ST. CHARLES, Ill. — To conclude June Dairy Month, Lenkaitis Holsteins opened its barn doors to the public on Saturday, June 29. The Open House was held on the family farm west of St. Charles in Kane County. Visitors also raised enough funds to conclude the 10,000 Gallon CHALLENGE, an initiative of the not-for-profit Kane County Farm Bureau (KCFB) Foundation to donate 10,000 gallons of milk to local food pantries.
More than a thousand attended the Dairy Open House between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. They toured the barns, met the family (and the cows) and contributed to an ice cream social to support neighbors in need. The event helped highlight the role of milk and dairy products in good health and in hunger relief.
At 11:30 a.m., farm owners Andy & Sarah Lenkaitis cut a blue ribbon to celebrate the opening of a new milking barn with robotic milkers. In the barn, visitors saw how cows produce fresh, wholesome milk and automated systems that cleaned, milked and monitored cows and kept fresh feed in front of them.
Outside the barn, guests ate ice cream under a tent and posed for selfies with a cow named Christy. They also saw tractors and farm equipment used to grow and harvest crops for feeding the animals. The Lenkaitis family grows corn, alfalfa, oats and small grains primarily used to feed the animals.
Lenkaitis Holsteins is one of the last few dairies operating in Kane County, a region historically known for its milk production. Some of Saturday’s attendees grew up on dairies. They watched the modern technology in the new barn with a mix of wonder and nostalgia.
The farm was purchased by the family in 1983 and began with just five cows. Today, three generations of the Lenkaitis family are involved and the herd of 150 head includes 80 milk cows. They embraced technology to make their business sustainable for future generations. “On a traditional dairy farm, all of the cows are milked twice or three times a day by people,” Andy Lenkaitis explained. “With robotic milkers, the cows decide when they want to milk. We made an investment to renovate our farm to take the best care of our cows and people, making a safe, comfortable environment for both, we look forward to providing top-quality milk for consumers for years to come,” he added.
Milk is a valuable source of calories and nutrition. According to the Northern Illinois Food Bank, area food pantries experience more requests for milk than for any other product. But donations are complicated by delivery, refrigeration and storage. That, combined with historically low commodity prices, especially for milk, prompted the KCFB Foundation to convene a meeting on Milk and Hunger with area food pantries in late 2018, and the 10,000 Gallon CHALLENGE was born.
Capitalizing on the Farm Bureau’s reach and success with similar hunger awareness & relief efforts, and the Northern Illinois Food Bank’s award winning Milk2MyPlate program, the two not-for-profits
established a community goal of 10,000 Gallons of milk donated to local food pantries. Steve Ericson, Executive Director at Feeding Illinois, explained, “Bottom line, the whole program is about getting necessary protein to those who need it and with milk being a relatively inexpensive and protein rich food item, it’s the obvious solution. With an abundance of milk in the market, it’s so simple, it’s frustrating, that this product can’t be given to those who need it most.”
The KCFB Foundation launched the 10,000 Gallon CHALLENGE in October 2018 to address the problem. Early contributors to the campaign included AGCO Parts, CHS Elburn and Luck-E Holsteins and more than a hundred others. With the help of Lenkaitis Holsteins, June 29 Dairy Open House sponsors and an enthusiastic crowd, the KCFB Foundation just made good on their commitment.
Saturday’s Dairy Open House at Lenkaitis Holsteins was coordinated by the Illinois Livestock Development Group, Illinois Milk Producers Association and the Kane County Farm Bureau, with the help of many volunteers and sponsors in the community.
To learn more about Kane County Farm Bureau or its charitable and educational Foundation, call 630.584.8660.
— Kane County Farm Bureau
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