07/09/2026
Celebrating 3 years today!
Three years ago I started a journey with the help and support of my husband and his grandparents. One that I never imagined for myself or my family. Sure, having a family milk cow was a dream but I typically only read about in the books and thought to myself how cool it had to be. (Secretly- they never imagined I would stick to it.)
July 8th 2023 we made a 7 hour round trip and brought home our first two registered A2/A2 Jersey pair. A momma and her calf. July 9th, I started hand milking and by July 15th I had a two inflation milk machine that milked the back two quarters while I continued hand milking the front two. From there we grew very slowly and we still continue to grow slowly.
We’ve overcome so many challenges and adapted our lifestyle to the changes having dairy cows brought. Some days I’ve wanted to throw my hands up and walk away and sell it all. But my girls deserve better than that. I’ve cried and laughed, kicked dirt and buckets, celebrated wins and been excited for growth and new babies, frustrated, mad and just down right tired…
I’ve been kicked, stepped on and loved on by my girls.
They’ve peed, pooped and kicked the bucket of milk all over me. They have also provided a good little side income for us. They are the Belles that keep everything else running.
Today marks 1096 straight days of milking (because we do not calf share) and the longest break I have taken was to have our fourth baby.
We started out milking twice a day and since February of 2025 we went down to once a day.
Starting out we had one cow giving just less than a gallon of milk a day and so far our record has been 11 gallons a day with three cows in milk. Presently, only two cows are in milk giving 7.5 gallons a day.
The milk became so abundant that we started our legal Herdshare program in August of 2023. We had no idea we would find a tribe of people that have become “our people”. Our members have become loyal and faithful friends that we cherish and many we consider family.
Our members were 90% of what supported us, checked on us, blessed us with prayer, baby items, gifts and brought food for weeks- through a pregnancy and new baby arrival. We are so blessed with each of them. Several members are still with us who were there on day one. Many days, our members alone are what keeps us moving because I promise you… some days I just don’t want to.
I’ll leave some then and now photos in the comments.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us this far and continue to show up. We couldn’t do it without you. I hope we have many more years ahead! Jand J Farms Alex Stark Shawna Stark
Big thanks to Broussard Farms Julie Mouch Broussard for being such a wonderful friend and mentor and showing up to help on multiple occasions!
And our neighbors Peggy and Jim for showing up to help me with a generator and my girls when Alex couldn’t be here.
