By Matt Reese
Things are definitely different at the Ohio State Fair this year. With county fairs around the state running pretty much business as usual, the Ohio State Fair is open to exhibitors only no general public. The 2021 Ohio State Fair also has far fewer food vendors, no midway rides or games and is free admission, with visitors only paying to park.
“It is definitely different around here, but everybody is so happy to be back. The parents the judges everybody is so excited to be here. They are excited to see live cows, they don’t have to watch live streams and they can be here,” said Dyllan Knoll, a 17-year-old dairy exhibitor from Huron County. “It is different without actual spectators. Of course we don’t have the Dairy Center with the Butter Cow open. As a little kid it was so fun for me to go and see those sculptures. It is different but everybody is making the best of it around here.”
By Matt Reese
It has been a long road to get to making cheese “approachable” for Scott and Andrea Siefring-Robbins of Hamilton County.
Both share a family history including dairy production and a passion for good food. With breweries springing up in urban centers around the state showcasing their production process for customers to see first-hand, it seemed like a similar business model could be used for cheese.
“The light bulb hit for us when we were on a wine trip in California. We visited a cheesemaker and we had never seen cheese so approachable. It was a rural environment and people were visiting the manufacturing location and retail shop. It occurred to us we could do a version of that in an urban environment in Cincinnati,” said Andrea Siefring-Robbins, owner of Urban Stead Cheese. “We wanted to highlight the craft that goes into the cheese industry and, behind that, the dairy industry. We are making world-class artisanal cheese, providing an educational platform
By Matt Reese
For anyone who has met the Bohl family, it is readily apparent that they love their Jersey cows. And now, thanks to a unique partnership with Urban Stead Cheese, a growing population of Cincinnati and the surrounding region loves Bohl’s Jerseys as well.
Donald “Dick” and Kay Bohl now work on the farm milking 220 Jerseys with their sons Kelly and Dusty and Dusty’s wife Amy. The family has farmed their land in southern Highland County for three generations and dairy is a way of life.
“I have been raising cattle and showing cattle for most of my life,” said Dusty Bohl. “We have a free stall barn with fresh bedding every other day with straw. Pens are scraped twice a day. We follow Ohio Department of Agriculture regulations and we are inspected every 5 to 6 months. We raise corn, beans and hay to feed the cows. We also bring in hay from Nebraska to get the right quality and quantity. In southern Ohio it is hard to grow enough alfalfa for what we need. We
By Matt Reese
On July 12, Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 52, which limits landowner’s abilities and opportunities to have wind and solar projects on their property. This is a concern, partly due to the precedent it sets government taking of landowner rights without the consent of the landowner.
Of greater concern for agriculture is the recently introduced House Bill 349, which takes a cue from SB 52 with direct agricultural application. HB 349 enacts “section 903.021 of the Revised Code to prohibit the construction of a new or modification by expansion of an existing concentrated animal feeding facility under certain circumstances.”
These circumstances as spelled out in the bill are:
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