It takes a lot of gumption to break new ground. But that’s just what Tom and Judy McCarty did in 1999, when they made a momentous decision to move their 150-cow dairy farm from Pennsylvania to Rexford, Kan., and expand the herd to 700 cows.
It was a move that ensured their four sons, Mike, Clay, Dave and Ken McCarty, would have a future in the dairy industry.
“I know that my brothers and I wouldn’t be working together today had Mom and Dad not had that vision and courage to [move to Kansas],” Ken McCarty said.
The move to Rexford not only expanded the herd, but it also gave each son room to return to the dairy and find his own place in the family business.
And this year, their work to build on the family’s legacy earned them a spot in Kansas dairy history, as the four brothers were named the 2026 Kansas Distinguished Dairy by Kansas State University and Kansas Farmer magazine. The award was given during the Kansas Dairy annual meeting in February in Dodge City, Kan.
An expanding legacy
Over the past 29 years, McCarty Family Farms has grown its footprint across northwest Kansas and beyond. From the flagship dairy at Rexford, in northwest Kansas, the family has added dairies in Bird City and Scott City, Kan., and Beaver City, Neb.; a condensing plant in Rexford; a partnership in MVP Dairy in Celina, Ohio; and an expansion into grain farming in Kansas.
From building their own milk processing plant and creating a marketing relationship with Danone North America to using technology in their dairies that improves efficiency and cow comfort, the McCarty family approaches innovation with a business eye.
Their processing business ventures, for example, have allowed the family to capture a different market than just shipping raw milk, Ken said.
He said they never forget that all of it starts with the cow, and breeding for better, healthier, more structurally correct cows has paid dividends.
The McCartys are committed to following animal welfare standards with their herd, Ken said, and they stress that importance with every member of their staff.
Ken emphasized that making sure their employees have what they need to succeed is another standard the family sets for themselves.
“The retention rates on our team members are phenomenal,” he said, adding that because they are one of the larger employers in the community, it’s important to the family to support its workers.
Like so many of their peers, the McCarty family has a multigenerational dairy legacy that each brother takes to heart.
All four of the brothers have found their specialties in the family dairy business, building on their inherent talents and skills. Mike and Clay are focused on the dairy farm and crop farming operations. Mike also does a lot of the feed contracting for the dairies, and Clay focuses on the newest dairy’s largest cropping operations.
Dave handles everything to do with accounting and human resources. And Ken’s focus is the processing plant, dairy genetics, environmental sustainability and animal welfare components.
“We have kind of divided and conquered in that regard,” McCarty said. “But we also have team members who have their specialties as well. And this is certainly not something we could do ourselves. It takes a team, takes a family, and we’re pretty happy there isn’t just one of us.”
Eye toward the future
Looking to the next generation, there are 11 younger McCartys ranging in age from 9 to 26 years old, Ken said. And he and his brothers and their spouses strive to not only show them how to be good dairy farmers, but also how to work together as a team.
The family is in the process of determining what structures in the business they need to put into place so their children can have opportunities to grow and succeed. It’s a work in progress, Ken said.
He noted he and his brothers never lose sight that they are custodians of their family’s legacy. He said they saw how their parents worked to build a business with opportunities for them to come home and raise their children in the dairy industry. And as their children grow, Ken and his brothers are mindful of how they’ll bring them on board if they choose the dairy life.
“We want to be the generation that continues to enhance the legacy, to improve it, to do what they did before in that they made the future better for the next generation,” Ken said.
The McCartys are one family that has found expansion opportunities in Kansas, and they see that opportunity continuing for other dairy families.
“I think Kansas is a state that has just absolutely tremendous opportunity in the dairy industry,” Ken said. “You know, years ago, when we looked at moving out here, we had lots of conversations with our dad about the fact that you’re halfway everywhere. You split the coasts, and you split the major populations centers. And as more and more processing moves in, you have the ability to ship less water and more protein, more fat out to the consuming public.
“The other advantage that I think Kansas has that maybe gets kind of undersold at times is extremely ag-friendly communities,” Ken continued, “an ag-friendly government that is pragmatic about how to bring agriculture, animal agriculture in particular, into the state and make it viable.”
The state is in a position to be the dairy epicenter of the future, he said.
“Kansas has been great for our family, and we hope that as good as Kansas has been for our family, that we’ve been able to repay that to some degree,” Ken said. “And I hope to continue to repay it, because we’re proud to be Kansans, and we’re proud to be here.”