It’s a question every returning farm kid has to ask themselves and their families: If I return to the farm, how can I grow the business? For fourth-generation dairy farmer Melissa Hildebrand-Reed, that answer came in the form of a quote from a fellow Kansas dairyman.
“I’m stealing a quote from Bob Seiler, who said, ‘In the dairy world, you either get big or you get weird,’” she says. In other words, after decades of producing quality milk, it was time for Hildebrand Farms Dairy of Junction City, Kan., to set itself apart from the herd.
The Hildebrand dairy legacy began with Swiss immigrant Arnold Hildebrand and his bride, Rose. In 1930, they started the dairy with three cows and a permit to sell milk in nearby Junction City.
Over the next 95 years, three generations of Hildebrands each would leave their mark on the business, all the while expanding the herd of Holsteins and producing quality milk. Today, Hildebrand-Reed, as well as her cousin Tod Hildebrand, are the fourth generation to grow the dairy business, thanks to a lot of planning and a vision from the generation before them.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the ambition and leadership of my dad [Alan] and my uncle [David] to build the processing plant,” Hildebrand-Reed says. “And, frankly, the dairy cows would not still be here either because we were at kind of a crossroads of, ‘Do we continue dairy farming and diversify in a very huge, meaningful way? Or do we get out of dairy farming altogether and put our eggs in another basket?’”
Their answer was clear as glass — a glass milk bottle.
But the move to processing and marketing their own milk hinged on the next generation of Hildebrands coming on board. Hildebrand-Reed knew that if she was going to return to the family dairy farm, she needed to bring back a valuable skill to further the business.
From about ninth grade on, she honed her marketing and communication skills through FFA and then the agricultural communications program at Kansas State University. She briefly moved to Texas to take a job with a marketing agency, where she picked up more practical knowledge that she could apply to the dairy.
Meanwhile, the family was building a processing plant on the farm in 2006, getting ready for the next phase. In 2010, Hildebrand-Reed and her new husband, Brett Reed, decided to make the move from Texas to Kansas so she could begin rolling out the new branded milk campaign that would be the hallmark of today’s Hildebrand Farms Dairy.
Today, square glass milk jugs with the Hildebrand Farms Dairy logo can be found in 120 stores across Kansas, including 55 locations of the grocery giant Kroger, as well as in its own on-farm store.
The marketing messaging was key. The glass bottles to package their milk were a unique selling point for many customers who were looking for a quality product with a more sustainable message.
Hildebrand Farms glass bottles include a bottle deposit charge, which is refundable when the clean jars are returned to the point of sale. The returned bottles are then sterilized and reused. Plus, many customers remember the crisp, cold taste of milk from a glass bottle from their youth.
Still, those first years involved a lot of long days and hard work to build the business, Hildebrand-Reed says. They rolled out the product and grew their customer base one independent grocery store at a time. “Most of our business has really been at the grocery store level by creating a strong grocery store presence, connecting with our dairy managers, and kind of fighting for shelf space,” she says.
She took a predawn delivery route, driving 224 miles round trip daily from Junction City to Wichita, Kan. But she says she was just doing what the women of her family have done for generations before her — stepping up and doing what needed to be done to make the business work.
“A big reason that I can farm is that my grandmother made it OK,” Hildebrand-Reed says. Her 97-year-old grandmother, Margaret Hildebrand, still lives independently on the farm. “I say my grandmother milked more cows than anyone else on this farm. She was the No. 1 calf caretaker. She milked cows, ran grain, and that was with a baby on her hip.”
Another factor in Hildebrand-Reed’s career path was her father. He planted the seed of her coming home to use her skills for the family, and then he supported the ideas for expansion and modernization her generation brought to the dairy.
For example, Hildebrand-Reed started using social media to grow demand for their bottled milk at the grassroots level. Then, she worked extensively with Kroger to make sure that the farm’s processing and labeling were up to certain requirements so that they could get placed in those stores.
Today, the farm is adding two robotic milkers and is in the mid-construction phase of expanding its facility. Hildebrand-Reed spearheaded the grant proposals and process for that as well.
You could say that each generation of Hildebrands has been allowed to leave its mark on the dairy and grow the business for the future. And as Hildebrand-Reed looks to her sons and her daughter, she’s laying the groundwork for them to make their own mark if they choose.
As a millennial, however, Hildebrand-Reed says her generation probably is more open about the struggles to balance family, an agricultural career, volunteer work and faith than previous generations. She says the keys were to set aside time for herself to recharge, to make a commitment to be home each night for family time, and to choose a partner who understands and supports her goals.
“I also have an incredible life partner,” she says. “Being the spouse of a dairy farmer is no easy task.”
Her husband has two businesses in Salina, Kan., and doesn’t work on the family dairy. “We don’t undervalue each other in the sense of we know how important we are to both of our businesses,” Hildebrand-Reed says. “And we also know that we need those for our own happiness and well-being. And we try and communicate as much as possible.”
In the end, communication, hard work and a vision were the three factors that helped the Hildebrands “get weird” and led to Hildebrand-Reed finding her own niche on the family farm.