Cinco Frijoles Ranch

10/14/2026

I learned passion flower grows down here, but it's so hard to choose which one I want to grow for some tea and fruit.

10/10/2026

We will be at the Alice Farmers Market, tomorrow, 10/10/2026. Here is our meat list. We will also have pies, cookies, pickled quail eggs, and more.

10/06/2026

Top 10 Things Consumers Should Know About Small Dairy Producers

1. “Small” does not mean unprofessional.
Small dairy producers follow milk-quality rules, maintain equipment, manage animal health, keep records and work with veterinarians, nutritionists, milk inspectors and processors. Herd size does not determine knowledge or dedication.

2. We know our cows as individuals.
We recognize their personalities, habits, family lines and health histories. We notice when one stands differently, eats less or simply does not look like herself. Individual attention is one of the greatest strengths of a small herd.

3. Most of us are not getting rich.
The price consumers pay at the store is not the price farmers receive. From our milk checks come hauling, marketing deductions, feed, fuel, labor, veterinary bills, utilities, repairs, insurance and loan payments. Some months, very little remains.

4. We usually cannot set our own price.
Most dairy farmers are price-takers. We sell a perishable product into a system largely controlled by processors, cooperatives, federal pricing formulas and regional market conditions. We cannot simply hold our milk until the price improves.

5. Losing a cow is personal.
Livestock farming includes difficult decisions, including knowing when an animal is suffering and cannot recover. Ending that suffering is sometimes the final act of responsible care—but that does not make it painless for the farmer.

6. Small dairies support entire rural communities.
We purchase feed, seed, fuel, equipment, veterinary services, fencing, parts and supplies locally. When a dairy closes, the loss reaches far beyond one family and one empty barn.

7. We do more with less.
Many small producers milk cows, raise calves, grow crops, repair equipment, manage paperwork, treat sick animals and handle emergencies ourselves. There may be no separate calf crew, maintenance department or night shift. We are all of them.

8. Weather affects everything.
Heat lowers milk production and fertility. Drought reduces pasture and increases feed costs. Mud damages fields and creates health challenges. Storms interrupt power and transportation. Farming is a business conducted alongside nature—not in control of it.

9. Supporting small dairies requires more than kind words.
Buy local dairy products when you can. Ask stores where their milk comes from. Visit farms. Share farmers’ stories. Question policies that reward endless expansion while established family farms disappear.

10. We keep going because this life matters to us.
Small dairy producers are not clinging to the past. We are preserving animal husbandry, practical knowledge, local food production, rural economies and opportunities for the next generation. We do not expect to be protected from every hardship—but we do deserve a fair chance to survive.

Small dairies are more than numbers on an agricultural report. They are families, animals, livelihoods, communities and generations of knowledge.

Once those barns go quiet, we cannot assume they will ever milk cows again.

10/06/2026

This!

10/01/2026

We love this market. Come join us!

Wanna join the fun? 🥳 Email: [email protected]

09/29/2026

Our vicious Pitbull has put my cat in a coma, a milk coma. She has never had puppies, but decided the cat would be a good baby. My cat is now 4 month old and it doesn't look like this will end anytime soon. 🤣🙄

09/28/2026

This has happened to several friends. DO NOT pay for something that you don't lay eyes on first.

SCAM ALERT SUNDAY

Unfortunately, we have a new scam making the rounds in Adams County, and this time, scammers are targeting our farmers, ranchers and agricultural community.

This is a sophisticated “man-in-the-middle” fraud scheme targeting agricultural producers, brokers and people purchasing hay through online marketplaces.

Here’s how the scam works:

1. A scammer orders hay from a legitimate farmer using a stolen credit card or compromised bank account.

2. At the same time, the scammer posts a fake ad for that same hay at a below-market price on Facebook Marketplace.

3. An unsuspecting buyer responds to the ad and pays the scammer, often through a payment app such as Zelle.

4. The scammer gives the buyer’s address to the farmer, who delivers the hay.

5. Everyone thinks the transaction is complete — until the farmer’s original payment is reversed or flagged as fraudulent.

The scammer disappears with the money, and the farmer is left with the loss.

Important: The person who receives the hay is often an innocent party. They purchased the hay in good faith and may have no idea they were unknowingly involved in a scam.

Protect yourself:

• Be cautious when dealing with unfamiliar or out-of-town buyers.

• Verify who is actually behind a payment before accepting bank transfers, checks or mobile payment apps.

• Consider requiring new customers to use a reputable escrow service or an identity-verified payment or invoicing platform.

• Be suspicious of unusual purchasing arrangements, especially when the person paying for an order is different from the person receiving it.

If you believe you’ve been scammed: Preserve all communications, advertisements, payment records, invoices and other documentation, and report the incident to law enforcement.

Please share this information with the farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers in your life. Awareness can help prevent someone from becoming the next victim.

09/28/2026

We are losing way too many small farms because the conglomerates can out spend us. They tend to get tax forgiveness and big discounts on feed and necessary supplies. Once the small farmers and ranchers are extinct, the prices will go up tremendously. Control the food, control the population.

PLEASE BUY LOCAL!

$16 milk is $16 milk, right?

On the milk check, sure.

On the farm? Not even close.

Imagine two dairies are both paid $16 per hundredweight.

One milks 60 cows.

The other milks 6,000.

The price printed on the check may be the same, but the economics behind that number are radically different.

Both farms need equipment. Both need facilities. Both have repairs, utilities, insurance, veterinary expenses, labor, feed, hauling and countless other costs.

But the larger operation has thousands of cows and millions more pounds of milk across which to spread many of those costs.

A $10,000 expense divided across the production of 60 cows hits very differently than that same expense divided across the production of 6,000.

Scale can also affect purchasing power. Feed, supplies, equipment, hauling arrangements, financing and other costs may not be available on identical terms to every producer.

And here's the part we don't talk about enough:

A milk price can exist that allows a large operation to keep functioning while a smaller operation receiving that same price is bleeding to death.

That's why saying, “Everybody gets the same milk price,” doesn't answer the question of whether the system is economically sustainable for farms of different sizes.

The relevant question isn't simply:

What is the milk price?

It's:

What does it cost each farm to produce that hundredweight of milk, and what's left after everyone else gets paid?

Because the bills don't care what the milk price was.

And neither does the bank.

If we're serious about understanding why small dairies disappear while milk production becomes concentrated on fewer and larger farms, we have to look beyond the number printed on the milk check.

$16 milk may be $16 milk.

But $16 milk does not create the same financial reality on every dairy farm.

09/28/2026

Okay, consumers. Let’s try a little experiment. 😂

These are the SAME gallon of milk.

Same words.
Same product.
Same Grade A milk.

Only the picture changed.

One shows cows being milked on a large rotary.

The other shows cows grazing on green grass with a barn in the background.

Now be honest:

Which gallon are you instinctively reaching for?

There is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with a rotary parlor. It is an efficient way to milk a lot of cows.

But there’s a reason dairy marketing so often shows you the OTHER picture.

Green grass.
Cows grazing.
Red barns.
Rolling countryside.

Those images communicate something to consumers: tradition, farming, wholesomeness, connection to the land.

And here is the question I want people to think about:

If the image of the small, traditional dairy farm helps sell the product, what happens when we allow those farms to disappear?

Because you cannot build an entire marketing identity around the image of a way of farming while simultaneously treating the farms that still look like that as economically expendable.

Look at the two jugs again.

Which one would you buy?

And more importantly…

WHY?