Tag, you’re it
/Stories from our dairies are often tales of hard work, dedication and tradition. This one is about love.
Brent Hemmi is a fourth-generation dairy farmer on Hemmi Family Dairy in Scotland, Texas. His great-grandfather started the dairy close to 100 years ago, and for Brent, it’s all he’s ever known. “I grew up on it,” the 24-year-old says. “Been here all my life.”
It’s an important part of who he is. This is why he wanted to make it the place he chose to ask a very important question — for the love of his life, Heather, to marry him.
It was Saturday, Feb. 22. Heather Skinner woke up with a horrible headache — she didn’t want to move or get out of bed, but church was on the to-do list for the day. “Brent came in and said come on, we have to go to church,” she says. “We have about 15 minutes to get ready.” Heather slowly got out of bed, put on jeans and a comfy sweater and got ready to head to church. Brent was wearing a dairyman’s T-shirt and a hat (his usual).
The couple had been dating for about two years, and good friends for nearly five. They ran around in the same group of people and frequently saw each other out. Brent says he knew he was going to marry Heather pretty early on.
“We left the house and got to the edge of the road and he said, ‘Oh, I left the cows locked up, we have to go check on them’,” says Heather. Visiting the dairy with Brent wasn’t uncommon for her, as he often takes her to the farm to help out.
When they got to the dairy, Brent told Heather to walk down the right-side row of cows, he would walk down the left side, and she needed to find the cow with ear tag 2021. As she was walking along, she saw it: An ear tag, attached to a cow with a little white spot in the shape of a heart on its fur, with the words “Will you marry me?” written across it. When she turned around, there stood both of their families, and a nervous Brent, down on one knee, holding the ring box upside down, asking for her hand in front of all the people they love most, in the place they love most.
About one year ago, the Hemmis built a freestall barn to house their 350 cows. Brent says walking through that barn every day was where he came up with the idea of how to propose to Heather. “Now, I get to walk through it every day and know that’s where it happened — that’s where I proposed to her,” he says.
Heather said she was hopeful Brent would pop the question soon, but 100% was not expecting it to happen that day. “He’s lucky he even got me up to go to church,” she laughed. “But he did really good at keeping it a secret and made it really special.” Certainly, a moment she will never forget.
The pair plans to wed at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Windthorst, Texas — a place almost as important to them as the dairy. “There was no question that was where we were going to get married,” Heather says.
As for the future, the couple has no plans to leave the farm anytime soon. “We don’t really ever plan on leaving,” Heather says. “It’s a part of our lives every day.”
And now, it’s home to a very special memory the two will forever hold.