Foodies share locally grown meal with dairy farmers at Richardson conference

by Teresa Gubbins

RICHARDSON — Eating dinner with dairymen turned out to be a hot ticket on Saturday at the Renaissance Hotel in Richardson, when a one-of-a-kind dinner drew a sold-out crowd of 250 diners.

The meal symbolized a couple of exciting trends in food these days:

Locally produced. Everything on the plate came from local producers: beef short ribs from Burgundy Pasture in Grandview, chicken from Windy Meadow Farms, cheeses by Lucky Layla Farms, Dallas Mozzarella Co., Veldhuizen Farms and Pure Luck Farm and Dairy.

Bringing together farmers and consumers. The dinner was part of the 133rd annual meeting of the American Guernsey Association, which held its convention in Texas for the first time in 50 years. Local host and Texas Guernsey Breeder member Todd Moore of Lucky Layla Farms first conceived the dinner to showcase Texas producers, and then decided to extend it to the public.

"I think there's a disconnect between the farmer and the consumer," Moore said. "When I got the job to host the conference, I wanted to create an opportunity for farmers and the public to sit at a table together, to have an intellectual dialogue, and to eat a locally produced meal."

Of the 250 in attendance, 169 were from the conference; the remainder were from Slow Food Dallas, The American Institute of Wine and Food, and EatGreenDFW.com, an online farmers' market that sells grass-fed beef, organic vegetables, free-trade coffee, and locally produced food. To find local producers, Moore contacted Slow Food Dallas leader Claudine Martyn who worked on the menu with Renaissance Hotel chef Rob Richards.

The fact that the American Guernsey Association held its convention in Texas reflects the enthusiasm and energy of Moore and his wife Deanna, who are one of only four Guernsey farmers in Texas; most are located in the Midwest and the Northeast.

Wisconsin has more Guernsey farmers than any other state, and Roger Kukowski of Kowski Farms Inc. in Osceola, Wisconsin is one of the biggest, with 350 cows, 50 of which are Guernsey; 300 are Holstein.

"I got my first Guernsey when I was 8 and fell in love with the breed," Kukowski, 48, said. Both of his parents came from farms and bought the dairy farm when he was young. Roger runs the farm and his sister does the accounting.

Attending the convention gave him a chance to absorb new ideas and meet other Guernsey farmers such as Alicia McDonald, 35, of Green Slopes Farm in Pennsylvania, and her nephew Tanner, who also works on the farm.

As the courses rolled out -- salad; short ribs with chicken, mashed potatoes, asparagus; and blackberry cobbler -- speakers shared information and statistics: that 99% of dairy farms are family-owned; that the average size is 135 cows; that a cow drinks 50 gallons of water and eats 100 pounds of feed per day, and produces 6.3 gallons of milk daily.

The topic at nearly every table was the price of milk, which they said was half of what it was a year ago; one farmer blamed the "antiquated" federal program that reimburses farmers but that reflects a reality that no longer exists.

The night got a lift when six contestants for Miss American Guernsey Association 2009 came on stage to explain how Guernseys had changed their lives. Every table in the hall had a plate of cheeses, and every table had carafes of milk, which nearly everyone drank. This was one dinner where wine and beer ran a distant second.