SANDIA, Texas — It's a passion that's been in the Knolle family for nearly a century: dairy farming.
"We're in it for the cows!" President of the company, Joe Knolle Junior, said.
Joe Junior grew up on the thousands of acres, and eventually, he left to pursue other dreams. Somehow he was called back to work on the farm.
"This is what we know, I mean we've all gone off we've all done different things with our lives, but I felt a calling to come back with my wife, and we're just blessed to have this opportunity," he said.
Knolle said dairy farming isn't easy, especially in South Texas weather conditions. Nonetheless, they've stuck to their family values and processes to produce high-quality milk.
In recent years, Knolle said the dairy industry has struggled; raw milk's price has increased while the demand for milk has decreased.
"It means a lot of problems, and we're not really sure where it's gonna end, the processors are having some trouble keeping up with the huge supply of milk that's coming through the pipeline, and they're also looking at some lower margins now because the price of wholesale milk has increased," he said.
With a lack of demand and one of their buyers, Borden Dairy, filing bankruptcy, Knolle Dairy Farms has had to think outside of the box.
"We are concerned, they are our customer. However, we've got some other things we're working on too, to diversify and not have all of our eggs in one basket," Joe Jr. said.
While he didn't disclose what their new project is, Joe Junior did say it involves farm to table elements and distribution to nearby cities, such as Corpus Christi.
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