"Daddy where the cows go?" | Jericho Acres Dairy

Welcome to Jericho Acres Dairy

I am often spending some of the most joyful moments with those who allow me and my camera into their lives but the valleys and hard moments are equally worth documenting.

Curtis + Carilynn are dear friends of mine who's story about closing their diary farm of three generations has made international headlines in the past few months. For those unfamiliar with their story, Walmart decided to eliminate the middle man for their milk, which in this case was Dean's, the only buyer for the Jericho Acres Dairy. With only 60 days notice they fought hard for another buyer but like thousands of dairy farmers across the US since 1970, they decided to close their dairy operation.

I spent a summer day with them when they sold over half their herd. This documentation of images shows Curtis going over the cows with the buyer, his last time milking the majority of the herd (they milked for a few more weeks following this shoot before selling all of their girls), how much the entire family was part of the daily operation of the farm, loading the purchased cows on the trailer and watching it drive away. These images are of a day that one that was extremely difficult- but also one that's too important in their family history not to tell.

NBC News did a beautiful documentary sharing more of their story if you're interested in finding out more about the dairy issues impacting farmers in America. CLICK HERE

CNBC also did an article on them and featured some of the photos you see below. CLICK HERE

Carilynn is also an amazing marketing, social media and blogging guru in the Agriculture world. Her blog A Modern Milkmaid highlights some of her personal thoughts during this time. CLICK HERE