Cows and Community: Harmony Dairy
Photo: Anne Basye
“If a cow needs attention in the middle of the night, I’m out there. We are passionate about taking care of our animals. ”
Like many Skagit dairy farmers, Jason and Eric Vander Kooy were born into the dairy business.
“Dad was always short on help,” remembers Eric. “During really busy times, there were not enough of us, and I am one of 12.”
While their father Dick Vander Kooy focused on caring for the milking cows, Eric and his twin brother Jon fed calves before school and cleaned them when they got home. “Dad hated field work and fixing things, so that was the gap I filled,” Jason said.
After several years in partnership with their dad, Jason and Eric Vander Kooy took over Harmony Dairy in 2017. More of their succession story is told in the 2015 documentary “Milk Men,” which features three Skagit dairy families.
Passing the farm onto the next generation is a primary theme of the movie, and no wonder. Almost all 20 or so Skagit County dairies were started by the parents, grandparents or great-grandparents of the current proprietors. Because the capital costs of starting a dairy—acquiring cows, land, feed, tractors, milking equipment, and building a lagoon to store manure—are enormous, once a dairy gets going, it generally stays in the family.
For Harmony Dairy, founded by Dick in 1974, the early years were tough. While things have turned around, along the way the family gained what Eric calls “a painful education.”
Purchasing three nearby dairies from farmers leaving the business helped them scale up. Renting enough land to produce feed for their 1400 cows is easier now that the Vander Kooys farm 2,200 acres in west Mount Vernon, about half of them leased.
Vander Kooy family members work alongside 23 employees. Jason handles crops and equipment; Eric manages milk sales and oversees breeding and feeding cows. Eric’s wife Teresa does the payroll. Shelby, married to Jason, pays the bills and preps financial records for the bookkeeper. Their 20-year-old son Jakob “helps me in the shop during the offseason, and runs equipment during planting and harvesting,” says Jason. “He is a quick learner when it comes to equipment, whether that means mowing grass or operating the excavator.”
Photo: Jason Vander Kooy
The work never stops. All day long, people manage the herd, milk the cows, fix machinery, and drive silage feed between the four barns. Two of their four farms have three 8-hour milking shifts. While one group of cows is in the milking parlor, workers are mucking out and cleaning their pen. During the growing season, those 2200 acres of grass and corn are planted, irrigated if necessary, and harvested.
Most employees have been on staff for 10 years or more. “People stick around because we treat them right,” says Eric. “We wanted to make this a place where someone wants to work.”
Monitoring the health and comfort of cows is a priority, too. When a cow is suddenly less active or produces less milk, the herdsman can isolate her and call the veterinarian to see what’s wrong.
“If a cow needs attention in the middle of the night, I’m out there,” says Eric. “We are passionate about taking care of our animals.”
One of the county’s biggest dairies, Harmony produces 105,000 pounds of milk, or almost 12,000 gallons, every day. Milk is cooled and stored at the dairy until it is picked up and delivered to the Darigold plant in Lynden, which makes powdered milk, or Seattle, which bottles fresh milk.
Responding to fluctuations in milk prices is another task for the Vander Kooys. While the pricing formula is set by the federal government, the final prices are determined by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It’s a complicated system, and there is little that dairy farmers can do to protect themselves when prices drop. About half the time, the price of milk is actually lower than the cost of producing it. And while Western Washington has the ideal climate for cows, producing milk here can be more expensive than in states like South Dakota and Kansas.
To supplement their income from milk, the Vander Kooys sell some calves and cows for beef. Manure, once regarded as a waste product, “is a resource today,” says Jason. “It’s valuable.” Their neighbor Farm Power buys their manure and turns it into electricity. When the price of milk dives, insurance helps absorb the financial blow.
In spite of their long hours, Eric and Jason both find time to participate in the community.
They joined Skagit County Fire District #2 on McLean Road on the same day 27 years ago. “When I was 18 I told my brothers that I was going to join the department,” Eric remembers. “I had been in the fire hall for 5 minutes when Jason and Jon (now part of Fire District #12 in Bayview) showed up.”
Photo: Shawn Linehan
The two volunteers respond to car accidents and fires and make “aid calls” that may be as simple as helping someone who has fallen or as critical as a heart attack, overdose, or choking.
“In those situations, minutes count,” says Jason. “We arrive 5 to 8 minutes before the ambulance gets there.” Eric makes about 200 aid calls a year, many in the middle of the night. Jason averages about 100.
Jason is also a commissioner of Skagit County Dike District 1, which protects eight miles along the west side of the Skagit River from Avon Allen Road to the North Fork Bridge on Best Road.
“Growing up here, river flooding was always a big concern,” says Jason. “If a flood happened, where would we put our cows, our equipment? It would pretty much destroy us. Keeping the water on the other side and keeping this side dry—I can handle that pressure.”
The many hours the Vander Kooys log off the farm have a real on-farm benefit.
“We may spill manure on the road or make mistakes once in a while,” says Jason. “People are more forgiving when you are part of the community.”
Story by Anne Basye: info@skagitonians.org