Down on the farm

 

 

By Wade Daffron

TJ Editor

 

There are few people who personify the hard-working, dedicated life of dairy farmers like the McGowan family of Jabez.

At their farm in far-eastern Russell County, Tim and Audrey Jenkins McGowan, and their son Nathan tend to dairy duties every day.

Dairy farming has been part of Tim’s life since he was born.

“Tim was raised in a playpen in the cooler room of the dairy,” his wife Audrey said, “and he’s 64 today.”

And the way the McGowan’s came together is also an interesting part of their success story.

“I was raised in Michigan and met Tim on a blind date while vacationing at Lake Cumberland,” Audrey said.

They married in 1981, and Audrey “began helping with the milking until we took over the dairy in 2009.”

Some may say the McGowans have dairy farming down to an art form.

A “typical” day includes long hours and hard work.

“We try to milk around 200 cows give or take,” Audrey said. “Tim wakes up at 4 a.m. EST. everyday. His day starts getting the equipment ready to milk…starting the cows to the milk room from the pack barn.”

“Then he tills the sawdust in the pack barn which smooths the sawdust and leaves a clean, soft place for the cows to lay,” his wife explained. “He then feeds them a mixture of corn silage and feed ration. We raise all of our corn. He scrapes out the alley where they stand to eat before they return to the pack barn.”

Audrey admitted “days are long.”

“You never know what you will find when you wake up,” she said. “Our son Nathan works with us on the farm and tends to the calves and is the main feed mixer. He lives in Jabez with his wife Lisa and their two children. Our daughter Miranda Keltner is a school counselor at Nancy Elementary and lives in Sano community with her husband Brandon and their three children.”

“Nathan does an excellent job with our calves,” Audrey said. “I milked for years but now I’m the ‘gopher’ and whatever is needed person.”

Determination is key in a business which is ever-changing and demanding.

“Dairy faces so many challenges but I think labor is one of the top ones,” Audrey said. “After that, weather, which we have no control of. Replacement prices are extremely high now even though we try to raise our own replacements.”

(The McGowans also have “100 head of beef cattle as well.”)

She feels a family farm is a “wonderful way to raise responsible kids.”

“We definitely could not do this, especially now as we are getting older, without good help,” Audrey said. “We are thankful that our son decided to stay and farm with us.”

“Dairy is a good but hard life,” she said.

Loyal to the farm, loyal to family, the McGowans truly are living the life.