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By Jennifer Moonsong
Glasgow News 1
Sitting on the long front porch on the Barlow farm looking out across the expanse of family farm land on a hot summer day, one quickly learns HH Barlow is a man of many words, and many experiences. However, he says he can sum it all up in one concise sentence. “Everything has been because of a cow,” Barlow said, and the sentiment pre-dates the man by a generation.
“My father, Harmon, was a dairy farmer. I grew up working on a dairy farm. How he came to get his first cow is an interesting story,” Barlow said. As the story goes, it was 1929 and the Agricultural Agent of the era for Barren County decided the region needed something. It needed dairy cows.
“He sent word and arranged for the delivery for the purchase of a box car of jersey heifers. They came by train from Athens, Georgia. If you wanted a cow you were to bring $50. Dad did, and he bought his first cow right there. He fell in love with them, and worked in them all his life. If I make it ’til 2029, I will get to witness my family being in dairy in Kentucky for 100 years,” said Barlow.
As a child, FFA and 4-H played an intricate role in keeping Barlow’s interest in agriculture.
“I owe so much of my happiness to 4-H,” Barlow said. In fact, it was 4-H that facilitated his first far away travels to Europe when he graduated from Hiseville High School in 1968.
As an adult, he knew he wanted to work dairy cows.
“I worked milking cows at the UK research farm, had it not been for the cows I could not have put myself through college,” Barlow said. During the last semester he had a fateful meeting.
“I met my wife Kathy, and less than a year late in 1973 we got married. We were madly in love. She had no idea what she was getting into,” Barlow said.
Starting out together back on the family farm between Cave City and Hiseville, life was blessed but it was not easy. The couple had two children quickly, and eventually two more.
“We started right here in a used house trailer, right where this house sits,” Barlow said.
By 1975 they were able to build a small hour in place of the trailer, but soon hard times came calling again.
The early ’80s proved to be a particularly crooked piece of time for dairies.
“In ’84 I took on a second job. I sold all the cows but a few heifers and started over. In ’86 I lost a lot of land, and started over with little of nothing and since ’84 I’ve always held two jobs. We never could have made it had it not been for my praying and devoted wife,” Barlow said.
While working as both a dairy farmer and a commission-based grain salesman while his wife stayed home with the children at the farm, life was hectic. The children grew up and two of the Barlow sons wanted to go to the Air Force Academy.
In the ’90s Barlow became involved in Kentucky politics. In 2004 then Gov. Ernie Fletcher appointed Barlow to the State Agricultural Development Board. It was a good fit, and the start down a path that would lead to tremendous good for Kentucky dairies.
“I had sheets with the numbers for all the funding in various things, and over a two-year period, dairy was only given $30,000 statewide. I made it my mission to get funds for the dairy industry,” Barlow said. He and fellow dairymen knew they needed an organization to make this possible. Now all 343 dairies across the state with a milk permit are automatically members of the KDDC, which is a 501(c)(3) that educates, promotes and helps Kentucky dairy farmers.
The Kentucky Dairy Development Council (KDDC) came to be under Barlow’s tutelage.
Prior to that there were no County Model Programs for dairy, but the decision to do so was immediately agreed upon.
“Started coming up with programs to put out, and we designed a program to have milk processors participate with us. Lots of people got involved.
“A lot of our programs concentrate on milk quality, comfort, genetics and herd management,” he said. The official mission statement of KDDC is, “To educate, promote and represent dairy producers and foster an environment for growth of the Kentucky dairy industry.”
Being an instrumental Kentucky dairy producer is rooted in the fertile fields of Barren, but it has taken Barlow many places. Most recently, he traveled to China to tour dairy farms. Dairy has taken him to Kenya, Bolivia and myriad other places around the globe.
Although much of Kentucky’s dairy success is owed to Barlow, who is the Executive Director of KDDC, he is the first to say it took a village and that everything he has accomplished is a result of the hard work of many.
“We can’t do this by ourselves. The milk truck goes down the road every day, we couldn’t operate without a milk truck or the men feeding the cows, or the people who repair the equipment. It never stops. It is a 365-day-a-year job, the milking happens two to three times a day. The fruits of your labor can be measured every single day. Good or bad,” said Barlow.
At almost 74, Barlow is still busy at work doing what he loves. Up until a few years ago he was still going to the barn twice a day, but now he has passed the work along to others, though his cows can be seen grazing from the porch.
After seven decades of dairy, Barlow is reflective, humble and grateful.
“I owe everything I have to three things. First, God and the blessings he has placed upon me. Secondly, my wife of 51 years, who has been my support system and the glue that held it all together. She is my cheerleader. And thirdly, I owe everything I have to cows.”
To learn more about KDDC, its legacy and its many actives, visit kydairy.org
Thank you to the Kentucky Farm Bureau for sponsoring our June Dairy Month stories.
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