Through the ups and downs of farming life, the Keyes family has continued to churn out cheese and ice cream from the Harford County dairy they have run for more than 60 years.
On Sunday, their milking operation on Havre de Grace's Mt. Felix Farm, as well as the relatively new Aberdeen-area Keyes Creamery store, was opened to hundreds of curious residents as part of Harford's annual Farm Visitation Day.
"A lot of people are removed from the farm. They don't get to see the day-to-day operations that are behind the scenes," Megan Keyes, creamery manager and daughter of owners David and Kelly Keyes, said. "They just know that the food is in the grocery store on the shelf, and that's where some people even think their food comes from."
"There's no connection from farm to food, and that's really something that the ag industry is really working on, which is so great about the Farm Visitation Day," she said about the event, hosted by the Harford County Farm Bureau along with the county's agriculture division.
Many of Sunday's visitors, even those mostly interested in tasting some ice cream, said they were glad to be able to support local farmers and businesses.
Dairy farms, once Harford's largest industry, have continued a steady decline over the past 30 years. In 1986, the county had just over 100 farms sending milk to processors. According to the most recent annual report for the USDA Northeast Milk Marketing Area, which includes Harford, just 20 local farms shipped milk to processors in 2013.
"The dairy industry is a very hard business to be in right now," Megan Keyes said. "The milk prices basically dropped in the past six to eight months by about 30 percent. It used to be about $22, $21 dollar by hundredweight, so we get $22 per 100 pounds that we're producing, and now it's down to about $15 to $16 a hundredweight." A hundredweight of milk is about 11.6 gallons.
"It's also hard because, in the state of Maryland, we have all these regulations coming down on us about when we can spread manure, how much can be spread, all these other regulations as well that just keep kind of hammering the farmer down, that no one knows are happening," Keyes said. "They think we're causing the issues, but we're doing our best not to do that. We're doing our best to protect the environment, protect the [Chesapeake] Bay as best as we can."
Keyes hopes to educate people so they do not blame farmers for rising prices or assume they are acting unethically.
"It's the people who come in and think farmers are bad people, are bad to the environment, bad to their animals, I hope they realize that we're not really like that," she said. "We do the best that we can to make sure that our environment is protected, the Chesapeake Bay is protected, that our animals are homed correctly, they're fed, they're happy, so we do our best to keep a good face on agriculture."
The Keyes' farm milks about 80 to 100 dairy cows and also has another 100 younger cows on its Mt. Felix Farm. The family farms 100 acres and rents another 200 to 250. Most of the crops raised go to feed the cows, she said.
"We do rotational grazing, so they're out on the pasture most of the time in the summer," she said of the cows. "We do supplement them with grain and silage to make sure that they're remaining consistent in their milk production and they're happy and healthy."
The ice cream piece of the operation, which Keyes said was her grandfather's dream, opened in 2013 at Aldino and Hopewell roads.
The Keyes family sends milk to an Amish-run cheese maker in Quarryville, Pa.
"It is a raw milk cheese, so it's been a fight in the state of Maryland," she said about the product, noting raw milk cannot be sold in Maryland, but is legal in Pennsylvania.
"I think they're finally getting to that point where we can make a raw milk cheese in the state of Maryland, but that's still kind of a fine line with the health department, with the regulations, the start up costs to be able to produce everything here on the farm," she said. "It's a very big hoop to be jumping through...For us, it's easier to just send it to someone."
The Keyes family then prices and labels the cheese. For ice cream, milk is also shipped to Longacres Modern Dairy in Barto, Pa., she said.
"They just take our milk and make a basic ice cream mix, so they'll pasteurize and homogenize, they'll put in extra milk and sugar, they'll do the added enzymes to it that help keep the consistency of the ice cream," she said. "We get it back and we make all the ice cream next door over."
Cara Mattlin, a manufacturing manager at the creamery, showed visitors Sunday how the ice cream is made and frozen next to the store itself.
Residents like Kelly Trancucci, of Churchville, said they brought their family for a nice outing and to let their children see cows.
"We just wanted to come out as a family and see what our local farmers do," she said. Her 3-year-old daughter Grace noted she liked the cows, especially "the little ones."
Forest Hill's Ella Serio, who said she is "7 and 1/2," was very interested in Stormy, a newborn calf who was in an enclosure next to the creamery.
"The cows are really calm," Ella said, calling the Visitation Day "awesome."
Despite her affection for Stormy, she said: "I like the cats the best."
Natalie and Brian Gallagher, of Bel Air, also brought their young children.
"I never knew that this place existed," Natalie Gallagher said, adding: "It's nice to support local businesses."
Emily Whaley, of Abingdon, said she and her husband, Andy, hoped her children got a taste of farm life. The three kids – 7-year-old Grace and 5-year-old twins Shane and Sophia – were definitely enjoying a taste of ice cream as they rocked together on a bench.
"It's important to us that the kids know where their food comes from, and what better way to do that than an event like this," Whaley said, adding her family prefers to shop local businesses. "The ice cream is just a bonus."
She said she hoped to give her children "an appreciation of what it takes to grow our food, because we don't farm," and "the time and energy it takes to make it happen."
Mike Doran, president of the Harford County Farm Bureau, said about 400 people had visited the farm halfway through the day, which is "about typical."
"When we are in this part of the county, it seems to be better," he said of this year's location in the southern part of the county.
Holding the Visitation Day right after a Saturday filled with torrential rains and flooding also did not deter Doran or the visitors.
"We were concerned about the weather, but that's usual," he said.