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CapitalPress.com
June 3, 2016
Third generation takes over family dairy
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
Nathan Gilbert’s grand-
parents moved near Othello,
Wash., in the early 1960s
from Roosevelt, Utah, when
the Columbia Basin Irriga-
tion Project began.
“Our dairy and milk
plant is at Warden and the
main farm — where we live
— is near Othello, about 20
minutes down the road from
the dairy,” he said.
“My grandfather and
his brother raised potatoes,
beans and corn. My uncle
came back into the family
business in the early 1970s
and my father in the late
1970s. They decided to ex-
pand and in 1981 a small
dairy came up for sale near-
by,” he said.
Those 300 cows were the
start.
“About 6 months after
we purchased the dairy
there was an opportunity
to lease a milk-processing
plant just around the cor-
ner, so we began bottling
milk as well,” Gilbert said.
“At that time we were
selling milk to Darigold.
As we grew, we leased sev-
eral other dairy facilities,
and in 1995 purchased the
dairy we’re operating to-
day.”
Then in 2002 their milk
processing plant burned.
“We shipped milk to
Montana, to Meadow Gold,
while we started construc-
tion on the plant we’re in to-
day in Warden. In 2004 we
started processing again,”
Gilbert said. “We are still
adding animals, and by this
time next year we hope to
be milking about 2,500.”
The cows are all Hol-
Country Morning
Farms Dairy
Owners: Gilbert family
Farming: Since 1958. Country
Morning Farms Dairy estab-
lished 1981 near Warden,
Wash.
Milking: 2,100 cows
steins, and the Gilberts raise
their own heifers in a heif-
er-developing facility at the
dairy.
“It’s a self-contained
unit, and a closed herd.
We normally produce more
heifers than we need, and
sell about 20 percent, along
with all the bull calves,” he
said.
“We breed them, calve
them out, sell them as fresh
cows and keep the heifer
calves. Currently, we are
• 14K GVWR
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Nathan, left, and Kevin Gilbert are seen in the milking parlor of Country Morning Farms Dairy near
Othello, Wash.
not selling any, because we
are growing the herd,” he
said.
Once they reach the
2,500 mark they will proba-
bly sell about 50 fresh cows
per month.
They raise about 80 per-
cent of their forage — hay,
corn silage and earlage.
“We farm about 2,000
acres. When feed prices are
high, this makes our feed
cheaper. When prices are
low we could probably pur-
chase feed cheaper than we
can raise it, but it’s nice to
not have to haul it in.”
The herd has an 85-pound
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daily average milk produc-
tion per cow.
“Milk from our plant
goes to grocery stores and
to customers who manufac-
ture milk products, includ-
ing a cheese plant. We haul
milk locally and to Seattle
and Portland,” he said.
Nathan and his brother,
Kevin, came back to the
dairy after wearing different
hats.
“Keven came back in the
fall of 2013 and I came back
in the spring of 2014. Our
other brother, Jason, is plan-
ning to come back in 2017.
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in the dairy. The fourth gen-
eration is still very young;
my oldest son is 7.”
Nathan and his brothers
left the farm for college.
“We all went to college,
got our degrees and went
into the work force. Kev-
in was a CPA and did ac-
counting. I was a banker
for Northwest Farm Credit
in Twin Falls, Idaho, for
five years,” Nathan said.
“Jason is an astrophysicist
and does research for the
University of Michigan.
We started talking and
thinking about the family
business and decided it
would be fun to come back
and grow it.”
But he said family is
also a big part of the pic-
ture.
“It’s nice to get the fam-
ily back together so the
cousins can be together,”
he said. “A farm is a great
place for kids to grow up.”
There are now 13 cous-
ins living on the farm, he
said.
“We went out into the
world, learned something
different and hopefully
bring back new knowledge
and skills,” he said.