college or university, he was unsure what, where or even how to choose. His mother had a suggestion: How about Austin Peay University back in Tennessee? She had a connection there: an uncle of hers named J.B. Hamilton. Perhaps he could provide some guidance. Hamilton replied to his niece’s inquiries and sent brochures about the Clarksville university. With time to make his choice running out, the selection process came down to brochures from four schools scattered across the dining room table. McElroy looked them over and decided on Austin Peay, having no clue at that point that his move to Tennessee would lead to many years later on as a Tennessean. There was a snag, though. He took the SAT collegiate exam and “missed the mark” for acceptability at Austin Peay by a single point. Ultimately, communication with a university dean saved the day. McElroy shared his situation and story with the dean, who looked at his high school transcript. After seeing McElroy’s strong grades, he told the youth that he’d make a deal with him, theorizing that McElroy had simply had an off day when he took the SAT. Austin Peay operated on an academic quarter system (as opposed to semesters), and the dean said he’d admit McElroy to attend one quarter, and if he did OK with his grades, clear him for another quarter, and so on down the line. McElroy took the deal. “I never saw that dean for four years,” he said. For the first year at APSU, McElroy lived in a dorm. After that he took up residence in the house of the university’s agricultural fraternity. He also worked at the university farm on a work-study scholarship, and later took on a job at the Montgomery County Farmers Co-op.
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Mike McElroy has made a career of learning all he can about what’s in the ground and sharing that information to help farmers.
Still not fully decided on how to direct his academic and later professional careers, he opted for a general agriculture degree with a minor in biology. The year 1978 was pivotal for the young agriculturalist. “The Soil Conservation Service folks came to the campus, doing interviews for summer internships jobs,” McElroy said. He interviewed and ended up accepting an internship in a little East Tennessee town he knew nothing of: Greeneville. On June 3, 1978, McElroy, who had never been farther east in Tennessee than Nashville, loaded up all he owned and headed into the unknown climes of Northeast Tennessee. Not entirely sure where Greeneville was as he got near, he stopped at a market and asked a man behind the counter how far Greeneville was ahead. “Son, you can’t get no closer,” came the answer. And minutes later he rounded a turn and was driving into his new town. Having a cousin in West Tennessee who was in the state senate led McElroy into contact with then-Sen. Tom Garland in Greeneville, and he ended up moving in with the Garland family for a time. Later, while living in an apartment where the McDonald’s restaurant on the Asheville Highway now stands, McElroy took his Honda 500 motorcycle toward Tusculum College one day with the intent of borrowing the car of a Tusculum coed he knew. On the way he got in a traffic accident. McElroy was temporarily crippled. “I remember cutting tobacco on crutches,” he recalled. He returned to Austin Peay to complete his senior year, then got a Soil Conservation Service job in Crossville on the Cumberland Plateau. From there his career led him through Obion County and the town of Union City, where he lived in a garage apartment, rode a bicycle to work, and gained the distinction of helping write the nation’s first “national water conservation plan,” which related to Reelfoot Lake. He moved into an SCS job in Luttrell, near Maynardville, and worked there for nearly a decade. Seeking to advance through the SCS, he applied for seven different positions (three of them for work in Anderson County), but made slow headway. “Greene County came open in 1990,” he said. This time the paths cleared and he got the job of district conservationist based in Greeneville. By then he was a married man, he and wife
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Mike McElroy’s job with the Soil Conservation District combined his love of farming and his passion for helping people, he said.
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUN
One of the things Mike McEroy’s job with the Soil Conservation District afforded him was the opportunity to talk to lots of local and area farmers about getting the most they can out of the soil.
Robin living in Haws, Tennessee. They’d met through a “church connection” in Maynardville. The McElroys moved to Greeneville in 1991. Though centered in Greene County, McElroy’s territory at times has had him working in other regional counties as well. In his SCS work, McElroy has been able to combine two of his natural passions: a love for agriculture and a natural friendliness toward other people. His work has been that of an educator, farmers’ resource and advocate, and problem solver. An anecdote he shares reveals his interests and passions: “Here’s the kind of thing that really makes my day. I was up in the North Greene area picking up
some parts for a repair I was doing on something, and I drove by a farm where I’d talked to a man about what rotational grazing could do to help some problems he’d been having, and I could tell he’d been doing a beautiful job of it.” McElroy called the man up to commend him, and enjoyed a pleasant and mutually appreciative conversation and the satisfaction of knowing that advice he’d given had been heeded, and had worked. “I love problem solving,” he admited. “And I’ve got a particular passion for anything related to grazing.” McElroy has worked with hundreds of farmers and fellow ag professionals throughout his territory, and been at the center of many workshops, seminars and
exhibitions aimed at helping farmers get the most out of their pastures and herds. He’s become a believer in no-till farming and gardening, and can examine an ordinary square foot of land and see it with the eye of a scientist, noticing things the average observer would likely miss: insect burrows, deposits of worm droppings, evidence of microbe activity, signs of soil damage from over-work and drying out. He’s a Sherlock Holmes of the pasture, essentially. And what he sees many traditional agricultural practices do to land and pasturage has him constantly seeking better ideas and ways: no-till farming, rotational grazing, strategic pasture usage — he’s always trying to dig deeper and find new things.
In his experience, Greene County farmers are open to new ideas but don’t rush to fully embrace them until personally persuaded. “People have to prove the technical advice for themselves,” he said. The learning goes on for McElroy himself. “I learn something new every day,” he said. Something he learned last year was the validity of a thing he’d heard others say: When the time comes to retire, you’ll just know it. Last summer was when that inner awareness came to him, and he decided at that time that he’d “go to the house,” as the common phrase goes, at the first of 2018. He’s not stayed at the house, though. He’s a keep-busy type, and at the moment he is doing that as a conservation specialist (a consultant role) working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA. He’s involved in the program of the National Older Workers Career Center, which, according to its website, “provides government agencies experienced workers using cost-effective, flexible, innovative and contemporary staffing options.” In his less-formalized retirement role, McElroy said he is finding himself free to work in the areas that have long been his interest, but without so much official structure and paperwork. He’s also getting to move around some. He’s worked as a consultant in Greene, Cocke, Hamblen, Grainger, Jefferson and Washington counties. The offices of Greene County’s Soil Conservation Service are at 214 N. College St., Greeneville.
Page 16
The Greeneville Sun Tennessee Greene/June Dairy Edition
Thursday, May 31, 2018
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