Making Milk for the People

By Corban R.

While many kids dream of being a famous YouTuber, singer, rapper, or author, Mark O. does not share these dreams. Other kids want to have vaults filled with 24k gold, and a huge house all to themselves. Mark prefers the simple life of living on a dairy. Along with 10,000 cows and a bright red Ferrari.

To you, Mark must seem a bit out of the ordinary. Not many twelve-year-olds want to live on a farm anymore; most grow up in the fast lane of life and stay there. However, Mark likes the simplicity of life on the dairy. He would like to be the manager who oversaw the whole organization. He would make sure all the cows were well fed and cared for. Big financial decisions would also fall to him.

When we asked him why he wants to run the dairy, he said, “My family has been dairying for four generations in California, and even more back in Holland.” Dairying runs in his family. He learns from his father and mother, and from making observations while riding around the dairy in his dad’s golf cart. He likes that his life would have very few worries.

The farm section of the dairy is 1,300 acres. The entire dairy itself is 40 acres. There are roughly 4,300 cows there, and they usually get 2-3 calves day. Although they lose 1-2 cows every day to old age and other various problems, the dairy is always growing. He hopes that one day, he will have 10,000 cows total. This would be a huge checkpoint in his rather different, but vital career.

Even though Mark prefers spending his time with cows instead of video games, he still hasn’t left all of city life behind. Fancy sports cars are most kids’ dreams, and Mark is no exception. He wants the iconic Ferrari 488 Pista in his garage along with the tractors and golf cart. Why a Ferrari? “Because I like the design, the sleekness,” Mark said. “I like the way they look. I want the Pista because it’s the last 488 version of the Ferraris. And of course, it would be red.” Apparently he rode in the Pista in Las Vegas, and developed an aspiration for the luxurious car.

Aside from farming, he also enjoys driving around the dairy in his Go-Kart and doing stunts on it. “I drove it yesterday with a flat tire. It was pretty lit,” he recalls with a laugh. “It couldn’t turn right or left.” His main stunts are drifting, and sometimes he makes a dirt course for himself to race on. “I try to see how fast I can go around it,” Mark says. “It’s really fun.”

Even though he does have a few hobbies, there isn’t much spare time left in his days. “I usually go feed my animals, and then take them on their walk. Then I do my homework, eat dinner, and go to bed,” he says. “I really enjoy it.”

Overall, Mark is really looking forward to running the dairy. “It’s a free, calming, and forgiving life.”