While each breed of cow has features to appreciate, these dairy farmers are sharing why they chose their respective breed (Holstein cow, Jersey cow or Brown Swiss cow), what sets their breed apart from the others and what they love about their herd.
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When Mike and Emily Van Winkle briefly met in March 2018 as delegates at a yearly meeting of their milk marketing cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, in Kansas City, Mo., the pair knew instantly that it wasn’t the last they’d see of each other.
They had a lot in common. Both grew up on Midwestern dairy farms, and both continue to run the daily activities of their families’ farms.
“It was love at first sight,” Mike says. “Even though we didn’t talk a whole lot at the event, there was just
something special about meeting Emily. We started to text and call afterward, and we had similar experiences growing up on dairy farms. It seemed like we both had an understanding — dairy farming requires a lot of patience, and being married to someone requires patience to make it work. It needs to be a strong connection.”
Mike and Emily recall their first meeting vividly — they sat beside each other during a presentation, and Emily asked Mike to text her a photo of one of the presenter’s slides.
“I mean, she had a camera on her phone, too,” Mike says. “She was a whole lot smoother than I was to get my phone number.”
Emily and Mike flew back to Michigan and Ohio the next morning, but the two continued to communicate electronically. Emily recalls realizing she and Mike had similar experiences around this time, and their conversations reflected that. In fact, one of their early phone calls lasted 10 hours — all the way through the night. The conversation only ended so Mike could head out on the farm and start his morning chores. After this call, Mike and Emily knew they had found something special, and they needed to set up time to spend together in person.
“A lot of our texting back and forth was about our life experiences with farming and our families,” Emily says. “We talked about the weather, challenges in the dairy industry or a new calf being born on our farm. About a month later, we were kind of joking about Mike coming up to visit me in Michigan, or me coming to see him in Ohio. I ended up driving down to Ohio.”
Mike planned the perfect first date spot for him and Emily, and it couldn’t be more fitting for a couple that bonded over their shared love of dairy farming.
“I took her to Young’s Jersey Dairy, which was a small, Jersey dairy farm that added an event center with a restaurant, shops and outdoor games” Mike says, laughing. “So, we went to a dairy farm for our first date. That shows you about how ‘off the farm’ we get.”
Mike and Emily knew after their first date that they wanted to marry each other — so quickly, they acknowledge, that they decided to keep that conversation under the radar for several months. Mike later asked Emily’s father for his blessing to propose in June 2018, three months after their first meeting,
and the pair married June 29, 2019.
Mike and Emily welcomed their first child together, Vivienne Winter, May 12, 2021. Together, the Van Winkles travel back and forth from Ohio and Michigan to operate their families’ dairy farms and to see Emily’s three other daughters, Chelsea, Kaila and Tarrah.
Dairy farming laid the foundation for Mike and Emily’s love story — one told through patience, dedication and shared values.
