Here is a positive feature recently published in the Daily Record, Dairy farms moo-sic to her ears, written by Bobby Warren. A city girl fell in love with dairy cattle and decided to pursue her dreams despite her urban upbringing. Here is an excerpt from this exciting story…
Despite being a “city girl” while growing up in Worthington, Dianne Shoemaker fell in love with dairy cows, and it led to her studying dairy science, becoming a dairy farmer and a dairy education specialist.
As a child, Dianne Shoemaker remembers her parents taking the family to her grandparents’ in Wisconsin. Shoemaker grew up in Worthington, a suburb of Columbus, but loved looking at the dairy cows grazing in pastures along the roadways between Ohio and Wisconsin. Those fond memories of the dairy farms, barns and cows has turned into a career for Shoemaker, who recently joined Ohio State University’s Wayne County Extension Office as a dairy specialist.
While dairy is her profession, it is also her life. She and her husband, Steve, milk 170 head on their Mahoning County farm, where they have a mix of Jerseys and Holsteins. Despite being a city girl, her father told her if she wanted to study dairy, then she should study dairy. So, off she went to The Ohio State University and pursued a degree. (Photo courtesy Daily Record)