The Butler County Fair nearly shut down its dairy segment until a local farm owner stepped in

“I realized I could make an impact on that,” she said.

She knew kids loved seeing the cows, but would never have the opportunity, due to where they live, or their parents’ careers, to house an animal of that size on their own.

So, she wrote up contracts for “rent-a-calf” detailing the number of hours and days per week the kids would have to dedicate to taking care of their animals at the Mullen’s farm.

“They stay at our farm. I feed them, I raise them as if they’re my own calf,” Mullen said. “There is no economic involvement from the folks. We’re going to raise these animals to work on our farm eventually, and it’s just a win win that these kids also get to come and bring them to the fair.”

They provided 32 of the 35 cows at Monday’s open dairy show.

The rent-a-calf program, under “Hands, Hooves and Hearts” is associated with 4-H and FFA.

More broadly, she said it’s important for small farms to survive because they’re the backbone of America.

“I have the opportunity to directly feed the people in my community because of how we’ve chosen to diversify my farm, [and] I now have all of these kids that are equally passionate about what I do for a living,” Mullen said. “Only 1.5% of our country remains involved in production agriculture, but we are responsible for feeding 100% of the people in this country. And if I don’t tell my story, and these kids don’t show my story, we lose the connection with our food and the importance and the humility and the love and respect that goes into putting a simple meal on the table.”

Mandy Mullen McQueen, Mullen’s sister who works on the farm, said in 1986 Butler County had 88 dairy farms, but now they’re one of two.

“The biggest benefit is just getting to put more cows in here for the industry to grow and show the county that we still have a place at the fair and in the world, essentially,” McQueen said.

Abbigale Egbert, 15, has shown a Mullen cow through “rent-a-calf” for two years. This year she has two: Raindrop and Boom Box.

She showed the cows twice in showmanship and twice in open class for junior fair.

“We heard that this was happening, and we thought it was a wonderful opportunity to be a part of so I decided to get in it, because, well, we got cows too,” Egbert said.

She added that without this opportunity, she probably wouldn’t be showing an animal at all.

When Mullen came back from earning her two-year degree at Ohio State’s Wooster campus, she started flavoring and pasteurizing her own milk and later installed a robotic milker.

McQueen said one machine milks 60 cows a day, and while Mullen milked about 10 she can now put her energy toward other things.

“I try to tell people it’s kind of like, when your bladder gets full, you kind of start getting uncomfortable. Well, that’s similar with a cow, when their udder starts to get full, they get uncomfortable,” she said. “And so now they can go and get milked whenever they are starting to feel uncomfortable. Instead of being told you gotta wait another three hours.”

Mullen said in the next five to 10 years she’s thinking about getting robot feeding equipment.

The fresher the food, the more likely they are to eat, which means the healthier they are and the more milk they produce.

Amy and Timothy Mullen, Emily Mullen’s parents and previous owners of Mullen Dairy and Creamery, said they can’t wait to see what else she’s got in store for the farm and the fair.

“She’s really made a big difference for the fair,” Amy Mullen said. “And these kids will never forget this. The lessons that they’re learning like this is just amazing. Kids today don’t have a clue on what it is to be on a farm, how to take care of animals [and] responsibility. It’s so fun and we’re so proud of her.”