“Dairy farming isn’t done by as many people as it used to be. Maggie Mathews said, “It’s the fastest way for me to see the results of my work because it’s almost instant.”
Mathews, who is 19 years old, is the third generation of his family to work on the farm, carrying on a 60-year-old practise.
Her stepfather, Donald Bickel, and Matthew’s mother, Jackie Bickel, own and run the business.
“You have to want to do it and love it, or else milking cows every day can get pretty boring,” said Donald Bickel.
The dairy business is getting smaller.
In 2021, the United States Department of Agriculture said that there were 1,620 dairy farms in Ohio. There were 3,170 in use ten years ago.
Jackie Bickell said that 2015 was a bad year for the dairy business.
“My husband and I stuck it out for about a year and a half, and we were seriously thinking about a way out,” she said.
Mathews, on the other hand, had an idea that changed the way their farm was run.
“In agriculture class, we had to come up with a business plan for a class project. We had just been to Swallow Hill farms, so I thought it would be a good idea to have my own bottling plant,” she said.
It was a good idea.
Happy Cows Creamery now sells directly to customers through its farm store and online through Market Wagon.
“The farm is much more sustainable and financially healthy now than it was five years ago. We still have a ways to go, but every year we definitely grow and get bigger,” Jackie said.
