Page 8 - Flathead Beacon // 11.27.13

FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS
NOVEMBER 27, 2013 | 7

Serving Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner ALL DAY
Joe Brenneman describes the process of milking his dairy cows from the milking room at his farm east
of Kalispell. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
FREE

COFFEE
did it for 30 years.”
ery, owned by the Hedstroms, who built
Milk prices dropped 50 percent in
their own onsite processing plant after
with Any 2009 after hitting an all-time high in the Darigold merger.
2007 and notching the second-highest Today, Kalispell Kreamery’s milk
Food Purchase
prices on record in 2008.
travels about 30 feet from cow to proces-
Expires 12.6.13
“I was selling milk for the same sor, jug to truck, all within the same day,
price my dad was selling milk for in the before it’s shipped to fridges in the Flat-
(406) 257-7375
‘70s, back when I was in high school,” head.
Open at Brenneman said.
“If we hadn’t started our own plant
6 am daily
1390 US Hwy 2 in Evergreen
Prices have since rebounded, but we would be out of business, too,” Mar-
Montana’s dairy industry, which was ilyn Hedstrom said. “When Country
Located on the corner of Hwy 2 & Hwy 35 in front of Shopko & next to Snappy Sport Senter
already becoming a rare breed, took Classic sold out to Darigold we could

another hit when the Country Classic read the handwriting on the wall. We
cooperative in Gallatin County merged realized we either had to bottle our own
with Darigold, a large co-op based in Se- milk or get out of the business.”
Buying &
attle.
When the Hedstroms began dairy-
Brenneman reached a ive-year ing 35 years ago they bottled raw milk
agreement that kept freight rates steady, produced by their 20 cows in glass bot-
but the co-op was traveling 75 miles tles and sold directly to consumers, but Selling
from the nearest dairy in St. Ignatius to quit when state laws changed. Now they

pick up Brenneman’s milk.
have 150 cows in West Valley.
“They were spending a lot of mon- They’re also making other products
ey and going 150 miles out of their such as yogurt and butter, and now have
way to pick up just a little bit of milk,” 11 employees.
Brenneman said. “The closing of the lo- But Marilyn said it was the involve- GOLD & SILVER
cal plants is a huge deal.”
ment of her daughter and son-in-law,
He still has a passel of steers and Mary and Jared Tuck, that kept the farm
COINS • JEWELRY • BULLION
heifers to unload, but the farm isn’t pro- solvent after adding the processing facil-
ducing milk for the irst time since 1964, ity.
when his father, Cliford Brenneman, “We’ve been milking cows since Your trusted bullion specialists since 1991!
began dairy farming.
1978,” Marilyn said. “We know cows,
“I moved here in ’55 and raised seven but we didn’t know the processing side.
children,” Cliford Brenneman said. “It’s Mary and Jared saved us.”
a tough business, but it kept the food on “I won’t say it has been an uphill
our table. It was good to us, but it was battle but it has been an adventure,” she

time.”
added.
Call 752-2646
A dairy is a diicult business to get Brenneman, a former county com-
of the ground, and it’s even more chal- missioner, said he’ll likely keep farming
lenging to keep running. Milking begins on his property – he’s always grown his 237 Main Street,
at 2:30 a.m. every day.
own feed – but is ready for a break from
“The cows have to be milked,” the dairy farming.
Kalispell, MT
younger Brenneman said. “You can’t de- Still, the rhythm of a working dairy

cide it’s too cold out. The cows have to be farm keeps its tempo even after the cows
milked twice a day every day.”
are gone, and Brenneman still rises be-
According to data from the Montana fore dawn, his biological alarm clock re-
Department of Livestock, Montana was minding him that the cows have to be
home to 10,400 dairy farmers in 1965. By milked.
2007, only 390 dairy farmers remained “I’ll miss it. But it was time,” he said.
in the state – a 96 percent reduction.
“They say you get big or you get out. I
With the closure of Brenneman’s never did get big, so I got out.”
www.coinscarats.com

dairy, the only remaining dairy farm in [email protected]
the Flathead Valley is Kalispell Kream-