Gene just shakes his head as he remembers the monumental effort it took to get Hartzler Family Dairy off the ground. " No one had started a dairy in Ohio in almost 30 years. It was uphill all the way," he says. And although encouraged by recent success, he knows they have not reached a plateau. "Hey, like all farmers, we get 1960s prices for our products, but pay 1990s prices for our equipment and supplies. And like all businesses, we somehow have to continue to figure out how to cultivate healthy growth, if we are going to survive," he adds.
But Gene views and understands the entire experience through his faith. "The sheer fact that any of this has happened at all is because we dedicated the whole thing to God when we started," he says while glancing at a watch. He instinctively smiles...knowing that nothing else profitable will happen at his dairy today unless he begins faithfully moving towards the parlor to prepare for the afternoon milking. It's time to go get the cows...again.
DID YOU KNOW?
The average cow can provide enough milk for 30 people to have three glasses a day.
Gene just shakes his head as he remembers the monumental effort it took to get Hartzler Family Dairy off the ground. " No one had started a dairy in Ohio in almost 30 years. It was uphill all the way," he says. And although encouraged by recent success, he knows they have not reached a plateau. "Hey, like all farmers, we get 1960s prices for our products, but pay 1990s prices for our equipment and supplies. And like all businesses, we somehow have to continue to figure out how to cultivate healthy growth, if we are going to survive," he adds.
