America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers

Emily Mullen-Niccum tells a family story in which her father and dairy farmer, Tim, prayed so fervently for Holstein heifers that God blessed him additionally with four daughters, none of whom he thought would ever want to run the farm.

But, there was Emily, the third daughter -- Mandy and Amber, older, and Elizabeth, the youngest. "As a young girl, I absolutely loved being involved in agriculture," says Emily, now 26. "By the time I was in high school, I was set on having a career in the industry."

Emily's dad was not so set on her career choice. He had been dairying since he was 14, from the time his father, Harry, died. He had a hard-knocks view of the family business that, frankly, may have had, in his view, room for a son, but he had never envisioned a daughter.

A JOB TO LOVE

With some family resistance, Emily decided upon graduation from high school to attend The Ohio State University-Agricultural Technical Institute, where she earned an associate's degree in dairy science. "Working in the dairy industry is a job that you have to love to be good at. It's never easy, you rarely catch a break, and there's plenty of sacrifices to be made," Emily says. "We had some conversations that were difficult at times.

"I wasn't quite sure how the puzzle pieces would fit," she continues. "But I was willing to fight." It's part of her nature. "If you're too comfortable, you won't grow. There is supposed to be a factor of stress in this."

The now fourth-generation Mullen family dairy farm was founded in 1898 by Emily's great-grandfather, William Mullen. Home is Okeana, in southwest Ohio, near the Indiana and Ohio line. Picturesque hayfields and a mix of small towns and urban pioneers with their 5- and 10-acre lots paint the landscape.

CHALLENGE LIST

Two challenges topped Emily's list upon return home. Infrastructure was first. "My dad had accepted the fact that none of his girls would come home to farm," Emily says. "With that thought in mind, he had stopped investing money about 20 years earlier into any aspect of the operation. I knew the first thing I had to fix was the living environment of my animals."

A new facility depended on a new revenue stream. "Average was over," she says. The operation needed cash-flow that it wasn't getting from co-op checks alone.

John F. Kennedy influenced her ambitions. He said, "For the farmer is the only man in our economy who has to buy everything he buys at retail -- sell everything he sells at wholesale -- and pay the freight both ways."

Emily saw a direct-to-consumer business as one way to success. It won't work everywhere, she concedes. But, her urban-suburban community boasts a bit of disposable income.

WORTH A RETAIL PRICE

"I am worth a retail price. More, it was going to be necessary for me to get that price, to build a facility that my livestock deserves but also to be a better producer," she says. "Nothing bad about Dad or that generation of farmers. They are the reason that I have the opportunity to sit here today. However, that generation has forgotten their worth. We deserve a price and that it is worth the work we put into this," she continues. It was the retail income stream that gave her the resource to improve her herd health and production. "We slowly but surely began making enough money on the [retail] milk that I felt I could safely build a new facility for my cows."

When Emily first thought about a new dairy barn, she was 19. This single structure was not a one-year project. Start to finish, it was four to five years to design and build space for the cows (96 x 286 feet) and a combination creamery and retail space (86 x 68 feet), all of it under one roof.

"Thanks to Farm Credit Mid-America," Emily says, "they gave me the confidence to not only walk through their door once to ask for help but to invite me back."

MILK FLAVORS AND LOCAL PRODUCE

Mullen Dairy and Creamery sells 35 flavors of milk along with eggs, pork, beef and other products supplied by local producers. Milk is sold in gallons and pints in flavors such as chocolate, strawberry, cotton candy, blueberry, orange-sickle, even peppermint mocha.

"Adding the creamery allows me to guarantee a different cash-flow, which makes it easier to make expansion decisions," she says. Emily's sister, Elizabeth, manages the creamery.

"I remember making our opening weekend, and I had no idea how we were going to sell 60 gallons of bottled, pasteurized milk, or 480 pints. By the end of the first day, we were sold out." Today, the creamery consumes 4,000 pounds of milk a week. Emily expects to double the volume. Mullen Creamery counts groceries and restaurants among its customers. And, Emily is managing a growing relationship with Crumbl Cookies.

FOOD COMES FROM THE FARM

"If there's one positive from COVID, it was that people started thinking about where their food came from again," Emily says.

She also is working to raise the herd's production and has invested in herd genetics. The new barn greatly improved their environment, and the cows benefited from a newly balanced nutrition program. "Quite possibly the biggest game changer for us has been adding a [Lely] robotic milker," she says. "We've increased our herd average to around 70 to 75 pounds." Prior to the robot, the herd averaged 50 to 55 pounds per day.

"With the robotic milker, I manage to produce as much milk with 65 [milking] cows as I was able to do with 100 in my old facility," Emily adds. The milker frees up six hours she now uses for other chores. For example, time to better manage her calves.

DATA AND THE APPLE WATCH

The robotic milker also provides her with individualized information of each cow by way of the Lely Qwes (cow detection system) hung around their necks. Emily calls them Apple Watches. "That information allows me to be a proactive and educated decision-maker," she says. "The simple data points I can get onto my computer thanks to that robot allow me to make treatment plans for one animal versus another."

In her spare time (we never saw even one moment of spare time, as she jetted around the barn), Emily brings schoolkids onto the farm. She explains the role of the cows and reads books to kids as they sit among the calves.

RENT A CALF

Her county, Butler County, Ohio, counted 88 dairies in 1970. Today? She holds up two fingers. Two. The annual county fair was prepared to end the dairy exhibition for lack of dairy cows. But, Emily had an idea in a Rent-a-Calf program coordinated with the county 4-H. "The word 'rent' is a little misleading in that there is no financial cost involved for the kids to participate," she says.

Students do make a commitment of time. In exchange for at least two days of work per week, April through July, Emily loans them a heifer at the fair. In its first year (2024), it attracted 17 participants. "It really put life back into the program," she says proudly. The dairy division will be open again in 2025.

The kids and the fair allowed Emily to connect the world of the farm with a community nearly divorced from it. "I hope I exemplify the men and women who make up this industry with honesty and sincerity," Emily says. "I understand how fortunate I am to have a direct relationship with the land and the God that created it. I can honestly say that running the dairy farm and shaking the hands of the people I feed is the most humbling and honest way a [farmer] can live their life."

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