By Julie Murphree, Arizona Farm Bureau Outreach Director: Three years ago, we might never have imagined we’d have well over 100 Arizona Farm and Ranch families profiled on The Voice. And, some of those are profiles of our dairy farm families. 

In Arizona, our dairies produce some of the finest dairy products around and it’s local. Arizona dairies always place in the top three states in terms of quality dairy production. While 96% of all Arizona homes have milk in the fridge, it means we need not worry about staying well stocked since our Arizona family dairy farms have nearly 200,000 milk cows to keep us well supplied with this local diary product.

February 2017 average milk production of our Arizona milk cows averaged 2,060 pounds or 8.55 gallons of milk per cow per day, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistical Services (NASS).

From our list of farm and ranch family profiles, we have several dairy farmers. And, we want you to meet them right here!

  1. The Gladden Family (Dairy and row crops)
  2. Danzeisen Family (Dairy)
  3. Kerr Family (dairy)
  4. Caballero Family (dairy)
  5. Donald Van Hofwegen Family (dairy)

Finally, Arizona’s dairy industry is the second leading agriculture commodity in our state bringing in nearly $800 million to Arizona last year, according to the USDA’s NASS. And, this is just in dairy product revenue. This doesn’t count labor and suppliers to the industry. Dairy matters in our state, to the tune of millions in revenue.

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