Crop of the cream: Dairy an important industry in area

Last in a four-part series on the business of agriculture in Maricopa.

Every day, more than 90 people and 19,000 cows go to work on the Shamrock Farms dairy farm to produce the volume of milk required to remain one of the Southwest’s largest dairies.

Workers bathe and milk the cows twice daily, feed them three times a day and raise the young female calves in preparation of joining the herd.

In the summer, a fan and mister system hums along to keep the cows at a comfortable temperature in the 70s. And in the cooler months, groups of families and school children tour the farm — watching firsthand the daily work and disciplined schedule that yields the milk and dairy products many Arizonans consume every day.

“We’re providing the milk that you see on the shelf in the store,” said Frank Boyce, Shamrock Farms’ vice president and general manager.

Shamrock Farms has been in business since 1922, but in 2003 the family-owned and operated company relocated from Gilbert to 1,000 acres in Stanfield.

Shamrock Farms is one of 11 dairy farms within a 15-mile radius of the city of Maricopa, according to the United Dairymen of Arizona, a Tempe-based agricultural milk marketing cooperative. And Pinal County is home to 70,000 of the state’s 190,000 milk-producing cows, making the county the second largest milk producer following Maricopa County, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Dairy farming then and now

Melvin Drake, who opened a farm to raise chickens and grow corn and grain in 1912, was also owner of Maricopa’s first dairy, said Patricia Brock of the Maricopa Historical Society. At that time, Maricopa residents could buy milk for just 6 cents per quart.

Today, dairy farms remain a visible — and sometimes fragrant — part of the community of Maricopa. But it has been more than a decade since a new dairy farm began operating inside the 10-year-old city’s boundaries, said Micah Miranda, the city’s economic development director.

The number of dairy farms moving into the surrounding areas also has declined in recent years, but development around the Valley has still prompted dairy farms to move near Maricopa.

One of those is Van Der Waerden Dairy, which relocated from West Phoenix a few years ago. Today the farm has about 3,000 dairy cows, said partner Marcel Van Der Waerden.

“We’re members of the United Dairymen of Arizona, and every day the milk has to be hauled to the co-op,” Van Der Waerden said. “It gets expensive the further you are away.”

While Shamrock Farms processes its milk at an in-house processing plant in Phoenix, 90 other dairy producers bring their raw milk to the United Dairymen processing plant in Tempe, where the milk is converted into products such as butter, cheese and powdered milk sold locally, nationally and internationally, said United Dairymen senior manager Bernie Trujillo.

The cooperative’s members represent about 90 percent of the state’s milk, meaning many dairy farmers try to operate close to the center to keep transportation costs down.

Economic impact of dairy farms

Arizona’s dairy is a major agricultural commodity, which listed $871 million in cash receipts in 2011, said Julie Murphree, spokeswoman for the Arizona Farm Bureau.

“Nearly all of our dairy farms are family-owned, and they contribute dramatically to the local economy,” she said.

Unlike many of the well-known dairy states, which have a number of small farms, most of Arizona’s approximately 130 dairy farms have an average of 1,000 cows.

“We always rank in the top 10 in terms of quality and production and volume that each dairy cow produces,” Murphree said.

It takes employees and supplies to run and operate farms this large.

Shamrock Farms employs 92 people at its dairy farm and also staffs its milk processing center and corporate headquarters in Phoenix. Also, Shamrock Farms must regularly purchase alfalfa, corn silage, barley and cottonseed from local farmers, as part of a specially-developed diet created for the cows by a nutritionist.

“We’re buying local products, and supporting the local farmer,” Boyce said. “When you see somebody growing cotton, we are buying the delinted seed to feed back to the animals.”

Molly Costa, farm tour manager for Shamrock Farms, said the dairy started offering tours to the community to help residents see where their milk comes from and to educate them on how dairy farming works.

“All of this is done right here in your own backyard, and it’s amazing that even people in Stanfied, Casa Grande and Maricopa don’t know that Shamrock is right here,” Costa said.

Urbanization and the dairy farm

While many residents in and around Maricopa enjoy having dairy farms in their own backyard, others — particularly new homeowners — gripe that the city air is dusty and smells like cows.

“They provide revenue to the county … and are very valuable to our economy. However at the same time, cow manure itself doesn’t go really well with 45,000 people who expect to be urbanized,” said Mayor Christian Price.