Sharing her dairy story

MANANNAH, Minn. — Even though Paige Frenchick grew up on a dairy farm, she had not heard of the dairy princess program. That was until a chance encounter in high school led her on a path towards the Princess Kay of the Milky Way program and getting her likeness carved in butter as a finalist.

“I was at the county fair … milking one of our cows in the parlor and a lady started asking me some questions,” Frenchick said. “Then, a past Meeker County Dairy Princess came up to me and said I should consider running for Meeker County Dairy Princess.”

The following spring, Frenchick chose to run for Meeker County dairy royalty. She was crowned a dairy ambassador, then a junior princess, and has been the Meeker County Dairy Princess for the past two years.

“I absolutely fell in love with the (princess) program,” Frenchick said.

In May, Frenchick was selected as one of 10 Princess Kay of the Milky Way finalists. Each of the finalists will compete again in August, and the winner will be announced Aug. 20, the day before the Minnesota State Fair begins.

“I am looking forward to getting to know the other finalists, meeting new people and working on my professional skills,” Frenchick said. “The princess program has already provided this for me, but I am excited to see where being a finalist will take me and help me to improve those skills.”

Frenchick is the daughter of Melissa Tessmer and Josh Frenchick.

“My favorite dairy princess events are any that we go to daycare groups and school visits where I get to talk to kids,” Frenchick said. “We have Jerseys on our farm, so I like to talk about that, and I always get the question, ‘Do they give chocolate milk?’ It’s so fun to see the gears turning in their head, and knowing that they are absorbing the information you tell them is nice. I feel like those are the ones you make the biggest impact with.”

The Frenchick family milks 28 Jersey cows in a tiestall barn near Eden Valley. The family had been renting a barn to milk their cows while housing the youngstock at their own farm site for 10 years. In 2018 the family made the necessary repairs to the barn on the farm site and was able to move their cows home.

On the farm, Frenchick helps her family by milking, feeding and bedding the cows.

“We are a small farm, so I jump around (to) help with a lot of tasks,” Frenchick said.

Aside from helping on the farm, Frenchick showed dairy cattle, judged dairy cattle and participated in dairy bowl in 4-H and judged dairy cattle in FFA while in high school. Frenchick’s dairy bowl team won the state 4-H contest in 2023 and advanced on to nationals.

Participating in these organizations led Frenchick to attend the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where she is a sophomore majoring in biology.

“I plan to go into dairy cattle genetics and reproductive services, and I hope to continue dairy farming,” Frenchick said.