“I was born and raised on the dairy,” says Rob Seiber, owner of Seiber Dairy in Wiggins, Colorado. “I always knew this is where I wanted to be.”

Betty Rose Young Elliott never planned to be a trailblazer. When she married Lee Earl Elliott in 1942, she was a 17-year-old city girl who moved to the family’s dairy farm and promptly began raising children and gardens.

Marcia Itle O’Connor stands today with one foot in her family’s fourth-generation Pennsylvania dairy farm and one foot in the dairy sales industry. As a young professional, she is building on proud traditions while carving out her own future success.

Fifty years ago, Betty Rose Elliott could sign the checks, but she had to send a man to pick up parts at the local implement dealership because they refused to sell to a woman.

Dr. Ellen Jordan grew up working with Holstein heifers, beef cattle, poultry and horses, as well as showing Guernsey dairy cattle and purebred swine. But it still took two years of convincing before her high school would allow her to take FFA classes.

“I met my husband, Foy, at the 1977 Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, Colorado,” explains Cindy Chapin. “I was the city girl. He was the country boy showing dairy cattle.”

Editor’s note: The full version of this article is available in a downloadable ebook format.

Editor’s note: This article is the final installment in a series profiling sources for an in-depth feature about the Chinese dairy industry, appearing in print later this summer. Dr. Jeff Elliott laughs when asked to describe his work: “Who would have thought a farm boy from west Kentucky would end up traveling around the world thanks to cows?”

Editor’s note: This article is the fourth in a series profiling sources for an in-depth feature about the Chinese dairy industry, appearing in print later this summer. Dr. Robert Collier is a professor and former chairman of the department of animal sciences at the University of Arizona. A former scientist with Monsanto, Collier has also served as the Donald Barron Visiting Professor at the University of Florida.

Editor’s note: This article is the third in a series profiling sources for an in-depth feature about the Chinese dairy industry, appearing in print later this summer. Frank Delfino seems to spend as much time in the air as he does with his feet on the ground. As president of Delfino Nutrition and Management Inc. of Columbia, Tennessee, he consults internationally with both dairies and feed manufacturers.