By Mark Parker
The Family that Milks Together…
Madelaine, Sarah, Jason, Eli, Emma, and Victoria Giebler
It’s hard to say whether their dairy revolves around the
Giebler family or if those Jersey cows revolve around
them.
Either way, Jason and Sarah Giebler and their
kids up the bar for the qualification of “family farm.”
Near Neosho, the Gieblers take pride in a closed
herd of intensively-grazed Jerseys that excel in butterfat
and feed-to-milk conversion. “The cows produce about
75 pounds of milk per day at peak lactation with
about 5.1 percent butterfat and 3.8 percent protein,”
Jason explains. “They consume fresh fescue and clover
every 12 hours and a little grain in the barn. They only
weigh 850 to 900 pounds each so we feel they’re pretty
efficient.”
The small cow size — along with an easy-going
temperament — also has the very important benefit of
enabling the kids to handle them, which they do every
single day.
Jason is a general manager for an aircraft
company and spends a lot of time on the road — or in
the air. That means a good portion of the day-to-day
dairy responsibilities falls to Sarah and their four children.
“It can get hectic but we trade off on the milking and everyone pitches in,” says Sarah. “They’ve all grown up with the
cows and they’re very knowledgeable, especially the two older girls.”
That would be Victoria, 21, who is working on her Master’s degree in animal science at Missouri State University; and
Madelaine, 18, who recently graduated from high school while also attending Crowder College. And both 9-year old Emma
and 11-year old Eli can be counted as good help, too.
Each of the kids own cows that earn them money for a college savings account.
Currently, the family milks 25 head. That’s down from a more normal 50-60 cows because when Jason began traveling
more, they sold the mature cows to make sure the rest of the family could handle the workload. It’s worked well so the
Gieblers are building herd numbers back up.
The dairy is seasonal. On July 15, milking shuts down and the cows go dry until they begin calving again about
September 15.
Those first Jersey cows that got the whole operation rolling were financed by FCS Financial and the Giebler family has
been part of the FCS Financial family ever since.
“FCS Financial has played an important role,” Jason says. “The cows, the farm, the house, a tractor, more cows —
they’ve helped make it all possible. The people there are phenomenal. You couldn’t ask for better folks to work with. We just
give them a call and they take good care of us.”
Taking good care is something that Jason and Sarah — and Victoria, Madelaine, Eli and Emma — know a lot about,
whether it’s their family or their Jersey cows.