Stop. Collaborate. Listen.

By Brianna Gwirtz, OCJ field reporter

Did I get your attention? These three words — immortalized by rapper Vanilla Ice — carry more weight than just a nostalgic throwback. In agriculture, I’ve seen them come to life in powerful ways this fall.

Stop

It’s fall, and let’s be honest, farmers rarely stop for anything. Harvest season feels like a race against time, with every minute accounted for. Yet, sometimes, life forces us to pause.

Take what happened at Comp Dairy in Dorset, Ohio, in late September. A devastating fire destroyed the farm’s milking parlor, leaving the owners in crisis. Cows still needed to be milked and required care. That’s when the local ag community stepped up in a big way. Farmers, truckers—everyone—came together to relocate the cows and keep operations afloat.

I spoke with Kenny Rufener from Congress Lake Farms and Dustin Royer from Royer Farms in Mogadore recently. Both farms opened their doors to cows from Comp Dairy.… Continue reading