Arizona Republic/September 4th

Awesome article in the Arizona Republic

by Angelique Soenarie - Sept. 4, 2008 02:31 PMThe Arizona Republic

Casey Stechnij is carrying his family's legacy one dairy product at a time.
The 1989 Gilbert High graduate owns Superstition Dairy Farms in east Mesa. A third-generation dairy farmer, he's finding ways to stay in business through farm tours, cheese, butter and an ice cream store in Gilbert.
Situated on 30 acres, Stechnij's is one of 88 dairy farms in Arizona. He oversees 1,000 cows, and knows each by number and personality. And with subdivisions and big-box retailers cropping up closer, being a farmer is tough.

"Traditionally farms have to get bigger, and as margins shrink and as costs increase farmers have had to do it by buying more land and getting more cows. And where we are out here, we're not able to expand any more. So we had to look at ways to diversify to survive our business," said Stechnij, 36.

"The other option would be to sell our land and move somewhere else to expand our dairy operation. But being a fourth-generation native of Mesa, this is my home and I like to stay here. And I think the community does, too," he said.

Two years ago, Stechnij began offering farm tours to urban dwellers. His hayride tours start at the barn and educate visitors on how milk is produced. The tour ends in front of Mooster's Mootique, with its homemade ice cream, cheese, butter and other cow and farm-themed gifts. Visitors can pet and feed goats, rabbits, chickens and a horse. The store also serves as a forum for other farmers to sell their homemade specialty products such as salsa, jams and pasta.
"To open up our place and share it with the community was an important part of our new direction," he said.

All proceeds from his side business go back into the farm. According to Stechnij, a milk producer receives 25 to 30 percent of the retail price of milk sold.
Expanding off the farm "Farms like to have a lot of space around them, but you work with what you have," he said.

But recently Stechnij took it a step further and opened a dessert shop a year ago in Gilbert called Udder Delights at Val Vista Drive and Warner Road. "We really wanted this to be a part of the community," he said. "It's where we can take ingredients off the farm and put into desserts and treats." The milk is taken to the local cooperative in Tempe where it is pasteurized and bottled.
Stechnij, then buys the milk from the cooperative. He makes daily more than dozen flavors from cotton candy to Oreo mint. "I can see it being a huge part of our operations. I can see Udder Delights being just as important making a finished product just as the cows are making the raw product," Stechnij said. He's responding to increasing cost of producing milk.
"You look at what a car costs, what a house costs. And you start translating that into farm equipment and land prices. Look at what a gallon of milk costs over the last 20 years. It's stayed very stagnant and we've seen very little changes. We're getting paid the same for our milk while our costs are increasing. And that's why farms have got to get bigger or diversify or sell out," he said.

Stechnij is hopeful of his budding dairy business and sees a bigger picture.
"We're in our infancy stage, but year after year our reliance on the cows to make the money and to support our families is going to be less as we see our diversified products," he said of his farm tours, specialty boutique and ice cream shop. "That is going to be the future of our farm for sure."