By Chris Aldridge
Kentucky Ag News

BOWLING GREEN – Dairy farming is rapidly declining in Kentucky. The number of dairy farms in the state has dropped 85 percent over the past two decades.

But one Warren County dairy farm is bucking the trend and finding success, emerging from the coronavirus pandemic with its “best year ever,” according to owner Carl Chaney.

In 2019, Chaney Farm welcomed 15,000 visitors to its farm tour. The pandemic cut that amount by two-thirds in 2020 to 5,000. But this year, the number of people viewing the farm’s herd of 60 cows, watching its state-of-the-art robotic milking system in action, and learning about its modern milk processing and bottling operation has rebounded to 10,000.

And that’s not counting about 350,000 people this year from all over the world that visited the family’s popular homemade ice cream business, Chaney’s Dairy Barn at the northeast corner of the farm alongside busy U.S. 31W in Bowling Green. Chaney’s ice cream has been named best in the state by USA Today.

”Our ice cream is doing fantastic,” Carl said. “We’re gonna make about 27,000 gallons of ice cream this year. That has grown beyond my belief.”

Chaney’s is the only farm in Kentucky that makes ice cream from its own milk and cream. Three-quarters of the ice cream, about 20,000 gallons, never leaves the premises and is scooped at the Dairy Barn.

A world map inside the Dairy Barn invites visitors to stick a pin in the place they are from.

”We have people that come here from everywhere,” said Debra Chaney, Carl’s wife. “We have just been amazed at the number of pins that almost fully engulf the United States. …We do have a few other countries as well.”

Chaney’s is also a popular vendor at Western Kentucky University basketball and football games. “We’ll sell $2,000 worth of ice cream in two hours,” Carl noted proudly.

Most of the rest of the ice cream is sold wholesale.

”As the popularity of the ice cream has grown, we’ve had a lot of mom-and-pop shops to open up in different areas from Tennessee to northern Kentucky,” Debra said. “They’ll order, sometimes, as many as 100 tubs at a time. So it’s enabled other people to improve the financials of their business by having our product.”

Carl said profits from the Dairy Barn, which the family built in 2003 in an effort to diversify and stay profitable, have been a savior for the dairy farm.

”There’s been three times in the last 18 years where if it wouldn’t have been for, you might say, the ice cream store subsidizing the dairy, the cows might not be here today,” he admitted.

Carl is the fourth-generation owner of the family farm, which started in 1888. Like most Kentucky farms in the 19th and 20th centuries, the farm once grew tobacco. At one time or other, Carl said it raised “pretty well everything,” such as pigs, chickens, beef cattle, and even mules.

Carl’s father, J.R., switched the farm’s focus to dairy when he bought two Jersey cows in 1940.

”Dad started milking two cows (by hand),” Carl said. “Now here we are 81 years later, and we’re milking 60 cows with a robot.”

Seeing milk from Chaney Farm sold in stores was his father’s dream. That became a reality in 2019, when the farm’s bottling business – which places whole, 2 percent, and chocolate milk in gallon, half gallon, and 14-ounce plastic jugs – was named after J.R. Chaney.

”We’re in control of it all the way from what the cows eat, to the milking, to where it comes into the bottle, and to the consumer,” Carl said. “We focus on the quality of the milk.”

The Chaneys believe a reason for their quality milk is cow comfort. A recent study by the University of Wisconsin proved that cattle who live a happier life produce more nutritious milk.

”I think if I were reincarnated, I might want to come back and be a Jersey cow here at Chaney Farm,” Debra said.

Carl is helped in the farm’s new compost-bedded pack barn by his niece, herd manager Doré Hunt, who names most of the cows.

”Doré and Carl take such wonderful care of the animals,” Debra said. “They have a great place to lay, a great place to eat, and they’re milked as often as they want.”

”I think my cows now are more comfortable than they’ve ever been,” Carl added. “All you’ve gotta do is just stand and watch ‘em, and see ‘em laying and resting.

”We don’t push the cows anywhere. They’re always going in (to be milked by the robot) on their own. They’re quiet, there’s less stress, and it’s easier on us, but it’s easier on the cows too.”

Doré said the cows are like family members.

”We are there the day that they are born, the day that they are weaned off milk, to the day that they become a mother themselves, and every day after and in between,” Doré said. “You know their names. Most of the times, you gave them that name. You were there when their mother was born, their grandmother was born. You’re there to kind of develop each generation, so that’s kind of a wonderful thing.

”Dairy cows are domesticated animals,” she added. “They are animals that need a lot of hands-on attention.”

The cows are fed a special diet formulated by a nutritionist and made up mostly of grains grown in a field next to the barn.

”Right now, our cows are eating around 90 pounds of feed a day (each),” Carl said. “They are eating a crazy amount … but that’s the reason they’re milking so well.”

Carl said his herd produces 26,000-28,000 pounds of milk per week. He has followed in his father’s footsteps by milking only Jersey cows, whose milk is naturally higher in butterfat, calcium, and protein.

”Their milk is richer, creamier,” Debra said. “The quality really makes a difference.”

That quality led grocery giant Kroger to take notice. In November, members of the Chaney family joined Commissioner of Agriculture Dr. Ryan Quarles and Kroger representatives in Louisville to announce that Chaney’s Milk is now available in 41 Kroger stores across Kentucky.

”It means something when a small family farm here in Warren County – Bowling Green, Kentucky – is able to work with one of the biggest companies out there,” Carl said of Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain and the country’s second largest overall retailer behind Walmart. “It says we’re doing a good job, and we’re on the right track.”

”Kroger is a good fit for us,” Debra added. “They’ve bought into Kentucky Proud, which I think is really important in showing appreciation for the local producers. We’re really grateful that they’ve identified us as one of those important producers.”

”When they (consumers) purchase Kentucky Proud milk, they know that they are supporting a local farm family,” Carl noted.

While Chaney’s Milk costs a little more than the Kroger brand, Debra says you can taste the difference.

”I have a hard time understanding how (people) don’t seem to mind going to Starbuck’s and buying a $5 cup of coffee, but we have a hard time paying $5 for a whole gallon of milk.”

When Carl and Debra were asked what they hope the legacy of their triumvirate of businesses – the farm, Dairy Barn, and J.R. Chaney Bottling Co. – will be, Carl’s answer centered on the business side.

”Great wholesome products, whether it’s the milk, whether it’s the ice cream, and the family behind it,” he said. “Those are the things that I hope that people take away.”

Debra’s answer was about the relationships formed through their businesses.

”When I’m dead and gone, I don’t know if this business will still be here or not,” Debra added. “But I realize in life the things that are important and the things that are not, and I want people to know that we were kind, that we were generous, and that we made … a positive impact on the people that we crossed paths with.”