It’s Thursday afternoon, the Mississippi weather is unpredictable as usual, and I am on my way to the Brown Dairy Farm.
Located about a 15 minute drive from the Ole Miss campus, the dairy farm is nestled just off of a lightly trafficked highway between several other lush, green fields and humble-looking homes.
Driving down the gravel driveway, I had little to no expectations of my visit to this famous farm (it’s been covered by The New York Times). Even though I grew up in Mississippi, I honestly can’t remember the last time I was on a farm.
After pulling up right next to the Brown family's house, I was welcomed and led to a small shed about 20 yards from the house. One of the farmers pointed toward a small set of stairs that led about five feet below ground. I hesitantly walked down the steep steps and waited.
Without warning, five cows weighing over 1,000 pounds each enter the shed in a uniformed row for their afternoon milking. It was at this time that I found myself eye level with their five sets of utters, a unique experience to say the least.
One of the farmers explained to me how the 30 to 40 cows on the farm get milked twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
After I experienced the relatively quick milking process, I was set free to roam the rest of the farm. Having never been on a farm like this before, I was kind of clueless.
Luckily, a group of teenaged girls (the farmer’s daughters) saw my struggle and offered to give me a personal tour.
First up on the tour was the cutest little lamb I had ever seen in my life. I heard the lamb way before I saw it. The clumsy little guy was only a couple of week old and was still trying to figure out the whole walking thing.
Then, I was taken to the edge of the earth to visit with the pigs. To get to the smelly guys we had to jump several fences and walk what seemed like a mile dodging the occasional cow shit to a spacious pen in the back corner of the field.
I knew I was getting close when I heard the squeals of the baby pigs and I smelled probably one of the worst smells I had ever experienced in my entire life. I cannot put into words what my nose was forced to endure, but my eyes began to water and I couldn’t stop gagging.
Although the pigs smelled so bad, the girls explained to me that pigs are some of the cleanest animals, and the several dozen pigs that they raised on the farm all used the bathroom in one corner of the pen.
After visiting with the pigs, I was taken to see the big man himself, Jimmy Dean. This guy was HUGE. Mr. Dean is literally the size of a small minivan, and was apparently the family pet at one time, sleeping in the house and chilling on the sofa.
When I asked the girls how much homeboy weighed, they gave me answers varying from 500 pounds to 5,000 pounds. Either way, that’s a fat ass pig.
While we were visiting with Jimmy Dean, the bottom fell out of the sky. We were what seemed like miles from civilization, but it was kind of invigorating being in an open field just chillin’ in the rain with a couple of pigs.
After a couple minutes of heavy rain, the sky decided to clear up and we made our way back to the house to “play with the cows.”
I didn’t know you could play with cows, but the girls assured me they all had great personalities.
When we got to the cow field, it looked like I had walked straight into a scene from “Home on the Range.” There were about 10 to 15 cows, varying in color, just hanging out and eating grass. You know, doing what cows do.
I was introduced to Snowflake, Candy and Rainbow. Although I quickly forgot who was who, it was clear that each one had her own unique personality.
One cow loved the camera, and knew exactly how to pose so that her double chin wouldn’t show. One cow kept her distance, but I swear every time I turned around she was giving me the side-eye.
The other cow was playing with one of the family dogs. It was honestly one of the cutest things I had ever seen. The puppy would paw and the cow would frolic and nudge the dog with her nose.
With a crack of lightening, and thunder that soon followed, I took that as a sign it was my time to go. All in all, the experience was great. I would definitely recommend taking the short drive out there just to see what a real family farm is like. Also, the chocolate milk is A+ so definitely try to get your hands on some of that.