‘It’s not about us, it’s about the cows’

By Sherry Bunting, Farmshine, December 20, 2024

RONKS, Pa. – What better place to be on a chilly evening 12 days before Christmas than in a stable with cows as a family goes about their evening milking and feeding? How fitting to remind the public not just about where their milk comes from, but also the way the Lord Jesus entered this world as a baby, wrapped in a manger, in a stable, with cattle lowing His lullaby.

The second annual Christmas with the Cows at the Melvin Stoltzfoos farm was a big hit, drawing double the attendance of 380 people from six states to the 50-cow dairy in Ronks, Pennsylvania.

While many visitors came from all around Lancaster and nearby counties, many also came from other parts of the state as well as New Jersey; Long Island, New York; a few from Delaware and Maine; and an over-the-road trucker brought his family from Houston, Texas after seeing the signs.

Local attendees like Bridgette Zell of Nottingham said they saw the event posted on Facebook. She brought her two young boys to see what it was all about. Bridgette had the quote of the night as she stopped by the 97 Milk table, where GN Hursh of Ephrata and Nelson Martin of Robesonia were the volunteers handing out stickers, 6×6 cards, small magnets, and other informative goodies.

“I get so tired of people saying milk is not for humans,” she said. “When I was growing up, if any of us didn’t feel well or had something wrong, my mother would tell us: ‘Drink a glass of milk see how you feel!’”

One of her boys, Dylan, was thrilled to pet his first cow. He quickly learned the Jerseys were more curious to bring their noses right up to his hand. “This one must give chocolate milk!” he said about the brown cows, flashing a great big smile.

“Well, they are more curious than their black and white herd mates,” I responded while capturing his photo, “and their milk is richer in fat and protein, but we still have to add the chocolate.”

The whole event is a leisurely walk around the barn during chore time, culminating at a table with whole milk, chocolate milk and homemade Christmas cookies.

This was not a fancy event, but rather a time to simply take in the serenity while the Stoltzfoos family — from the littles on up — shared the blessing of their stable routines with the public.

“People ask me what do we get out of it? It’s really just seeing people have fun. Seeing people have fun with the cows is what we get out of it. Everyone I talked to was happy and in a good mood. People were tickled to have the opportunity to just be in a barn,” says Melvin.

And along the way, they learn something too. Upon entering, visitors are given a paper with fun facts about Agriculture and the nutrition of delicious whole milk, along with a welcome note with facts about the farm — names of the draft horses, facts about Holsteins and Jerseys in the herd, fun facts about cows and what they eat. Visitors also receive a thank you card with the Christmas story as told in Luke 2:11-16 and the Reason for the season as told in John 3:16-17.

Melvin and his family truly love doing this. They are already thinking about next year’s Christmas with the Cows, marked on the calendar for Dec. 12, 2025.

Feeling blessed to be dairying, Melvin and his family want to share this gift with others — the quiet rhythms of milkers pulsating and cows munching, the soft sounds of their lowing, the nickers from the horse stalls, the rustling of calves at feeding time, the sight of clean, contented, cows in their stalls, placidly chewing their cuds as the family moves the milkers down the row, amid casual conversations answering any questions the visitors may have.

“It’s not about us,” says Melvin. “It’s about the cows. It’s about people having the opportunity to see the cows.”

The largest crowd came early, lined up right at the start of the evening milking at 4:30 p.m. Visitors continued to flow in steadily right up until the advertised ending time of 7:30 p.m. The family rented portable toilets and tower lights, placed outside. They cleaned and emptied the loafing pen to make way for the 97 Milk table and refreshments.

Half a dozen people from Sensenig’s Feed Mill in New Holland volunteered their time too. Nancy Sensenig manned the registration table, drawing people in with her ready smile and outgoing nature, while dairy nutritionists Kyle Sensenig, Steve Morris and Justin Brenneman answered questions about dairy cows and what they eat.

Other volunteers guided traffic to parking, and Mike Sensenig was encourager in chief – walking around all smiles throughout the evening, talking with visitors.

“Melvin does a really good job here, and we support this because it’s grassroots,” says Kyle. “We like to get behind grassroots efforts that are an outreach to our community and consumers.”

He observed a few repeat families who came out last year, but mostly, he shares: “We saw a lot of new faces tonight.”

When asked what tough questions he may have encountered, he says it was really a relaxed evening, people were here out of genuine curiosity to experience something new that dairy farmers see and do every day.

He did get questions about grass-fed dairies and took the opportunity to broaden that discussion to recognize not all feeding systems are the same. He shared that these cows were getting grasses in their feedstuffs, and that cows are superheroes, able to utilize a wide variety of feedstuffs to make nutrient dense milk.

“The important thing is we want to have healthy and content cows, and that’s really what drives every dairy farmer,” he relates.

As I walked through with a group of visitors from southern Lancaster and Chester counties, the conversation turned to A2 milk. Melvin talked about his own progress toward a herd now 75% A2 through the bulls he selects for breeding. In his quiet manner, he demonstrated the reassuring message about how dairy farmers are always looking to improve and put their best quality forward.

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