meet your
Raised in the Milk Barn
neighbors Jared Wormington started his own farm about a decade ago.
By Sheila Harris
Jared Wormington began his own dairy operation about 10 years ago Fourth-generation dairy farmer, acres from my grandma. As soon as KarJared Wormington, of rural Purdy, la and I got back from our honeymoon, Mo., said he’d never milk cows of I moved the cows up the road to that pasture and started milking in the barn his own when he grew up. “I’ve milked since I was old enough my grandpa used.” In Barry County, which 30 years ago to push a 5-gallon bucket around to stand on,” Jared said. “By the time I had about twice as many dairy farms as was a teenager, I was sick of it. I told it now has, milking can be a daunting myself I wasn’t going to follow in my business, but Jared hasn’t looked back. dad’s footsteps and get locked into the He now has two sons of his own. The oldest, 3-year-old Emery, is already gosame cycle when I got older. “I did try some other things when I got ing to the milk barn with his dad. Jared milks 80 cows, a mix of Brown out of high school, but when my wife Karla and I began dating, then thinking Swiss, Jersey and Holstein, that proabout marriage, I knew I’d need a stable duce an average of 35 pounds of milk a income to support a family. That’s when day. Quite a bit more than that in the spring, Jared said. dairy farming started lookHe culls and buys replacement ing better to me. It’s what I cows in the spring or fall, if necesknew how to do.” sary, to keep his milk producJared is now 28 years old tion consistent. and running is own herd. “Consistency is important “I started out 10 years ago by with the cows’ diets, too,” buying 20 cows and milking Purdy, Mo. he said. “They’re mostly them at my dad’s place,” Jarad grass-fed, but I give them explained. “Then, I leased 100
JUNE 8, 2020
Photos by Sheila Harris
grain in the mornings and evenings before each milking. I change the mix of grains up a little, depending on the season. In the spring, when the grass is green, I give them soy hull feed for its higher fiber content. When the grass dries up towards fall, I’ll up the protein content with some cotton-seed meal.” A balanced corn blend in pellet form, formulated for dairy cattle, is a staple year-round for Jared’s herd. “Not only is it good for them, it makes it easier to get them to the barn, too,” he admitted. During good years, there’s plenty of hay to feed them in the winter, cut from his fertile pastures in a valley that stretches for miles between Ozark hills. Jared uses an AI program in the spring and fall for breeding purposes. “Afterward, I turn my Hereford bull in with them to make sure they’re all bred,” he said. “Yes, he’s a beef bull, but I have a weakness for that white Hereford face. Plus, calves bred from a beef bull are easier to sell at market. Not too many people at McDonald’s are asking for a Holstein burger.” Although Jared expresses a preference for white-faced cattle, his sentiment goes only so far. “In this business, I can’t afford to be sentimental,” he said. “If a cow doesn’t produce her quota of milk, she gets culled. He gave himself away, though, when
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he pointed out Goldie, the first cow his dad gave him when he started his own herd 10 years ago. “She was a newborn, then,” Jared said. During the recent bottleneck at milk processing plants due to COVID-19, Jared said he’s never run into a problem on his farm. “I’ve never had to dump any milk here,” he said. It may be because he sells his milk to Springfield-based Central Equity Milk Cooperative, which has flexible market options not always available to larger co-ops. Jared is philosophical about the current state of the economy. “I don’t pay much attention to the national news,” he said. “I focus on the job in front of me. We’ve had some hard times, but God’s always made a way through them. Some circumstances are out of my control, so I focus on what I can control: the quality of my milk. “Too, the farm’s a good place to raise kids.” “Even though dairy farming can be challenging, I know we’ll always have beef to eat and milk to drink.” Jared does have one bit of advice for young men considering a career in dairy-farming, though. “Marry a rich woman,” he said. “It’ll help. But even without a rich wife, the farm’s a good place to raise kids.”
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