SHELBY, Ohio—When Orva Dawson, Jr. purchased his parents’ dairy farm in 1999 with his wife Deedee, the couple doubled the number of dairy cattle at the farm, going from 30 to 60 cows. And now the Dawson Dairy Farm milks about 130 cows a day—without any hired help.
The Dawson Dairy Farm at 4430 Hazelbrush Road has been family-owned and operated since Orva Dawson, Sr. bought the farm in 1947. Now tending to the farm is Orva Dawson, Jr. and Deedee, along with their seven children: Andy, Scott, Kelly, Sally, Mary, Amy and Sherry.
“We all pitch in,” said Orva.
Together, the family oversees about 387 acres of land and approximately 225 cattle.
They milk the cows twice daily. “We average around 80 pounds of milk to a cow, some are 100 pounds,” Orva said.
Maintaining a dairy farm is like a science project, said Orva. “You’ve got to be on top on things, like when it comes to keeping the milk the right temperature,” he said.
“The health of the cows is the main thing we keep an eye on,” he said. Each day, they check on the cattle, ensuring that they’re all healthy. They also check for newborns, which always seem to appear at an inconvenient time, Deedee said.
“It seems like they’re always born on the coldest times,” she said. “The cows will lick them off but it’s just too cold; you gotta’ get them warmed up right way.”
Despite the severity of the current winter, Orva said they did not suffer any losses. “This has been the coldest February I’ve ever known; it’s gotta’ be the coldest one,” said Orva. “But we haven’t lost any number of animals and our water didn’t freeze up. We did okay. We just stayed on top of problems.”
“But it drains ya,” added Deedee.
All of the children, as well as Deedee, have fulltime jobs (beyond working at the farm). Orva retired from ArcelorMittal about three years ago.
“Deedee gets going at five each morning because she has to go to work at the [Shelby] bus garage, and then I come along behind her,” described Orva. “We usually shut down at about eight in the winter and in the summer we may go until about 11 or so.”
Despite any struggles they’ve faced or long workdays they’ve had to endure, they each have gained a strong work ethic, Orva indicated, saying, “The biggest thing you get from working on a farm is a good attitude about work.”
“Even when the kids were in high school I never really had to tell them to get out there and help out,” he said. “It was just routine for everyone.”
That work ethic instilled in them while living under the same roof as their parents has stuck, as each child still contributes to the family operation in addition to juggling fulltime jobs.
Interestingly, though they have all ‘flown the nest’ so to speak, their children still reside in close proximity to the family farm.
“I can pretty much see everybody’s house from here,” said Orva.
“It’s just one big square where we all live,” described Deedee. “We live here and then one son and daughter live over there [on Kuhn Road], two other daughters also live [on Kuhn Road], another daughter lives nearby [on Preston Road] and then [Scott] lives on [Dininger Road].”
Sherry lives on Parkwood Drive in Shelby. “Even though I’m uptown, I’m still always here,” she said.
Even Orva’s 97-year-old mother, Donna, lives close by. She’s currently staying at Scott’s house.
When former neighbors wanted to move, they called Orva and Deedee to see if they would be interested in purchasing their property, Orva said. “That’s how we got three of the houses,” he said, “so we’ve just passed’ em down to our kids, asking them, ‘You want this house? Here you go.’”
Orva said they sell their milk to Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). The cost of milk, however, has dropped significantly, “making finances a lot tighter around here,” he said.
He said they may consider purchasing additional cows, but their approach to dairy farming has always been “we milk what we need to so the bills are paid. We’re not going to go overboard by buying 50 extra cows or something just because; that’s foolish. We just want good milk and good production.”
In addition to cows, they also have ducks, cats, chickens and mini horses.
Orva said their grandchildren have shown some of their animals in the Richland County Fair through 4H.
He added that as soon as they’re old enough, the grandchildren will also help out at the farm. “They’re not big enough yet, but they’ll come and help out someday,” he said.
And so the family farming tradition continues.
“Deedee gets going at five each morning because she has to go to work at the bus garage, and then I come along behind her,” described Orva Dawson. “We usually shut down at about eight in the winter and in the summer we may go until about 11 or so.”
