meet your neighbors
Photos by Rachel Harper
Devoted to Dairy By Rachel Harper
Nathaniel Graber and his wife Rose of LaRussell, Mo., both grew up on dairy farms. Nathaniel is originally from Indiana and moved to the Ozarks with his family when he was 19 years old to their current dairy farm in
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Valley View Farm returned to the dairy industry in 2011
Missouri. Rose is from Ohio and moved istered Holstein cows and have continued with her family when she was younger to to grow their herd. In 2015, they remodTennessee, then to Missouri in 1982, while eled the free stall barn to a 54 tie-stall to continuing to dairy. provide better care and cow comfort and Nathaniel and Rose married in 1996 and to keep the cows cooler and cleaner. lived on a small farm in Jasper County, “We have a double five herring bone parMo. When Nathaniel’s dad David Gra- lor with 10 milkers and automatic takeoffs. ber originally purchased the dairy farm It is a Surge system,” Nathaniel explained. in 1990, it was not in production. They They currently have 60 to 65 registered remodeled the barn and brought their 45 Holsteins, with a few Brown Swiss, and to 50 Holsteins with them from Indiana. milk between 45 to 54 cows. In 2000, Nathaniel and Rose moved to “We always had Holsteins growing up Nicaragua in Central America where they and I just love them for their size, dispowere missionaries and pastored a church sition and the amount of milk they give. for almost seven years. They came back They give a lot more milk than some home to their small farm in 2007 and Na- breeds,” Nathaniel said. thaniel went to work nearby at Graber For bedding they use dry shavings mixed Metal Sales. with rice hulls. In 2009, Nathaniel’s dad Nathaniel and Rose have seven sons, moved from his dairy farm, Josiah (8), Caleb (12), Kelvin (14), Merwhere he had milked from lin (16), Thomas (19), Jaylon (21) 1990 to 2002, to a nearby home. and LaWayne (22), who are all Nathaniel and Rose moved to fourth-generation dairymen. the dairy farm they today call “We wanted to start the dairy Valley View Farm, but did not LaRussell, Mo. back up again for a few reastart milking until 2011. They sons. It was set up as a dairy, it started from scratch with 15 regis what we both grew up with, Ozarks Farm & Neighbor • www.ozarksfn.com
and we really like it for raising the family. Having all boys, the schedule of a dairy is probably the biggest thing that drew us back, along with the disciplined lifestyle that it teaches. The boys are involved in all the labor part of the dairy. We make the most of the decisions although they do give us help on that as well.” Nathaniel said. The cows are milked daily at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. “Two people milk each morning and evening, and it takes about an hour and 15 minutes to milk,” Nathaniel said. Nathaniel and Rose milk together every fourth morning and the boys are on a rotating schedule before and after school. “They either milk, feed or do outdoor chores,” Nathaniel said. The boys do the majority of the evening milking and Nathaniel and Rose help when needed. Three of the boys work at Graber Metal Sales as well. Their average milk production per cow per day is 65 to 80 pounds. They sell their milk to DFA, and it is picked up every other day. Most of it goes to Hiland in Springfield, Mo., and is used as fluid milk. JUNE 21, 2021
