14 CapitalPress.com
June 1, 2018
BUYING or SELLING
Dairy Property?
Heather Smith Thomas/For the Capital Press
The Korn Family. From left are Dave, Kim, Richard, Becky and husband, Brian.
Farm a family operation
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
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D18-3/HOU
TERRETON, Idaho —
Richard Korn’s family started
dairying in the Treasure Val-
ley near Nampa, Idaho. After
he and his wife, Kim, were
married they formed a part-
nership with his father and
brother until 2004.
“At that time we had 120
cows and farmed 350 acres,”
Kim said.
She and Richard met in
4-H and FFA, she said.
“I grew up at Eagle, Idaho.
My dad worked for Fish and
Game but we had a 32-acre
farm behind the Eagle Fish
Hatchery and a few Angus
cows. Richard and I saw each
other twice a year at fairs.
He showed dairy heifers and
I showed sheep, a beef and
pigs. After we graduated from
high school we started dating,
and got married in 1977,”
Kim said.
She attended Boise State
University for one year, but
wanted to work with live-
stock.
“I got both my wishes —
a good husband and life on a
dairy farm,” she said. “Then
his dad decided to retire. Our
farm ground was encroached
by development.”
Her sister lives near Mud
Lake and found a farm there
for them.
“We moved our share of
the cows (55) here in October
of 2004,” Kim said.
She and Richard now have
100 cows — registered Hol-
stein and registered Brown
Swiss.
“The Brown Swiss started
as our kids’ FFA projects; they
are the result of FFA projects
gone wild,” she said. “It’s still
a family operation.
Their son Dave works with
them, and does some work for
local farmers.
“He bought a semi-truck
and between milkings hauls
grain and hay,” she said.
Their daughter Becky,
who is a few years older than
Dave, lives near Mud Lake
and manages the Stockman
Supply store in Terreton.
“She owns half the Brown
Swiss cows in our herd, and
helps whenever we need her,”
Kim said.
Becky is married to Bri-
an Allen, and they have a
2½-year-old son, Bodie.
Becky graduated from the
University of Idaho with a de-
gree in dairy science.
“We showed cows when
the kids were growing up, and
they’ve always been her big
thing,” Kim said.
Becky recently bought a
registered heifer from Iowa.
“Our kids’ equity in the
herd keeps going up while
ours is dropping — because
they are bringing in more
Brown Swiss,” she said.
Most of the heifers that are
sold go to youths who want
FFA or 4-H projects.
“We buy all our feed,”
Kim said. “There’s a lot of
good feed grown here; ranch-
ers with feedlots grow corn si-
lage to feed their steers, so we
don’t have any trouble finding
beautiful corn silage.”
Their milk is marketed
through the Dairy Farmers of
America co-op and currently
goes to the Brewster cheese
plant at Rupert, Idaho.
“They make cheese blocks
and ship the cheese to Brew-
ster, Ohio, to make Cheez-It
crackers,” Kim said.
Their cows calve year-
round except for the springer
heifers.
“We don’t calve any heif-
ers from late October through
mid-March because winters
can be severe,” she said. “We
sell our bull calves to ranch-
ers who like to have some on
hand if they need a spare calf
to graft onto a cow that loses
hers. The guys who get them
from me have been doing
it for years and know these
calves are healthy. We keep
those calves for three days
and they have colostrum and
vaccinations. They don’t get
sick.”
Kim serves on the Idaho
Dairy Products Commission
and on the IDEAL (Indepen-
dent Dairy Environmental Ac-
tion League) board.
“This board focuses on
research and innovation to
protect Idaho’s environment,”
she said. “We do a lot of work
with research at the Univer-
sity of Idaho, trying to make
sure dairymen are doing
things responsibly to protect
the environment.”