Agri-tourism
I looked up the word agritourism from farm/flavorcom and found it simply stated:
… Agritourism is where agriculture and tourism meet to provide you with an amazing educational experience, whether it be a tour of a farm or ranch, a festival or cheese-making class. Farmers, ranchers and wineries (and the like) turn their land into a destination and open their doors to the public in order to teach more about what they do.
While on the REALOregon session this last week, we got to learn about Agritourism and the idea of using the farm as a destination for folks who are looking for trips and vacations to learn more about the area, make memories and take pictures. We stopped at a small dairy farm in Canby that has made agritourism a staple of their small acreage operation.
TMK Creamery tells the story:
Our Story
Caring for dairy cattle is a full time job! We love our cow-lebrities, and are up to feed at sunrise and even ready to help a cow give birth at midnight, when needed. We provide “round the clock” care for our cows.
Our love for dairy cows has been historically rooted in our family since the time our ancestors came to the United States and established several dairy farms here in the Northwest. TMK Farm began a registered dairy program around 1987 when Todd Koch bought his first Holstein heifer. By 1997 our milking cow herd grew to the point of establishing our own dairy facility and, through a tremendous family effort, we built a dairy in Canby, Oregon. Over the years TMK Farm has established an aggressive breeding program to institute excellent dairy genetics.
Todd and his youngest brother Marc have conscientiously bred for reliable and extreme dairy cows that are comfortable both in the show ring and on the farm. Our family has enjoyed showing Holstein and Jersey cattle through the years and is devoted to promoting the dairy industry by participating in several local, state, and national events.
TMK Farm is a small, family farm that has enjoyed the privilege of dairying and continues diligently breeding for exceptional dairy genetics. The “dairy cow” has provided us the opportunity to cultivate some great friendships and exciting dairy genetics.
It all starts on the farm.
For years, the family took their best animals to shows and fairs to promote their cattle and to show off their business to people in the dairy sector and to those who were not able to farm on their own. So far, the story doesn’t sound different than any other dairy experience. How the Koch family has taken promotion of their business through unusual channels is remarkable. The family had been selling the milk to a local creamery, and with the small herd that they were running, had trouble making a profit since costs would be higher than the price they were getting for the milk. They family began showing their cow-lebrities off to visitors to the farm. They encouraged questions and pictures for an up close and personal experience. And they began making boutique cheese from the milk the cows produced instead of shipping it off.
Soon a very small cheese plant was built with glass walls so that visitors could see the process from a couple of feet away while enjoying a snack at the cafe. Then the family took the idea to a very specialized niche , and came up with ‘single cow cheese.’ A visitor could not only see the exact animal in the barn that produced the milk, but see the process to turn the milk to cheese, and could purchase a small cube of the prized product. With the purchase, the visitor could have picture taken with them, their cheese and the cow that produced the raw product. It brings the farm experience from just hearing about the work, to being a part of the whole.
Now the farm specializes in the first in the world, ‘one cow cheese’.
The farm is only open on Saturdays from 10 til 3 with special tours available to schedule and struggle to keep up with the business. A very good problem to have for this small scale farm.
Thank you so much for supporting our stories. We appreciate every reader we have and love it when you spread the word about SchmidlinAngusFarms, fill out the FOLLOW information so you get each story right to your email each day and/or leave comments about the stories. I would also like to take a moment to thank those who click on the icon to do shopping with the affiliate, your clicks give me credit for directing people to their site (clicking on the affiliate icon does not make you purchase, only gets you the their site) and sometimes I get a small commission from your purchases if you do shop, without a cost to you! As always, Prime and special codes work with the icon and you do not have to purchase any item that I promote. Please consider using my link when you do your cyber shopping. Thank you for your support
I am so pleased to announce that MaryJane Nordgren has made her new book available to the public! Click here for your copy of Nandria’s war.
I love the single cow cheese. We used to do that with sheep on shearing day where hand-spinners could purchase a fleece right as it came off the sheep of their choice – missed the picture idea, though.
Agritourism works when the farmer is able to connect to the public. This idea has a very narrow niche, a future post will show the opposite side of agritourism.