04/05/2026
This is a long one…
I had the privilege of speaking at the Annual Women In Ag Conference in Brownfield, TX this week. And let me tell you…standing in a room with women of all ages, from all backgrounds, with the passion for agriculture connecting us all… was one of the most powerful things I have ever witnessed. It was such an honor, and I encourage every woman with an interest in ag to attend next year. It was beautiful, fun, and I left with a full cup!
I debated whether I should post my speech here or not. It’s deeply personal and I have yet to make it through without choking up a bit. But, I figured, if anyone wanted to take the time to read about my story, maybe it will help inspire even just one who wasn’t born into this ag life, to pursue it anyways. So here we go…
When I read the poster for this conference, I chuckled to myself a bit. “We can do it, Whatever “IT” is.” It reminded me of so many times I asked myself:
What is “it”?
What am I meant to do?
I know there are many young women out there who are probably asking themselves the same thing. But that’s what makes you so powerful, you CAN do it, whatever IT is!
Just a little bit about me: my name is Jacy Vaughn. I run Like Wildflowers Homestead a raw milk dairy, and private membership in Lamesa, TX, where I milk both cows and goats. I’m one of only 4 dairies in the state of Texas that is certified and listed with the Raw Milk Institute. My membership is comprised of people from all across West Texas, from Midland to Snyder to Lubbock to Seminole and beyond.
If you follow me on social media, you’re probably aware of the ongoing issues that I have had with the state of Texas.
And I promise—I’ll get there.
But before you can understand that part of my story…
you have to understand the path that led me there.
Because the woman standing in front of you today…
is not the same woman I was even a year ago.
I’m a first-generation farmer. I wasn’t born into the ag life, and I sure didn’t inherit it. There wasn’t ever a single choice to do what I do. I just knew that I grew up loving animals, and I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian.
So I did what I thought would set me up best for that journey: I volunteered at the local vet clinic before I was old enough to get a job. When I did turn 15, they hired me properly, and I worked as a Vet Tech on and off all throughout my high school and college career.
*Spoiler alert: there wasn’t much of a college career*.
While I loved the actual work, there was just something always telling me this isn’t quite right.
And then life shifted.
I became a mom.
I joke all the time that I would make the world’s worst dairy cow…I couldn’t feed my daughter on my own, and as a new mom, that is earth-shattering.
Now… I was always surrounded by animals. I grew up riding horses. I got my first chickens in high school. So when I told my husband I wanted to get some goats and try raw milk, it wasn’t anything new.
Then she thrived.
And just like that… something that had never even been on my radar before—
became deeply personal.
At that point, I still didn’t know what “it” was.
But I had goats… and I had milk.
A lot of milk.
So I started making soap. That was a LOT of fun for a little while. Let me tell you, I would much rather buy them from someone else than make them on my own. So I quickly knew that that wasn’t “it”.
But now I’m showing these goats, and now I have even more milk. So I tried a pet consumption license. And it helped, but I was still searching. During this time, I had so many people reaching out asking if I would sell the milk for themselves to drink, and I would have to tell them that Texas says no. This is where my research really began, and I didn’t even realize it at the time.
And when I had enough people reaching out to me, I decided I would give herdshares a try.
It was right about this time that I got a call from a friend of mine. They have this cow that is more work than she’s worth. They offered her to me free and clear, and even though all the logic was telling me, “Don’t do it, Jacy,”….
I did it anyways.
And that cow made me regret that decision twice a day, every single day. She kicked, she fought, she dumped milk into the mud. But those are the kinds of animals that can make the biggest difference in your life. They can help you answer the question: Is this really something that I want to be doing? They can also show you exactly how bad it can really be, so that you can appreciate everything good after her.
I learned more from that cow in one year than a good cow could’ve taught me in 5. She taught me patience.
She taught me problem-solving.
She taught me how to produce a clean, quality product… even when everything was working against me.
But the demand was high, so I brought in another cow. I got to pick this one! I wanted a Brown Swiss, and I came across her one day out of the blue, not even looking. And she was perfect. Bringing her in really solidified my passion and started a new one for the Brown Swiss breed. She was an absolute dream, and she still is to this day.
So did I finally find “it”?
I thought so.
So I dug in, I researched.
I got better.
I upgraded facilities piece by piece.
I sold off all the rest of my mixed herd, (including the demon cow) and I worked on growing my Brown Swiss herd one cow at a time.
And with all the growth came the chaos.
A growing business.
A growing family with a little boy on the way.
And a growing waitlist that never stopped.
But I was always reminded that I was just a “hobby farm”.
I won’t bore you with the details of herdshares, many of you probably already know how that works. But…it just didn’t work. I wasn’t happy with the model. My members weren’t always happy with it, so I had to pivot…yet again.
Through all this time, I have heard about Private Memberships. Many people recommended against them, solely because they feared the state’s reach. But again, I researched, dug in, and I decided it was worth it. This way both my members and I can get what we need without undue burden on either of us. I thought I did absolutely everything right.
I thought I finally found “IT”!
Then everything I had built was challenged.
It’s important to know that I come from a very loud, very strong willed family of women. And THAT I did inherit!
When we feel something is wrong, we don’t stay quiet. And I believed this was absolutely wrong! The person I thought would protect me should this ever happen, turned out to be a fraud. It’s easy to sell it, it’s not always so easy to stand up for it.
So I started grasping for others, searching, and hoping that somebody, anybody, would be able to help me. This wasn’t about thinking I might lose, this was solely about the fact that I was on my own.
Or so I thought.
Right before I was scheduled to go to Austin for the first time, I posted a video on my social media asking for help.
And the people showed up.
Thousands of them.
And life started moving fast.
The night that I was scheduled to leave, a couple of my members asked me if I could meet them, and it turns out, they run a nonprofit organization called the American Center for Constitutional Enforcement…an organization that helps with government overreach.
And if that isn’t God, I don’t know what it is.
Now, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but I sure knew that it wasn’t politics.
After I had my daughter, I knew that I wanted a slower life. I wanted to milk my goats, raise my babies, and live a meaningful life. Never in my life would I have guessed that that IS a political statement - to break out of the never-ending, turning wheel that is Corporate America. When you learn to do and provide for yourself, your family, and your community, you’re choosing to go directly against the grain.
But now I see.
That anything worth having is worth fighting for.
This was never just about milk.
This was about the world I leave my children, my community, and the right to personal liberties.
When we allow tiny little freedoms to be chipped away one at a time, you’ll soon step back and realize that you lost a whole half of the picture.
Farmers make up less than 2% of the population. And we’re losing about 63 farms every single day. I’m sure the reason varies greatly, but when you actually talk to the people, you realize that it wasn’t because they wanted to. They’re usually pushed out, priced out, or they physically and mentally can’t anymore.
Not only do I refuse to be part of that statistic, I will fight for everyone else that is nearing that edge too.
So that’s what I did. And boy did I realize quickly how many people I was actually fighting for.
I asked myself every single day,
“Who am I?”
“Why do I deserve the donations, the support on social media, the rallying of a community behind me? Who am I to be speaking to a group of women about my story today?”
There’s always been this little voice in the back of my mind saying - You’re not big enough. You’re not a real farm. You’re not a real farmer. This is just a hobby.
I recently found out that has a name:
Imposter syndrome - a psychological pattern where high-achieving individuals doubt their accomplishments and harbor a persistent, internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud," despite evidence of their competence.
Talk about a kick to the gut…Have I been doing this to myself my whole life? Turns out yes, yes, I have. And the fact that there’s a name for it makes me believe that there’s probably somebody here who is dealing with the same thing today. It made me take a step back, look at all the things that I have accomplished in my life. No matter how many steppingstones it took to get here, I still did “it!”
I started with a couple of goats to feed my daughter, to milking a cow in a hand-me-down stanchion and no roof over my head, to running a business that serves hundreds of families across West Texas and a waitlist that doesn’t stop.
I will tell you that I was in Austin earlier this week, not for the first or second time, but for the third time, standing up in court. In front of a judge, two lawyers, and an organization that challenges the courts.
The first time I was there, I could barely speak…I couldn’t hear myself over the sound of my own heartbeat.
But this time, I took the stand for the first time, and I spoke my truth - clearly, confidently, without pause.
And while we haven’t officially had a ruling on this hearing yet - I proved to myself that I am capable of so much more than I ever gave myself credit for.
You don’t have to see the whole path to start walking it, you just have to take the next step, one after another.
And at the end of the day, we are capable of doing things we never could have imagined. And you ARE deserving of it.
So if you take anything from today—
Let it be this:
• Ready isn’t a time, it’s a decision. Just start.
• Learn as you go
• Trust your gut always
• Stand up for what you believe
• And be loud when it matters
Because the truth is…
We CAN do it.
No matter what “IT” is.
