July 3 2024 09:07 AM

Dairy makes this holiday — and the world — better no matter what we are working through.

July feels like the epitome of summer. It’s full of nice weather, a favorite holiday, and don’t forget July is National Ice Cream Month. There’s a lot to celebrate this month!

What does the red, white, and blue birthday have in correlation with ice cream? Well, ice cream definitely is a favorite American treat. But for me, what stands out is pride.

While our country may feel divided and politics seem harder than ever to bear, somehow, we will persevere through the difficult times. Laying that all aside leaves a lot that we can be proud of. Our 4th of July celebrations are a testament to that pride and the freedoms we share.

Those difficulties sound familiar in the dairy industry. But I know at our core, pride is the foundation of all we do, no matter our differences. We take pride in the land we farm and herds we manage. And can be so proud of the product we produce. The world is definitely a better place with milk to make delicious ice cream!

Raise your glasses of milk and bowls of ice cream to celebrate all that we have to be proud of this July. It’s a worthy celebration with red, white, and moo!



Darleen Sichley

The author is a third-generation dairy farmer from Oregon where she farms in partnership with her husband and parents. As a mother of young sons who round out the family-run operation as micromanagers, Darleen blogs about the three generations of her family working together at Guernsey Dairy Mama. Abiqua Acres Mann's Guernsey Dairy is currently home to 90 registered Guernseys and transitioned to a robotic milking system in 2017.

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