Malorie Thorson, the 72nd Princess Kay of the Milky Way, has every intention of returning to her family’s sixth-generation dairy farm in Wright County, Minn.
“Dairy has always been a part of our story, so it’s just been really cool to see that legacy continue on,” Thorson said as she sat in the 40-degree F rotating cooler as Gerry Kulzer sculpted her likeness into a 90-pound block of butter during the second day of the Minnesota State Fair.
Her family’s dairy farm near Waverly, Minn., originated in 1874 and has adopted many new innovations and technologies, but cow care and commitment to the industry has remained steadfast.
Thorson is a junior at South Dakota State University, majoring in dairy production with minors in leadership and agribusiness. She hopes earning these degrees will help her “be able to better understand the knowledge that it takes to fully run a dairy farm, to be able to take care of the animals, but also take care of the consumers and all the employees involved.”
As the face of the Minnesota dairy industry over the next year, Thorson will make public appearances telling the dairy story. She says a major part of this story highlights how sustainable dairy farms are becoming, something she has firsthand experience with on her family’s farm.
“Since my farm has been in our family for so long, we have put in a lot of effort to make sure that we are setting ourselves up for the future … being able to take care of the land properly, take care of our animals properly and also just financially be that steward so that we can create a legacy and a career path for so many other people,” she says.
The Thorson dairy cows are crossbred Swedish Reds and Montbéliarde, “and then a little bit of Brown Swiss if I can convince my mom to buy some,” she says. “We have found that the Swedish Red and Montbéliardes, they’re used to the cold, so they are able to still eat outside during the cold winter, but then also be able to adapt to the climate of the hot summers of Minnesota.”
Milk from their farm goes to First District Association in Litchfield, Minn., where it is made into cheese, and lactose and whey powders.
Speaking of dairy products, Thorson’s favorite is cheese. “I love the versatility of it and being able to try all the different flavors and just kind of mix and match however I please.”
She is also quick to admit that you cannot go wrong with ice cream, and being a true SDSU student, she says cookies and cream is her favorite flavor, as the flavor originated on the Brookings campus in the late 1970s.
The daughter of Andrew and Colette Thorson bested nine other finalists for the Princess Kay crown.
Alexis Hoefs of New Prague, representing Le Sueur County, and April Klaphake of Sauk Centre, representing Stearns County, were selected as runners-up.
Hoefs, Natalie Clemenson of Zumbrota, representing Goodhue County, and Nicole Hauschildt of Zumbro Falls, representing Wabasha County, were named scholarship winners. Lauren Steffl of Sleepy Eye, representing Brown County, was named Miss Congeniality.