Colorado dairywoman energizes dairy organization
Kraft2
Fourth-generation dairy farmer Mary Kraft who built Quail Ridge Dairy from the ground up near Fort Morgan was just re-elected Dairy Management Inc. board vice chair, an organization overseeing their nationwide marketing plan. Kraft resides in rural northeast Colorado with her husband Chris, son Stratton and daughter Jordan.
“While each state and region can make unique adaptations to the program, DMI’s template helps dairy farmers’ funds reach as far as possible by each area not re-creating the wheel,” Mary Kraft said. She was first elected DMI vice chair in November 2023. She is also board chair for DairyMAX conducting marketing and educating through the checkoff program funded by dairy farmers from Montana to Texas. DairyMAX works with programs providing school milk to help children reach their full potential; building body and brain through dairy products in breakfast, lunch and weekend programs. They also focus on sustainability and animal well-being programs.
Through her worldwide travels, Kraft, who also serves as a Dairy Ambassador in the Global Dairy Platform, attended meetings in Rome, Italy, at the Food and Agriculture Organization (which feeds intel to the United Nations) to talk about the value of nutrient dense milk, nutrients to feed the soil from animal agriculture and community and economic value driven by animal agriculture.
“I was also just in Paris, France, at the International Dairy Federation meetings, Nourish Conference and Global Dairy Platform meetings, representing U.S. dairy and dairy world-wide,” Kraft said of her October journeys.
HIGH TECH DAIRY
Back home on the ranch, their dairies are intentionally very focused.
“Our cows all wear a little transponder around their neck (the Blue Tooth Fit Bit) and when we walk in, they transmit how they’re feeling. We can see what’s going on with their milk delivery. It’s an algorithm specific to each cow, and I know how much milking each cow normally makes. With the transponder, I can tell pretty quickly in the first couple of hours if they’re not feeling well. Maybe they’re dehydrated, or constipated, and this transponder helps us find out which to look at,” Kraft said.
Then we send humans to look at them — feet, eyeballs, and their tummy — to help them, she said.
“I love the technology and the way it makes people able to do more in the course of the day with higher quality.”
TIME TO MOVE ON
Kraft grew up near Denver, but as the city expanded it grew perilously close to her ancestral dairy in Adams County, so she and her husband Chris started their cattle operation with 125 cows they bought from her uncle, and moved to an antiquated facility in northeast Colorado.
“The barn was rusted out, and to keep it going, we suspended the double three herringbone parlor from the ceiling and started milking in 1988. We remodeled (Badger Creek Farm) many times,” Kraft said.
In 2005, the couple decided to put their dairy management skills to the test, constructing a larger, state-of-the-art facility. So, they built Quail Ridge Dairy a few miles away which contains a ‘double 50’, with 50 stalls on each side of the parlor accommodating 100 cows at a time. Cows only spend about 10 minutes three times a day for milk harvest in the parlor itself, Kraft said. The entire facility was built with flow in mind.
“Everything from cow traffic, to feed trucks, veterinary and breeding crews, sanitation and milk sales was designed for maximized comfort of the animal, and not stopping any tasks — they are all important on a dairy,” Kraft said.
Between the two dairies, they milk 6,500 head, and raise all their replacement heifers.
Quail Ridge Dairy employs 85 people, buys forage from local farmers, purchases commodities like whole cottonseed, brewers grains, canola and flaked corn, and delivers 20-30 baby calves a day. The milk is sold to Dairy Farmers of America, which makes sure the milk (and other farmers’ milk) gets the shortest distance to the processing plant where it is pasteurized, then made into cheese, butter, powder or yogurt depending on the closest processing, Kraft said.
“Most of our milk goes to Leprino Foods, just a few miles away and can be from our cow to your pizza in just nine hours,” she said.
“Mary is a very focused and intentional dairy checkoff board member. She takes this role very seriously and when you see her at a meeting, she is taking in 100% of that meeting. She’s there to get the best out of it for the whole industry and that’s one of the things I really appreciate about her,” said Marilyn Hershey, a Pennsylvania dairy farmer who serves as chair of Dairy Management Inc., adding, “She’s a pleasure to work with.”
Kraft’s son, Stratton is a partner in the dairy, managing the crops, machinery and people. Mary Kraft manages the veterinary work, human resource and financial aspects. Chris manages the herd and feed procurement. Daughter Jordan is chief ag innovations officer at Colorado State University’s ‘SPUR’ campus, helping budding ag innovators, inventors and agencies come together to focus on solving food problems and opportunities. (CSU’s ‘SPUR’ provides free educational programs to educational groups — school groups, after-school programs, summer camps through hands-on sessions with veterinary experts and others.)
Mary and Chris graduated from Colorado State University. Mary earned a degree in technical journalism with a special certificate in animal reproduction. She also has a master’s in business administration. Chris graduated with an animal sciences degree. They are both alumni of the Colorado Agricultural Leadership Program.
Mary parents were 4-H leaders and dedicated to community service. Chris’s parents raised him in rural South Africa on mission farms while they served as missionaries who supported local communities.
“With these backgrounds,” Mary said… “We feel compelled to share what leadership abilities we have learned or been blessed with.”
A few years ago, Mary spoke frequently to young Colorado farmers at presentations and she won the National Young Farmers Spokesperson for Agriculture Award.
“I tell young farmers, if you want to keep the farm, you must get off of the farm — you have to see how other farms and governments operate.”
