Owners of Happy Cows Creamery (HCC) at New Horizon Farm in New Vienna, Donald and Jackie Bickel, are preparing Clinton County's last dairy farm to host this year's 'Dinner in the Fields' for Leadership Clinton on Saturday, August 10 at 4pm (tickets are $40–$50 and available at leadershipclinton.org/ditf-2024).
Donald and Jackie both grew up showing cows at 4H and county fairs. Donald's father started milking cows 2 years before Donald was born, and moved to their current farm at 1103 Hodson Road in 1969. "I don't know what it's like to not have to get up and worry about cows", said Donald. Jackie, on the other hand, graduated from University of Cincinnati and had a career in advertising before reconnecting with Donald much later over their love for cows.
For years, the Bickels only sold their milk to a dairy co-op in West Virginia, but in 2018 Swallow Hill Jersey Dairy in Jamestown, Ohio reached out about selling their farm and processing equipment to them which would allow the Bickels to sell direct-to-consumer. However, due to community support, Swallow Hill ended up not selling their farm, so the Bickels looked elsewhere for equipment and eventually got everything set-up just 1 week before COVID shut everything down.
"In some ways COVID was a blessing", said Jackie. The Bickels were able to stay busy during COVID because stores were low on milk and people seemed to enjoy getting out of their houses to visit their new farm retail shop that was deemed "essential". The retail shop also helped save some of the Amish vendors they carried who had to shut down during COVID.
Since selling direct-to-consumers, HCC has seen steady growth and even recently received a grant to buy a bigger vat with the hopes of making yogurt and selling milk to Kroger stores that are wanting to promote local goods. "We will be able to do more milk in 3 hours than we could do in 3 day", said Donald.
HCC is open everyday 9am to 9pm. Learn more at happycowsatnewhorizon.com.
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