Milk made
story by Jessica Ebelhar
With just a dream and a cardboard suitcase, Jim Stahler boarded a bus in Pennsylvania for a 36-hour trip to Murray State University to study agriculture.
Jim also landed a job at a dairy farm in southeastern Calloway County and met a girl, a home economics major from Tennessee.
He wanted to become a farm manager. Now, nearly a half-century later, he has surpassed his goal, owning his own dairy with the Tennessee girl he married.
Waking at 4:30 each morning, Jim has been running Stahler's Dairy and Poultry Farm, the last dairy farm in Calloway County, for more than four decades. Dairying is a 365-day-a-year job; he even milks on Christmas.
"Work is a lifetime endeavor," Jim, 64, said. His wife, Judy, also 64, handles bookkeeping and odd jobs around the farm, such as bringing the calves milk every morning.
"Judy has been the perfect wife," he said. "I truly believe that God brings two people together."
Even after 44 years of marriage, the two share lunch together every day. He insists that he'd rather skip lunch than eat without his wife.
Like his love for Judy, his faith in God is a constant in his life. "There's no way to be closer to God than agriculture," he said.
Jim finds fulfillment in knowing that he's producing a product that will help people. "We all have to care for each other to survive," he said.
Jim hoped one or both of his sons would take over the farm, but Jimmy, 38, works at Owensboro Grain, and Jayson, 34, has a welding business. Jim understands, though, that his boys need to follow their own dreams.
Cows line up for lunch at the feed trough at Stahler's Dairy and Poultry Farm, the last dairy farm in Calloway County. Jim and Judy Stahler have more than 70 cows. In 44 years as a farmer, Jim Stahler says the cows have never missed a milking.
Jim Stahler, 64, pauses while milking one of the more than 70 cows he has on his dairy farm, Stahler's Dairy and Poultry Farm. It is the last dairy farm in Calloway County.
Jim Stahler, 64, has marched through plenty of muck during his 44 years running Stahler's Dairy and Poultry Farm in Calloway County.
Jim Stahler, 64, holds a syringe in his mouth while preparing to artificially inseminate a heffer at his dairy farm.
Wet weather doesn't make a dairy farmer's job any easier, and no one knows better than Jim Stahler, 64, heading to a morning milking with one of his "employees." Stahler's Dairy and Poultry Farm, has operated for 44 years and is the last dairy farm in Calloway County.
Judy Stahler pours milk bottles to feed calves on Stahler's Dairy and Poultry Farm in Calloway County.
A pack of mousers enjoys the fruits of the labors of cows at Stahler's Dairy and Poultry Farm in Calloway County.
Judy Stahler, 64, sets the table before lunch with her husband of 44 years, Jim Stahler. "Judy has been the perfect wife," Jim said. Sharing lunch together every day, Jim said that he would rather skip lunch than eat without Judy.
Jim Stahler enters one of his poultry houses in the early morning. In addition to his dairy farm, he raises chickens to be sold for their meat.