By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — For representatives of the American Dairy Assoc. of Indiana, Saturday’s dairy farm tour was a chance to promote the industry.

For the Kuehnert family, which hosted the event, it was an opportunity to show neighbors and others from the community what goes into running a dairy farm. And for visitors, especially the kids, it appeared to be the chance to learn while enjoying ice cream, milk and yogurt on a breezy but stuffy June morning.

The stop at the Kuehnert Dairy Farm was the first of three celebrating June Dairy Month. The Kelsay Dairy Farm in Whiteland will host a Brunch on the Farm event June 14, and June 21, the hosts will be Troxel Dairy Farm in Hanna.

“We’re highlighting what dairy farmers and producers do,” said Julie Hardin, the American Dairy Assoc. (ADA) of Indiana’s manager of communications. “We want to show that dairy farmers work hard every day, they’re stewards of the land and they protect the land. They take care of their animals and have healthy animals.”
About 1,000 people were expected to attend Saturday’s event, which included farm tours and brunch with hot cakes and sausage.
June Dairy Month traces its origins to 1937, when it was called National Milk Month. The name was changed to June Dairy Month two years later, and in 1955, the ADA became the campaign’s national leader.

Indiana ranks 12th in the United States in milk production, Hardin said. More than 3.3 billion pounds of milk are produced annually.
“The dairy industry is growing in the state, and more dairies are coming to the state,” she said.

Events such as these help teach children and their parents about dairy products, Hardin said.

“Kids are in a calcium crisis,” she said. “Seven out of 10 teenage boys, and nine out of 10 teenage girls, are not meeting the recommended amounts of calcium. We’re trying to highlight nutritious, delicious dairy products.

“Children and parents have so many options for beverages these days. But children tend to model after their parents, and studies have shown that moms who drink more milk will have children who model that behavior,” she said. People who consume three servings a day of dairy products - milk, cheese and yogurt - tend to have healthier weight, she said.

The Kuehnert Family has hosted similar brunches for their neighbors for a couple of years, but this was the first on such a large scale, said Nathan Kuehnert. Nathan is a partner in the farm with his father Alan, uncle Stanley and brother Andrew.

The farm has been in the family for more than 125 years. Nathan and Andrew are the sixth generation of the family to work the farm.
“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also hard. It’s a lot of work,” Nathan Kuehnert said. “But I’m proud in a sense because I know my forefathers did this. We’re proud to be carrying on the farm.”

The family milks 260 registered Holsteins, and also has 260 head of young stock. They farm 850 acres, including corn, soybeans and alfalfa, mainly as feed for the cattle. Kuehnert said he hopes visitors get a better understanding of the dairy business and farm life in general from the tour.

“I hope they learn that milk doesn’t come from the supermarket shelf,” he said. “This gives people a chance to come out and see a working farm. “Smaller family farms are dwindling and there are more mega-dairies, so this is a good chance to see a family farm.”
The Kuehnerts neighbors, Roy and Sharon Kincaid, said their now 12-year-old grandson learned some things when he took the tour a couple of years ago, even though her father farmed. “It’s very educational for the young ones,” she said. “We learned a lot ourselves.”

New packaging and more variety in the types of dairy products available should make it easy for consumers to follow the ADA’s recommendation of three servings a day of dairy, Hardin said.

“The eight ounce plastic containers, which you often see in school cafeteria lines, has helped increase consumption, along with schools offering a variety of flavors,” she said. “And cheese manufacturers have created lower fat cheeses. You can find cheese packaged a variety of ways, including for salads, cubed, crumbled and in slices.”

Yogurt may now be found in tubes or other grab and go formats, she said.

“They’re just making it easier for families to take healthy foods on the road. They’re giving them healthier choices.”