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“All the time that is put in with our animals is so worth it. We take great pride in producing quality, safe products for our consumers and for our families.”

Charity Vold
Dairy Farmer

Name: Charity Vold
Location: Glenwood, Minnesota
Years farming: I have been involved in agriculture for about 10 years, and farming with my husband and his family for about five years.
My family: Greg is my husband, and our son Aidric is six-months old. We farm with Greg’s parents, Richard and Dorothy Vold, and Greg’s brother, Brad, and his wife, Suzanne, and their kids, Anna, Erik, and Katy.
How I came to be a farmer: As a high school cheerleader, I never would have guessed I'd become a farmer. That all changed in college as I was working towards a degree in elementary education and sociology. I really enjoyed both, but I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life, so I took some time off from college. During my time off, my parents "suggested" I get a temporary job doing some filing for a local office. My response was, “Are you kidding? I'd rather milk cows!”-- never having milked a cow before in my life. As it happens there was a local dairy farm looking for milkers, so I started milking cows! I also happened to fall in love with one of the farmers, and within two weeks, Greg and I were dating. After a year of milking full-time, and working with the herd, I decided to go back to school and earn my degree in dairy science. Soon after, I married Greg, and we continued to be involved in the family dairy farm, Dorrich Dairy. We have recently moved onto the home farm, and I am loving it!!
The best thing about being a farmer: Spending time with my family all day. The line between our work and personal life is pretty gray, and that's just how we like it.
My personal philosophy on farming: We strive to leave everything better than we found it.

Dairy Production in Minnesota and the United States

• In the state of Minnesota, there are approximately 7,200 dairy farmers.
• The Minnesota State Fair is known for its displays of butter sculptures of dairy princesses.
• About 9 percent of the milk produced in the U.S. is used to make ice cream.
• According to USDA, about 99 percent of all U.S. dairy farms are family owned and operated.
• There are more than 60,000 dairy farms in America, and the average herd size is 135 cows.
• A heifer is a female dairy cow that has not given birth to a calf.
• Dairy cows produce an average of seven to eight gallons of milk each day.
• It takes 25 gallons of milk to make nine gallons of ice cream.
• Cows spend eight hours a day eating, and another eight hours chewing their cud.
• Around 72 percent of the calcium in the U.S. food supply comes from dairy foods.
• It would take 3.5 pounds of peas, 27 oranges, 50 tomatoes, or 50 slices of wheat bread to equal the calcium content of a single quart of milk.
• Americans tripled their consumption of mozzarella cheese from 1980 to 2001 (pizza, anyone?).
• Mozzarella sticks are nothing new. A recipe for fried cheese sticks dated 1393 was found in France!

For more information about dairy farming in Minnesota, please visit http://www.midwestdairy.com/.

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