Johan Koke grew up in Holland and always dreamed of being a dairy farmer. He moved to the United States in 1991 with the same dream and ended up in Dublin, Texas. Two years later, he started his own dairy operation. Now Johan and his family milk around 1,700 cows on roughly 900 acres between their two farms, Blue Bonnet Dairy and Blue Jay Dairy.

Like most dairy farms, there’s always work to do, and the Kokes do it as a family. Everyone has a chore, including all six kids. Johan and Sonya might be helping in the hospital barn, the boys may be cleaning water troughs, and the girls might be moving show heifers around. No matter the chore, taking care of their herd is a top priority. They believe in providing the cows with a balanced diet, creating a healthy environment and having a nice, clean bed. As Johan likes to say, “If you take care of your cows, they’ll take care of you.”

The Kokes might live in a small town in Texas, but they think globally. The whole family wants to help consumers understand how their dairy is created and all its nutritional benefits. “A lot of families nowadays are removed from the farm,” Johan says. “We want to make sure they still realize the farm-to-table process.”