Just south of the Village of Oxford, nestled alongside county Road 32, John and David Marshman have co-managed the Marshman Dairy Farms for nearly two decades. The family-owned agribusiness has been passed down through the generations for well over a century, with each generation taking on a slightly different approach to keep with demand of the ever-changing dairy industry.

On Monday, I ventured from the walls of my cubicle at The Evening Sun office to Oxford to lend a helping hand in the dairy parlor of Marshman Farms, thanks to the generosity – and patience – of John Marshman and his employees who tackle the day-to-day operations down on the farm. Having only a little farm work experience of my own, I can’t say I was especially confident about working in a dairy, and I knew enough not to expect to see a 19th century milkmaid milking cows using nothing but a bucket, a milking stool and her cold, bare hands.

“Everything we do every day is designed to fill the tanks with high-quality milk,” Marshman told me. “From start to finish, we have that one goal in mind.”