For this issue, I set out to feature two dairies’ cross-ventilated barns. I went out to visit them with an agenda: to write an article about each one, highlighting their newly constructed barn.

Coffeen peggy
Peggy Coffeen
Coffeen was a former editor and podcast host with Progressive Dairy. 

But I quickly discovered there was a whole other story to be told, not about fan size or air velocity – rather, a story of truly inspiring people who work harder and dream bigger than most.

you can read the articles and learn all about the barns (Cross ventilation with a modification: Curtain baffles control airflow at Double S Dairy and Cross ventilation with a modification: Trillium Hill Dairy builds cross-vent barn, no baffles), but right here is where you will hear the stories about the people who built them.

Keeping up with the Joneses

Last month, I sat down with brothers Mike and Ben Jones to learn all about this new, baffle-less cross-ventilated barn I had heard about. One look at the brothers’ youthful faces, and I assumed that these young men were taking over the family farm after several generations before them – just typical farm kids who went off to study dairy science and then came home to learn the ropes of running the dairy.

So, we talked about the usual stuff – cow comfort, sand bedding, labor efficiency – and then in walked David Jones; make that Dr. David Jones. Dressed in khakis, a collared button-down shirt and sunglasses, the patriarch of the Jones family took a seat at the table.

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I got the feeling these were not his barn clothes and the “doctor” in front of his name was not one of veterinary medicine. As it turns out, he is a practicing orthopedic doctor. The son of a Cornell plant pathologist, he and his wife, Julie, bought the farm in 1980, where they raised beef cattle for 10 years before starting up a milking herd. In 2000, they built a 400-cow freestall barn with a double-eight milking parlor.

In between that, the Joneses raised eight children. Julie recalls making their tractor purchases based on which one could fit the most car seats in the cab. They raised their kids to know hard work and to follow their hearts; for Mike and Ben, that path eventually led them back home.

Mike spent a couple of years studying mechanical engineering before deciding the dairy was his calling. Ben graduated with degrees in genetics and biochemistry, researched epileptic seizures and was on the way to medical school, but he decided to trade the restrictions and regulations of that field for the opportunity to be his own boss and work alongside his brother.

“Strive for perfection, settle for excellence” – that’s their motto, and I would say the Joneses are living up to it.

Smitses started from scratch

I also visited Double S Dairy, again on a mission to talk about the barn, but I got a little sidetracked.

Milking more than 1,200 cows and farming a few thousand acres, brothers Dan and Steve Smits run quite an enterprise. Again, I presumed the farm had been passed down through a few generations, growing with each one. Again, I was wrong.

When Dan mentioned that this was a first-generation farm, I nearly dropped my pen. He said he helped on his grandfather’s farm and, after high school, began milking cows in a rented barn. Thirteen years later, he and his brother Steve bought their current farm. That was 1993. So, in less than 25 years, these ambitious and determined brothers have basically built a successful dairy business from scratch. Wow.

Through it all, the Smitses haven’t lost sight of what matters most. When I caught up with Dan in between hauling truckloads of haylage from the field to the dairy, I was also greeted by his ride-along buddy: a little blue-eyed boy with white-blonde hair who held up three fingers to tell me his age.

He was living out every tyke’s dream of riding in a big truck, and with a bag of Cheetos and root beer in hand, he was loving every moment of hanging out with his “Uncle Dan.” Perhaps someday this little guy will be part of the second generation at Double S Dairy.

Beyond the barn, each dairy has a unique story of how it came to be. It’s not just the concrete and steel that hold it together; it’s passion, purpose and an unmatched entrepreneurial spirit. So, as you page through this issue, remember that behind each article about a barn is an even more inspiring story about the people who built it.  PD

Peggy Coffeen