Location: Delta, Colorado

Age: 58

My dairy’s history: My brothers and I grew up on the dairy helping Dad. After the flood, Tina and I made the decision to move to higher ground from my father’s dairy to start our own in 1984. My dad gave me 50 cows. Today we are milking 330 cows three times a day. We also own and farm 500 acres of corn and alfalfa hay. Our sons, Carlin and Joey, are helping out on the dairy and farming.

If I wasn’t a dairyman, I would be ... a machinist.

I have been a member of DFA for … 13 years.

I joined DFA because ... WDCI merged with DFA in 1998. We were members with WDCI before the merge took place.

My favorite DFA representative/friend is ... Ronny Cameron. Ronny is thoughtful to all the dairymen on the western slope. He oversees the milk hauling, and he communicates with us weekly and makes sure we are satisfied with the handling of the milk.

What DFA does best is ... work to unify all dairymen and co-ops in the United States.

I feel valued as a member when ... leaders work for us to promote the dairy industry.

An influential person whom I’ve met through DFA is ... Andy and Polly Wick of Upper Valley Holsteins.

He or she is helpful/influential because ... of their love of the dairy industry and hard work in their dairy management.

My worst struggle in dairying is/was ... out of balance mailbox prices and production costs.

I hope my dairy legacy is ... to be honest and helpful to those in the community and around us.

If I were running DFA, I would ... continue with the programs they have now and spend more time and emphasis on public education to combat negative public opinion.

My advice to all dairymen is ... keep current in the latest technology, incorporate those ideas to your system and hope things work out for the best.  PD