Teen looks to use new title to spread the gospel of dairy

Ella Fell studied her show heifer, Ima, on Sunday at Valley-Ho Farm in Middletown.

Ella, 16, of Braddock Heights, was getting ready to trim the cow that she plans on showing at The Great Frederick Fair, which starts on Friday.

The grooming was being overseen by the farm’s co-owner Chris Derr, who leases the animal to Ella through 4-H for showing.

“She looks good,” Ella said.

Ella then pulled her hair into a neat ponytail, using a tie borrowed from Jamie Derr, Chris’s wife and the other owner of the farm.

Ella approached the heifer in her square-toed boots, clipper in hand.

“Don’t cut her tail off,” Chris Derr said with a laugh.

On Aug. 30, Ella, a junior at Middletown High School, was selected to be the Maryland Dairy Princess.

Though her family does not own a farm or any livestock, she has been working with the Derrs, tending to the cows and flowers, since middle school.

Her mom, Valerie Fell, joked that because the Derrs have two boys, Ella is the daughter they never had.

The younger Fell works at Valley-Ho with the Derrs a couple of times a week.

She has a busy schedule with school, also working at South Mountain Creamery, having a leadership role in three different local 4-H clubs and serving as president of the Middletown chapter of Future Farmers of America.

“It’s pretty hectic. I gotta go week by week,” Ella said of all of the responsibilities. “I’m like, ‘Don’t talk to me [about anything that’s] three weeks out. I gotta stay in this week.’ But somehow, I manage to ride my horse three times a week and go to shows.”

But she has also enjoyed getting to talk dairy with all the people she has met through these various avenues. The state Dairy Princess title even allowed her to meet state Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Atticks and Gov. Wes Moore at the state fair.

“I would not have imagined that five years ago,” she said.

HUMAN CONNECTION

The Maryland Dairy Princess Association is a dairy advocacy and educational organization, said Mackenzie Jones, a coordinator with the organization who was, herself, the 2016 state Dairy Princess.

She said that while owning a farm or interacting with farmers directly was common for previous generations, that human connection to the dairy industry has waned.

“Whatever they see online is what they think,” Jones said of how the public receives information pertaining to milk.

She said the competition is for a young woman, age 16 to 22, who can attend events, “tell their dairy story and be relatable.”

Four finalists were selected from different regions. Ella won Best Presentation as she earned the Maryland Dairy Princess title.

“An ideal candidate would be someone who’s outgoing, who has dairy knowledge, but can also spark up a conversation and educate,” Jones said.

Being extroverted and speaking in public did not come naturally to Ella, according to her mom. Valerie Fell said her daughter had a hard time looking people in the eye when she was younger and was very shy.

But on the farm, it was a different story.

“She’s really a natural with animals,” Valerie said. “She just took to it.”

Ella said the combination of her love for living things has helped her overcome her earlier shyness.

“I feel like just getting my passion out has been the biggest thing,” she said. “If I mess up, I mess up. But at the end of the day, it’s just getting my passion for the [dairy] industry out.”

Ella said she hopes to use her newfound platform to bring others into the community of agriculture and dairy farming, just like how the Derr family did with her.

Her older brother played on a soccer team with one of the Derrs’ kids. Jamie Derr then offered to pay Ella for helping around the farm.

Ella said she started with the flower side of the business before working with cows. Valley-Ho sells flowers at farmers markets around the county, in addition to having approximately 140 head of cattle on their property, according to Jamie Derr.

“She’s definitely another member of their family here, they taught her to drive the tractor and she milks and she feeds and beds cows down,” Valerie said. “The dairy industry is a very tight community.”

Though the Fell family does not own a farm, Ella managed to carve a path with the support of fellow farmers.

She said she was unsure where she might want to take her journey next, but she knows it will have something to do with animals.

Ella said she was eyeing colleges with animal science programs. She thinks she wants to either become a dairy farmer herself or possibly a veterinarian.

Wherever she goes from here, representing the dairy community as Maryland Dairy Princess will allow her to invite more people into the community, just like the Derrs did for her.

“It’s huge for her to be able to network with so many people in the ag industry through this new, state dairy princess opportunity,” Valerie said. “God’s really opened up a lot of doors.”