Jay Houser works in his barn during the early-morning milking. A small dairy farmer's typical day starts before sunup and often ends after sundown, "but I just love cows," Jay says.

Houser, a past president of the Pennsylvania Holstein Association, has made a success out of his 540-acre farm 20 miles east of State College in Centre County with hard work, astute business dealings, careful breeding, and—perhaps most important—a family that is also committed to dairy farming. With his wife, Mary, son Jim and daughter Karen, who handle most of the milking of their 75 registered Holsteins these days, and another daughter who helps around the farm when needed, Houser’s Penn-Dell Farm is truly a family affair.

Most small dairy farms depend on family labor. “Without your family helping, it’s hard to accomplish anything,” Houser says. “When it’s hard to find somebody reliable to work for eight hours, you just can’t ask somebody to work 12-hour shifts. If Jim had decided not to work on the farm, we couldn’t have stayed in business.”