Location: Neosho, Mo.
Owners: John and Kay King
History: In August 1977, John King bought a dairy supply company and started Seneca Dairy Supply.
“At that time, I was hauling milk and had the opportunity to buy it from another milk hauler,” John recalled. “I wanted to be in business for myself.”
John added when Seneca Dairy began, it had several competitors, but as the dairy industry dwindled in the area, so did the number of dairy supply companies.
“Very few people do what we do,” John said.
Products and services: Just as it has for 46 years, Seneca Dairy Supply makes monthly deliveries of dairy supplies, such as cleaning products and teat dips, to farms within a 100-mile radius of Neosho, Mo.
“We still offer those conventional milking supplies,” John said. “We sell and service all types of equipment. We’re still a Mueller dealer and take care of tanks, and we are a GEA dealer.”
Advances in dairy industry technology have changed much of the customer base, and what Seneca Dairy Supply offers. It is Lely dealer, which offers robotic miking systems.
“Robotic milking is the future. Robotics give opportunities for children to continue because they don’t have to go to the barn twice a day like Mom and Dad did,” John said.
They also install Lely’s robotic feeding systems, like the Vector.
“It’s got a kitchen, and your fill that kitchen, and it feeds the cows on its own,” John said. “With the robotics, it’s not just milking the cows; we have so many management tools. Dairying is a business and needs managed for survival.”
John sees the dairy industry leaning more toward robotics, and his team area continues to train on new products, who intern help the dairy farmers learn their new systems.
“The future is in technology in all fields of agriculture,” he said.
The dairy industry may change, but the commitment to all dairy farmers has not changed in 46 years.
“We have a big double 30 in Wagoner, Okla., that we take care of, and a 32-cow rotary in Golden City, but we do whatever the dairyman needs, down to the one-cow bucket milkers,” John said. “We are a full supply and service business. We’ve always been concerned about cow care. The concept is the same for conventional, smaller milkers or the bigger milkers; pulsation, vacuum rates and that type of stuff is appropriate. No matter what system they’ve got, we want to make sure it’s functioning properly and will milk cows.”
