Fourth-generation dairy farmer Dave McCarty ’02 carries on family tradition
More than a century ago, McCarty Family Farms started as a simple red barn sitting
on a hill. There was no electricity, and the family’s dairy operation involved milking
just 40 cows.
Four generations later, Dave McCarty ’02 is deeply proud of those roots, and of the
fact that the company has now expanded to include five dairy farms, a milk condensing
plant and a grain storage facility, as well as 230 employees and a total herd population
of over 32,000 animals.
However, that sense of pride isn’t just about numbers — it’s about the fulfillment
McCarty derives from running a business with his three brothers, Mike, Clay and Ken
’05, and from the efforts the company has undertaken to prioritize animal welfare
and sustainability for future generations.
In recognition of the family’s efforts, industry colleagues recently nominated McCarty
Family Farms for the World Dairy Expo’s 2025 Dairy Producers of the Year award.
“We moved from Pennsylvania to here to build something,” McCarty said of the family’s
current operations base in western Kansas. “We didn't have a roadmap to what that
was, but we were dedicated to it. We enjoyed creating things. My family's been that
way for a long time. My dad and mom just gave us an opportunity to make it ours.”
Building K-State ties
McCarty, who earned a degree from K-State in animal sciences and industry, first connected
with the land-grant university in the late ’90s when his family started looking to
move their operations from northeast Pennsylvania to western Kansas.
“K-State had a very prominent, very well respected dairy extension department,” McCarty
said. “We got to know those guys and work with those guys. Dr. Mike Brouk, Dr. Joe Harner, have been pretty critical in design and development of our operations. We still
work with those guys today. We just had Joe Harner out at our property here a few
months back, and I was on a Zoom call with Dr. Brouk and a fellow food processing
professor just last week. So our ties run deep with K-State, and we plan to continue
to work with them.”
April Fools’ Day of 2000 marked the first day the family milked cows in Kansas. And
no joke — April Fools’ Day would prove to be an important date for the family once
again, more than a decade later.
In the meantime, the family’s operation expanded from a dairy in Rexford, Kansas,
to an additional dairy in Bird City, Kansas.
“As we went through the late 2005 to 2010 time frame, we learned real fast that the
ag industry was changing as we started trading markets overnight,” McCarty said. “And
you know, volatility became much more prevalent. We knew that we needed to do some
things differently in our current model. That led us to exploring a lot of different
options from a marketing perspective.”
They partnered with the Danone company and constructed a milk processing plant on-site
at the farm, which McCarty says is extremely unique amongst the industry.
The organization grew from 3,500 cows to 7,000, and on April Fool's Day of 2012, McCarty
Family Farms delivered their first finished product to the Danone plant in Fort Worth,
Texas.
“The relationship with Danone has been able to really grow our company,” McCarty said.
“We've just seen a tremendous amount of improvement in our farm’s operations and efficiency
over the last 10 to 12 years with our relationship with Danone.
“Sustainability takes an investment. You need a partner to invest in that to help
if you're a market-driven operation. There's much more collaboration in that world,
and we've been able to take advantage of that. We highlight that in all that we do.”
The company now has a presence in Ohio as well, forming a partnership with another
farm family: three brothers who are sixth-generation farmers and specialize in row
crops. And about a year and a half ago, the family completed their largest dairy,
a new 10,000 cow dairy unit in Rexford that is all indoors and houses the animals
in a climate-controlled environment.
Caring for the next generation
In addition to dairy farming, the McCartys also are passionate advocates for agricultural
education.
They opened the Judy McCarty Dairy Learning Center in Rexford to give the public an opportunity to learn more about dairy farming and
to watch cow milking in action. In the past year, they’ve hosted nearly 1,800 students and more than 6,600 total visitors,
representing 48 states and 37 countries.
“It's a great way for us to be able to tell our story,” McCarty said. “We need to
talk about it and promote it, and educate people on what we're doing and discuss the
sustainability practices. My whole livelihood, and all the people that work for us,
are dependent upon that.”
He hopes the learning center inspires the children who come to visit to consider a
future career in agriculture.
“The industry's changed a lot; we're not out operating pitchforks and shovels anymore,”
he said. “We're running iPads and downloading the latest app. Displaying that and
highlighting that certainly helps to get the younger generation excited and involved
in what we're trying to do.”
So the next time you pour a glass of milk, enjoy a scoop of ice cream, or grab a carton
of yogurt for breakfast, think about how the product got from a farm to your home.
Dave McCarty and his family are honored to play a role in that process.
“We have the ability now, I can go to the refrigerator and look on the bottom of a
cup of yogurt, and I can tell you where it came from, and I can tell you what processing
plant, and I can tell you if it came from our milk,” he said. “When you have identity
with a product, you certainly change the way that you do it. When I put it in a cup
and I know it came from my place, I see my kids, or your kids eating it, I have a
different level of responsibility.”
Learn more at mccartyfamilyfarms.com.
