Longtime dairy family continue their love for country life - in the city

By MANDY JOHN | Central Texas Edition

Mark and Penne Jackson, owners of Jackson's dairyfarm in Waco, are proud of their hard work. Here, they pose with a few of their 280 milk cows. -Staff photo by John

November 28, 2002 -- Located within the city of Waco is Jackson's dairy farm, owned by Mark and Penne Jackson. This farm, which raises dairy cattle and grows wheat straw, is one of 12 dairy farms in the McLennan County area.

"My wife and I currently have our own operation, but my family has a long history in the dairy industry," stated Jackson. "There are four dairy farms in the Jackson family, mine included, and all are in this county."

Jackson was born and raised on the dairy farm that his mother, Mary Ramos, has owned for the past 47 years called Jackson-Ramos dairy. In 1980 and 1988, his two brothers branched out and bought their own dairy farms. In 1993, Jackson also branched out and started his own farm.

"One thing I like about being in the dairy industry is that I am able to be independent and be my own businessman. I get to own and operate my own farm. It allows me to have a steady income. We get a milk check every two weeks, so it does help."

Jackson said that having good help and good employees is one of the key factors in running a profitable business.

"It's nice to be able to take off when we want to and travel without worrying about what's going on at home. We trust the people who work for us and know that they are doing their job."

He also said that being in this business has been a major help in raising their three daughters, ages six, eight, and twelve.

"We love the idea of being able to see our children in their school plays and cheer them on when they are participating in sports activities. If either of us had other jobs, we wouldn't be able to be as involved in our childrens' lives as we are. We will always have time, and will continue to make time, to be there for our girls. We feel this is because of us owning our own dairy farm."

One of the major problems that Jackson is facing at the moment is low projected milk prices for the coming year.

"I don't know if we would make it in the dairy business if we didn't have other businesses to fall back on. We also do some farming and marketing of wheat straw for mushroom growers in Central Texas.

"With our wheat straw business, we work within eight or nine counties, bailing and selling wheat straw to different farms. In Central Texas, there are only six or seven vendors, including us, that sell wheat straw. Right now, we also sell our wheat supplies to two mushroom farms. It's a good business to be in."

He said being diversified in farming is the key to their success.

"In our dairy farm operation, we raise all our replacement heifers. Other farms might find that it's sometimes cheaper to buy them than to raise them. It's nice to know for us; we can raise heifers cheaper than other areas can.

"Our operation is not a large one. In fact, we are considered small for Texas. In the past nine years we have seen dairy farms shift from almost 2,800 dairies in Texas to just about 800, and, as of today, it might be even lower. About 65 percent of the dairymen we know are no longer in this business.

"I think that there are less dairymen in Texas because a lot of the dairies that were here are moving out of state for different environmental reasons. Even though the number of dairymen has dropped, the number of cattle has not.

"As of today there are only 12 dairies in this county and we are the only dairy operation in the city limits of Waco. In the last several years we have seen a lot of commercial development around our farm. There is also a lot of rural development where we are at.

"We are determined to hang in there, even with the low milk prices. We would like our children to be raised on the farm and be surrounded by this farming environment. We do have mixed emotions, though, about wanting our kids to follow in our footsteps."