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Murray
Time & Temp
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by Aaron
W. Hughey
“This truly is a family farm,” notes Judy Stahler, who, along
with her husband Jim, have been running a dairy farm in Calloway County
for about 35 years.
“Originally, we had all Holsteins,” Stahler explains. “Later,
we added Jerseys. Altogether, we milk about 100 cows twice a day.”
“All of our cows are registered,” Stahler is quick to add. “This
helps to guarantee high quality in our dairy products.”
Judy met her husband when they were both freshmen at Murray State University.
“We met our third day on campus,” Stahler recalls. “Jim
started working for the former owner of the farm we now own. After two
years as a hired hand, he went into a partnership with the owner.”
“Eventually, the former owner went into the insurance business and
Jim bought the farm,” Stahler continues. “The farm consists
of 225 acres surrounded mainly by housing developments.”
In addition to dairy farming, the Stahlers decided to get involved in
the poultry business in the early 1990s.
“About 11 years ago, we diversified into the poultry market,”
Stahler says. “The dairy business tends to be kind of up and down
depending on market conditions and the economy. The poultry business,
on the other hand, tends to be more even-keel.”
“There have been some years when our poultry business has pulled
us through when the demand for dairy products was low and it was difficult
to make much of a profit,” Stahler explains. “There always seems
to be a good market for broilers.”
The Stahlers run four poultry houses for ConAgra. They have about 120,000
birds at any given time.
“We raise about 30,000 broilers in each house,” Stahler notes.
“We raise about six or seven flocks a year. We get them when they
are a day old and over the next 37 days they grow to weigh about four
pounds. Every six weeks we turn over a new flock.”
Even though the market is more stable than it is for dairy products, the
poultry business is still not without its risks. Mechanical failure or
disease can cause unanticipated problems.
“We had a mechanical failure one year that caused us to lose several
birds,” Stahler explains.
“We also keep them in a very disease-controlled climate; outsiders
can’t go into the houses without proper protection.”
The Stahlers have always maintained a close connection with their alma
mater.
“We employ Murray State University students who are interested in
agriculture,” Stahler notes. “Right now we have three students
who are working on the farm through the college work-study program.”
In fact, there are several classes at Murray that use the Stahler farm
for instructional purposes.
“We can provide students with a lot of hands-on experience,”
Stahler adds. “The kind of experience that they just can’t get
in
the classroom.”
“But they have to be careful, particularly around the poultry houses,”
Stahler cautions. “Again, disease is a constant concern when raising
broilers.”
“We really only have one part-time employee on the payroll, but we
contract out to local farmers to help with some of the work we do on the
farm,” Stahler says. “There are many hard-working, exceptionally-talented
people in this area who we depend on from time to time.”
When asked if she saw the farm staying in the family, Stahler said she
was optimistic that it would.
“We have two sons, Jimmy Ray, a Murray graduate who currently works
in Owensboro, and Jayson, who owns his own welding business here in Calloway
County,” Stahler explains. “We are hopeful that they will continue
the business in some form when Jim and I decide to eventually retire in
a few years.”
“The main thing, though, is that both Jimmy Ray and Jayson are successful,”
Stahler observes. “Jayson actually started his welding business in
a garage when he was 16.”
It is obvious that the Stahlers share a work ethic that they managed to
instill in their sons.
As for future plans, Stahler is confident that they will be maintaining
both the dairy and poultry farms for quite some time.
“I don’t see us expanding into other markets, I just see us
continuing to get bigger and better,” Stahler concludes. “We
are very satisfied doing what we’re doing.”
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