(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag".

My name is Rob Sharkey.

I'm a fifth generation farmer from just outside of Bradford, Illinois.

What do you know about dairy?

What do you know about where your milk comes from?

Well, we're gonna talk to a dairy farmer.

We're gonna talk with Courtney Lintker.

How you doing, Courtney?

- I'm good.

How are you?

- Pretty good.

Now, you, do you call yourself a dairy farmer or a milk maid.

- Dairy farmer.

- Okay.

I mean, that's kinda cool.

I would call myself a milk maid.

- Yeah.

- I'd put it on a business card and everything.

Okay.

- No.

- You're from Venedy, Illinois?

- Correct.

- Where's that?

- Southern part of Illinois.

So, about an hour east of St. Louis.

- Okay.

You think it's funny that people in Peoria call themselves Southern Illinois?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- You're not southern.

- No.

Not even close.

- No.

No.

- But a lot of people, the majority of Illinois thinks that like Interstate 80, which is up like north of me in Bradford, that everything south of there is Southern Illinois.

- No.

- So, I don't know what you are, Kentucky, something like that.

Now, was that where you grew up?

- That is where I grew up.

So, dairy and grain farm down there.

- Okay.

So, stereotypical farm girl raisin?

- Pretty much, yeah.

When I was younger, it was always in the tractors with dad and always outside and I have a younger brother, younger sister, too, so, hung out with them all the time.

- Now did they have, were you guys milking?

Was it a dairy when you were growing up?

- Yes, it was.

- Okay.

Because I've talked to a lot of dairy kids that didn't like that so much, 'cause it's a lot of work.

- It's a lot of work.

- What was your remembrances of growing up?

- So, I did a lot of the calf feeding.

Remember that growing up.

I think I started milking cows second grade maybe, so... - So, much older in life, huh?

- So, been in there for quite a while, but yeah.

- Yeah.

Now, you went off to school?

- I did.

- Where'd you go?

- University of Missouri, Columbia.

So, I crossed the river.

- Is there a reason you crossed the river?

- It was a little cheaper in Illinois.

(laughs) - Isn't that sad?

I guess that's out-of-state tuition.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- What'd you wanna do?

- I originally wanted to be a doctor.

So, that was kinda the plan all through high school.

- Yeah.

- And then, went to college and my sophomore year, just didn't like my classes, just didn't enjoy it.

- What was with the doctor?

I mean, was it, generally, when people wanna do something, it's like a TV show.

- Yeah.

- Like, were you a kid growing up, you're watching "Quincy"?

- (laughs) I don't know why I wanted to be a doctor.

I mean, I was top of my class, so I kind of figured maybe I guess, doctor, lawyer, went the doctor route.

- Oh, you're smart?

- I guess I'm kinda smart, yeah.

- Like how many was in your class?

- I think there was 46.

We're pretty small.

- Okay.

I was in the top 10 in my class.

- There you go.

You're smart, too.

- There was 17.

(Courtney laughs) 17 kids in my class, but hey, you know, we'll do what we do.

Okay, so at what point did being a doctor seem not so attractive to you?

- My second year of college.

So, I just did not like my classes and for some reason, I just felt like I wanted to go into ag.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And I think I got away from ag, 'cause I grew up around it.

Everyone in my class was farm kids.

Everyone knows agriculture and then, I went somewhere where no one knew anything about, I mean, I won't wanna say no one knew anything about agriculture.

- Yeah.

- But it's a lot more diverse than where I came from and I think I was just wanting to go back.

- Do you know how many times we hear that, though?

Oh, we interview a lot of people in agriculture and a lot of times, they do.

They go off to college and that is when they realize how much they loved growing up.

- Yeah.

- On the farm, is that?

- That, exactly the same thing.

- Okay.

So, you're saying goodbye to being a doctor.

- Yep.

- Then, did you switch majors?

- Well I thought about it, but I was like, I am already two years in and I had to pay for my own schooling.

So, I was like to have to go start over again, I'm like... - We could make a joke about loans.

- We could make a joke.

- But we're not going to, 'cause I don't want your damn emails.

(both laugh) - So, I decided to stick with the nutrition exercise science route, 'cause I was an athlete growing up, too.

- Really?

What'd you play?

- Basketball, cross country, track, and softball.

- You're tall, aren't ya?

- Yeah, 5"9'.

- Yeah, that's tall.

- It's pretty tall.

- Can you dunk?

- No.

(laughs) - I can totally dunk.

- We'll have to see that sometime.

- I mean, a donut.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - So, sports were something interested you.

- Yeah.

- You thought about going back.

Did you get hurt as an athlete?

So, okay.

This was just you wanted to help people that do.

- I guess so.

(both chuckle) - So, what'd you do after college?

- So, then, after college, I came home, helped dad on the farm, and then, I worked in like physical therapy office for a while.

So, I did use my major.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- For a little bit and then, here recently, started a job in data operations for a farming company and then, got my Illinois real estate broker's license.

So, I'm working for a real estate agency company now, too.

- Oh, yeah.

Well, selling ground right now.

- Yeah.

- There oughta be some hefty commissions in that.

- Just getting started.

So, I haven't...

I just got mine in July, so just getting my feet wet in that.

So, the data job, is that, I don't know.

So, a lot of people say I got that job,.

That's my job to pay the bills.

- Yep.

- Right?

Is that kinda what that is?

- Yep.

Yeah.

So, that's kind of, yeah.

That job pays the bills.

Then, the real estate company job, that's kind of a nice extra bonus.

- That's the one to reach the dreams.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Yeah, because I mean, there's a lot of people have made a ton of money in ag real estate.

- Oh, yeah.

Yep.

- Okay, but you, like we said at the beginning, you are a dairy farmer.

- I am.

- How did that come about?

- So, I always, even though I had, you know, a job off the farm, I always helped dad and my brother on the farm.

- [Rob] Probably didn't have a choice.

- Yeah, not really, (laughs) and then, here about four, five years ago, I think, my dad and brother decided to merge farms with our cousin.

So, they took about 75% of our herd over there and... - Over, just on a different farm?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- On a different farm.

So, it's right down the road from us.

- Oh, okay.

- And then, kinda had the decision on we either sell the rest of the ones that were at the house or I could milk them if I wanted to and I wasn't quite ready to watch that last cow leave the barn, wasn't ready for that moment.

- Yeah.

- So, I decided to take it upon myself and start milking full time.

- Okay.

All right.

So, 30 ish, 25, 30 ish percent of your herd left?

- Yep.

- Right?

- Well, about 75% of our herd left.

So, I was left with the 25.

- Well, how many head?

- So I have 40 head left at the farm, so that's what I manage right now is 40 head.

- And is it just you?

- Yeah, pretty much.

- Really?

- Yeah.

Okay and 40, 40 head is not a huge dairy when you talk about dairy farms, but for one person, that's a lot.

- It's enough.

Like, if I had any more than that.

- No, I said that's a lot.

(both laugh) - If I had any more than that, it'd be a little tougher, but it's a good number.

- Here's why I say it's a lot, right, because we just talked about you've got a full time job.

- Correct.

- With the data in agriculture and then, you've got this kinda the side hustle that could be the dream of real estate.

Then, you've got 40 head to milk on top of that.

- Yep.

- So, that's how many times a day?

- Two times a day.

- Like, what time do you get up?

- So, my day usually starts around 4:30 and ends usually... - In the morning?

A.m. - In the morning.

- That's really dumb.

- (laughs) And then, ends... - Did you know that when you said yeah, 4:30 in the morning.

- Oh, it used to be a little earlier.

It used to be like 3:30.

Now, it's 4:30.

I get an extra hour.

- Do you know, sometimes, I wake up at 4:00 in the morning, I go, oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm doing up this, and then, I go sleep for another three hours.

- Yeah.

No, I don't do that.

- Okay.

40 cows.

How long does it take ya?

- Usually milking, right over an hour, but with feeding everything, like two to 2 1/2.

- And that's twice a day.

Okay.

And then, does this go along with your family's dairy or is it two separate?

- Two separate.

- Okay.

- Yep.

- That had to be a little scary to make that decision.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Little bit.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- That's a lot of responsibility, a lot of stress, a lot of risk.

- There is a lot of risk.

- For yourself.

- Yeah.

- And you're, I'm not gonna ask your age, but you're very young when it comes to being a farmer.

- Yep.

- Okay.

Is this just what you do?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

It's just... - You just like to take it all on?

- Yeah.

Pretty much.

- Which one of the three jobs do you enjoy?

- All of them and I'm not getting paid to say that.

(laughs) - [Rob] Which one of the three jobs do you enjoy the most?

- Oh, I don't know.

I mean, they all kinda have their perks, so I mean... - Really?

- Yeah.

- Even the data one?

- I mean... - 'Cause that sounds boring.

- But I learn a lot, though.

- I suppose.

What kind of person are you?

Are you analytical or are you I want to get as much adrenaline and do stuff?

- Probably more analytical.

- [Rob] Yeah?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

I don't know which one of those jobs that fits.

(both laugh) Because I mean, I see the dairy as just like that, that responsibility, that grind, but some people, I mean, they, and that could be you.

That's all they ever wanna do.

- Yeah.

- The data, I could see where you learn stuff.

The real estate, I could see where you would, you could feel like hey, that is an adrenaline rush if you sell something or get something.

- Yep.

- So, all that makes sense.

- Yep.

(both chuckle) - Somehow.

- All right, there's a lot of people watching that don't know anything about the dairy industry.

So, explain and you'll have to talk down, even to me of like what you do when you get up in the morning and you go to the barn.

- Yep.

So, usually, get up around 4:30, like I said, and then, head out there, and you gotta pen all the cows up.

I milk in a double six herringbone parlor.

So, that means I can milk 12 cows at once.

- [Rob] Okay.

- So, I'll run 12 cows into the barn and then, you gotta clean them off with an iodine mixture, dry 'em off, and then, we have machines, so we don't milk 'em by hand.

We do have machines for that.

- [Rob] You clean 'em off, you're talking the udders?

- Yep.

The udders.

Yep.

And then, hang the machines on.

They'll be in there couple minutes and then, out the door they go.

- So, how much milk do you get out of a cow?

- It all kind of depends on genetics, but I mean, 80 to 120 pounds a day.

- Okay.

I didn't know we were doing math.

Do you know how many gallons that is?

- Ooh.

- That'd be... Is eight pounds in a gallon.

- Yeah.

- Quite a bit of milk.

Quite a bit.

Quite a bit of milk from a cow, right?

- Yep.

- Now, after you milk it, then, what happens to said milk?

- So, it'll get ran into our bulk tank and there, our milk gets picked up every other day.

We're with Prairie Farms, so it'll stay in there and it's cooled to a certain temperature and then, the milk caller comes, a semi will come and pick up our milk and after that, I wash and sanitize everything again and fill it back up.

- Dairy farms are crazy particular about sanitization.

- Correct.

- That's a word, right?

- Yeah.

- Sanitization.

Yeah.

Everything has to be remarkably clean.

- Yeah.

- And if it's not, I mean, Prairie Farms will call you out on it, because they're doing their independent testing, as well.

- Correct.

- But you actually won an award from them.

- I did.

So, it was last year.

So, they have a quality award.

So, after every pickup, you pretty much get like a report card.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And it'll have different numbers on it and if you're within a certain range, you basically get a bonus and if you're too high, they basically take money from you.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- You have to pay in.

- [Rob] That's not good.

- That's not good.

- Yeah.

- So, you wanna make sure you have good quality milk, 'cause then, you get that extra bonus.

- Yeah.

- So, whenever I started kinda doing the dairy on my own, I always said I wanted to get that Gold Quality Award, like that was my goal and everyone was like, all right, well, prove it that you can do it and so, last year, I finally hit that goal and got that award.

So, it was a good feeling.

- If you get bronze, you're still called a medalist.

- Yeah.

- But you wanted gold I wanted gold.

- Okay.

- And like, we've been bronze before, silver before, but we had never hit gold on our farm.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- So, to do that for the first time and the fact that I did it was... - [Rob] That's really cool.

- Even a little better.

- Prairie Farms.

Now, people probably don't know how to set up, it's actually a cooperative.

- Correct.

- So, you are actually, you have ownership in that, correct?

- Correct.

- Is that hard to get into?

- Like, if you wanna start.

- Like, if I bought a dairy cow, right?

And I wanted to sell the milk, can I call Prairie Farms up and said hey, you're gonna buy my milk now?

- No, it's really hard to get into.

- Is it?

- Yeah.

- Is it like a hazing process?

- (laughs) No.

- Is there paddling involved?

None of that, huh?

- No, but with Prairie Farms, we have a quota, so we can only produce so much milk per farm.

So, if you wanna start out, just even just finding any company to purchase your milk is really hard right now.

- Yeah, but again, dairy's okay right now, right?

Price wise, but two years ago, maybe it was, at one point, it was well below.

- It was when COVID hit.

- Yeah.

- It went like down to like 13 or something.

Like, it was bad.

- But that is when the dairies that were involved in the cooperatives, which is like Prairie Farms, Tillamook, Cabot, I mean, some of these big, that's when that was really beneficial, because there was some price protection in there.

So, that helped you during that time.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, it did.

So, yeah, we were lucky we didn't have to dump any milk, anything like that.

So, we were lucky.

- Could you imagine?

I'm sure you have.

- Yeah, I have.

- But to me, all that work of going and and getting, producing milk, and then, having to dump it, because there's no place to go when people are starving in a world, when you know people could use it, that would... - Yeah.

Be hard.

- Yeah.

Have you ever had to?

- Well, we've only had to dump milk in like winter time, because like a truck can't get out to the house or something like that and you can only keep the milk in your bulk tank for so long, so... - Gotcha.

You should like make milk that you could freeze.

You ever think about that?

- I've not.

- I mean, forget that real estate thing.

If you make freezable milk, you could live on a beach the rest of your life.

- That'd be nice.

- Okay.

If you invent that, I get 10% of it, 'cause it was my idea.

- Sounds good.

- Yeah.

Do you help at all with the grain side of the farm?

- I do.

So, growing up, not too much.

Helped with mainly like cutting alpha, things like that, but here in the last three, four years, really got involved in the grain side and whenever COVID hit and everything was shut down, I was laid off my job.

So, I had all the time in the world.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- So, I did about 90% of our grain farming that spring.

- Wow.

That's impressive.

- Planting, tillage, everything.

- Okay.

With all your, you work a lot, right?

- Yep.

- I mean, people of your younger age, I mean, we like to make fun of you, 'cause you don't work.

You do all this.

You also are in a leadership program.

- Correct.

- Tell me what that's about.

- So I am, it's called DEAL and it's with Midwest Dairy.

So, it's our checkoff program for the dairy industry.

- So, a checkoff program, you sell milk, right?

And they take, I don't know, a cent, half a cent, a 10th of a cent out of every gallon, that goes into a checkoff and the checkoff is used to promote milk.

- Yes.

- Corn, soybeans, pork, we all do it.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Everyone has a checkoff, but this one's specifically for dairy and it's for the Midwest.

So, there's 15 young farmers and it's a three-phase program.

So, we went out to Denver the first phase and here recently, we were just in Chicago, but yeah, we get to learn about where our checkoff dollars go, how to engage with consumers, how to promote the dairy industry.

So, it's been a really fun learning experience.

- With dairy farmers, I assume you're kind of an oddity being so young.

Are you an oddity being a female?

- Actually, I think there's more females than males in our group, I think.

- Really?

- I think there are.

- Okay.

That's kinda, it's gotta be kinda nice to at least have other people that you can relate to.

- It is nice.

So, especially, I feel like just being a young farmer, in general, and now, you have a group of young dairy farmers, it's nice to be able to throw ideas back and forth and we're all kind of in the same situation.

So, go through the same struggles together.

- I'm 47 years old.

Do you know what they call me?

A young farmer.

- Yeah, that is true.

I don't remember what the average age is, but it is...

It's older than, yeah.

- Yeah.

- I mean, the age of a farmer is very, it's almost, I think, believe it's in the early 60s.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

- It might be.

- Tell me about speaking in Chicago.

- Yeah, so I was able to go up to Chicago over the spring and speak at Halas Hall, which is the Bears' practice facility and it was an event for high school coaches.

So, they wanted a dairy farmer there to kind of promote drinking milk after a workout and just so that way, other coaches could meet and see a dairy farmer.

(laughs) So, I got to go up there and speak about my farm and what I do and kinda relate it to being an athlete.

So, that was a really cool experience for me.

- Did, I mean, did they have questions for you?

- They did.

Most of 'em were like, a lot of 'em couldn't like, for us, how we talked about 40 cows being kinda small.

They thought that was huge.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- Which I thought was like weird.

I'm like, no, that's like tiny and they're just like, how can you manage 40 cows?

Like, they just couldn't wrap their head around that, but... - Well, they get a, they're thinking of how do I manage 40 players?

I'm not sure which is worse.

(both laugh) - But yeah, they did have some good questions and questions about like how long a cow's around, how much they milk, how we take care of 'em.

So, they were pretty engaged, so it was a good conversation.

- A lot of times we see on social media and I don't know why dairy gets singled out so much.

You get like the animal rights activists, people that don't want livestock... Man, they're pretty tough and... - They are pretty tough.

- They can show things that look so one-sided, so edited and bad.

Did they have any questions about how like your cows were being treated?

- No, they didn't have any questions about that and I think it helps being in person and like you could just tell in my voice and the way I presented, like after I'd presented, a couple of 'em came up after to me and they're like, we can tell you just love your job.

Like, you love what you do, you love your cows, you love your job.

So, I think them seeing it and being in person, they can tell that from me to where it's a little different on social media.

Like, you don't get that same feeling.

- 40 Cows.

Out of all those 40, which one do you like the least?

- Ooh.

- There's a number that popped in your mind right there.

- There is.

So, actually, this was a few years ago, I had gotten kicked in the face by one of them.

- Oh my gosh.

- And broke my nose.

- Which is not a joke for people that don't know.

Their kicks are, I mean, that's a lot of power in there.

- Yeah.

So, that would probably be my least favorite.

- Yeah.

I mean, did it permanent?

I mean, I don't know how to, not permanent.

Were you hurt or were you injured?

- I would say injured and I didn't realize how bad it was.

Like, I was gonna go back in and milk and then... - Of course you were.

- My dad and brother were like no, like you need to go to the hospital.

Like, we gotta bring you to the hospital, so three stitches and a broken nose and that was it.

I didn't have to have surgery or anything, so I got pretty lucky, but yeah.

- Yeah.

That's exact word that came to my mind.

Just lucky.

- Yeah.

- The milk and the coaches, because it seems like a few years ago that all the sudden, sports realized that milk was an incredible recovery drink.

- Yeah.

So, there's a lot of protein in milk, which is good and it being a liquid, like you just absorb it so much quicker.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- So, it is very beneficial after a workout.

During a workout, not so much.

After workout, definitely a good option.

- Okay.

You are a dairy farmer.

- Yep.

- We love our almond farming brothers.

- Yeah.

- But should it be called almond milk?

- No.

- It's juice.

- It's juice.

- Almond juice.

- Yep.

- And if you wanna drink it, fantastic.

- Yeah.

- But it's not a milk.

- No.

- Yeah.

Okay.

We just, we wanted to make that clear for all of us.

What's the goal?

I mean, would you like to continue expand the dairy or do you wanna move on to other things?

- I actually like the grain side a lot.

So, goal would be, I wanna keep the dairy, I don't wanna see it go, by any means.

Probably grow that a little bit bigger than the 40 head I have.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- So, maybe get around 80, 120 one day would be a good number to stay at, but really looking to grow the grain side and hopefully, one day, be able to farm full time, but takes a lot.

- My wife and I, we started out as hog farmers and lots of ups and downs with that.

When my dad retired, I got out.

- Yeah.

- I said I wanted to go 100% grain and doing that opened our lives up to a lot of different opportunities.

Livestock, it's fantastic, but it ties you to a farm.

- Yep.

- Is that you think ever gonna weigh into your decisions?

- I think so, 'cause I can tell now like, it's hard to get away sometimes, because you have to be there two times a day every day.

- Like, how do you even get to the leadership stuff?

- So, I'm lucky enough, my dad and brother are really supportive, so they have to pitch in and help while I'm gone.

- Which is fair, because remember when we talked about you had to do all that stuff.

- So yeah, they're pretty supportive and helpful and they know I like doing that kind of stuff, so they'll work it out while I'm gone.

- Well, and I mean, if they're dairy farmers, too, I don't know your dad and your brother, but it's like when you're talking to the coaches, when you look for a face, it's always nice.

I don't care if this is sexist or not.

It's always nice to have a female up there, because it seems to make more relatable to a lot of people and everybody has this stereotype as a farmer is this old guy.

To have something different, I think, benefits not just dairy, but all of agriculture.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Was that sexist?

- No, not really.

- Just maybe a little.

- Maybe a little.

(both laugh) - Are you on social media anywhere?

- I am on social media.

So, mainly Instagram and TikTok and it's @courtneyfarms.

- [Rob] courtney_farms.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

You gotta remember the underscore, because if not, then people are gonna email me and complain.

Courtney says she was there.

we're about out of time, but you... Tell about the barn, the 100-year-old barn that was lost.

- Yeah.

So, this was actually, I got to plant my first crop of soybeans this year, so I planted it after wheat and the farm it was planted at, we had a barn catch fire.

It was a 100-year-old barn.

Beautiful preserved.

I mean, just gorgeous barn and unfortunately, the field caught fire, because it was a wheat field.

So, yeah, the whole property was pretty much on fire that night.

So, we lost the barn.

I lost quite a bit of my beans, but luckily, was able to replant 'em.

- Because after wheat, you can plant soybeans.

- Soybeans.

- Yeah.

Okay.

That hurts, too, to see those old barns like that.

- Oh, yeah.

- Yeah, because they, I mean, they aren't making 'em anymore.

- No, no.

- No.

They're all made outta steel and stuff, which yeah.

We had you on the XM show and I know we asked you to come up here to Peoria.

I know it was a long drive.

It was what, three hours.

for ya one way?

- Yeah, about three hours.

Yep.

- I really appreciate it, because you're bit of an oddity in agriculture, being a young female and doing it 100% on your own.

So, I really appreciate you coming up and I really appreciate what you do for agriculture.

- Thank you.

- So, go follow her, courtney_farms.

- Correct.

- Courtney, thank you very much.

- Thank you.

- Everybody else, we'll catch you next time.