Dykstra Dairy owner Darin Dykstra welcomed visitors to the family's dairy operation east of Struble Monday evening, sharing the importance of the dairy industry to the area. [Click to enlarge]

The closest most people get to a dairy is the cooler section in the grocery store.

But for the 700 people who slipped on blue plastic boots to walk through Dykstra Dairy on Monday night, they met dairy face-to-face.

The 3,000-head dairy east of Struble hosted a June Dairy Celebration for northwest Iowa. The event included free cheeseburgers, milk and ice cream, a visit from Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and tours of the milking operation.

Ken Less of Merrill shows Jordan Bridgford, 2, of Le Mars some of more than 3,000 Holstein cows that are part of the milking operation at Dykstra Dairy east of Struble. The dairy hosted a June Dairy Celebration on Monday, drawing around 700 visitors. [Click to enlarge]

"We like to educate the public…letting people know where dairy products originate from, that's what I like to do," said Darin Dykstra, the dairy's owner. "We like to be able to see that we take good care of our animals and we care about our land."

The message of the evening was also that dairies are part of the equation when it comes to taking good care of Iowa's economy, too.

Secretary Northey pointed out that Iowa has always been the number three state in the nation in total agricultural income. California led, Texas pulled second. But this year, Iowa upset Texas for the number two spot.

Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey spoke about Iowa's agricultural strength to the visitors that toured Dykstra Dairy on Monday. [Click to enlarge]

"We absolutely have the best farmers. We have folks that do a great job in the state. They make Iowa strong because of agriculture," he said.

That wasn't the only number tossed around Monday.

Brochures cited that Iowa's dairy industry creates 26,000 jobs and pumps more than $1.5 billion into Iowa's economy every year.

Tour guides explained that each Holstein cow on the dairy produces 85 pounds or 10 gallons of milk each day.

And an area farmer noted that each cow represents more than $13,000 that goes back to the local economy.

Dykstra Dairy, which began milking in February 2003, is evidence of that.

Dykstra employs around 32 people, but on top of that, buys corn and hay locally, farms 1,600 acres, purchases distillers grains from ethanol plants, hires local veterinarians, works with local equipment dealers and contracts with custom manure haulers.

The thousands of gallons of milk produced daily are shipped directly to Wells' Dairy in Le Mars.

This is value-added agriculture in action.

And it's fast.

At Dykstra Dairy, close to 300 cows are milked every hour.

Cows are milked three times a day. In the calving barn, a calf is born about every two hours. In addition to the 3,000 milking cows, the dairy hosts 450 dry cows and 600 heifers.

Yet the atmosphere at the dairy is calm. Even with hundreds of blue-shoed visitors young and old walking through the barns, the cows seem at ease.

"It's a showcase dairy," said Kayla Lyon, executive director of the Western Iowa Dairy Alliance (WIDA). "They do a lot of great things here, and they're great people."

WIDA sponsored the June Dairy Celebration along with the Midwest Dairy Association, the Iowa State Dairy Association and the Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers.

"We just want to convey to the public," Dykstra said, "that dairy farmers want to take great care of their livestock and want be good stewards of what we have."