In the quiet, gently rolling landscape of Gordo, Ala., the rhythmic hum of a dairy parlor had been absent for nearly three decades. For 27 years, the Junkin family acreage held the memories of a lifestyle that seemed to have vanished with the closing of the twentieth century. But in 2022, that silence was finally broken. The cows are back, the bottles are filling and a new generation is proving the dairy industry in west Alabama isn’t just a part of the past; it is a vibrant, thriving part of the future.
The story of Circle J Dairy is a powerful homecoming — a narrative of a legacy interrupted, a family’s resilience and a bold reimagining of what it means to be a dairy farmer in the 21st century.
A Legacy Interrupted
The roots of Circle J run deep into the Alabama soil, stretching back to 1956. That was the year Ralph Junkin Sr. — known to his family as “Papa” — started milking cows at just 19 years old. He began with a small herd in a little white flat barn that still stands today, a silent witness to the generations that followed.
For nearly 40 years, the Junkin family lived by the clock of the dairy. Jessica Vails’ father, Ralph Junkin Jr., was born 10 years into that journey and grew up with the barn as his classroom. After attending Mississippi State in the 1980s, Ralph Jr. returned to the home place to work alongside his father. At its peak, the original operation milked 200 cows, shipping bulk milk commercially.
However, the mid-1990s brought a perfect storm of low milk prices and rising costs. In 1995, just one year before Jessica and her twin brother, Seth, were born, the family was forced to sell the herd. It was an economic decision, but an emotional tragedy.
“My dad says that was the worst day of their lives,” Vails recalls. “They didn’t want to sell. They loved it. For my papa, everything revolved around those cows.”
The cows left, but the land remained. For nearly 30 years, the Junkins focused on poultry and beef cattle, but the “dairy itch” never truly went away. Papa passed away in 2011, never seeing a Holstein or Jersey return to the home place, but his spirit remained the foundation for what was to come.
The Spark of Reinvention
Vails grew up with the stories of the dairy, but she never expected to be the one to bring it back. While a junior at Mississippi State majoring in agricultural communications, she was at a crossroads. She knew she wanted a career in agriculture, and the lingering tug at returning to her roots pulled deeper and deeper.
Vails’ lightbulb moment came when she read about a woman who had started a direct-to-consumer dairy. She realized the reason her grandfather had been forced out wasn’t a lack of passion — it was a lack of control over the margin.
“We decided that if we were going to do this, we weren’t going to be at the mercy of the bulk milk market,” Vails says. “We were going to be the processors. We were going to own the whole chain.”
This was the birth of the vertical integration model for Circle J. Instead of getting big, they decided to get personal.
Building the All-in-One Dream
The transition to a professional creamery was a family marathon. From July 2021 to December 2022, the family moved dirt and laid the foundation for an all-in-one facility. Under a single roof, they built a modern milking parlor, a state-of-the-art processing plant and a cute farm store.
They started small, milking just 14 cows — mostly Jerseys for their high component levels and rich cream, with a few Holsteins in the mix. But the community’s hunger for local milk was something they underestimated.
“We started selling to the public on Jan. 1, 2023,” Vails says. “We had five delivery spots lined up, and we quickly realized 14 cows wasn’t going to cut it. We had to keep buying cows just to keep up with the demand.”
Today, the herd has grown to nearly 60 head, and Circle J milk can be found in 22 grocery stores, including local Piggly Wigglys, as well as five coffee shops and four restaurants.
The Cream-Line Difference
What makes the Circle J product so special is the commitment to traditional quality. Their milk is not homogenized; it is cream-line milk, where the cream naturally rises to the top.
“Our milk is as pure as you can get,” Vails explains. “Most people like it better than other brands of milk the grocery stores have to offer because ours is vat pasteurized at only 145°F and not homogenized. It also reminds them what real milk used to taste like.”
The farm store opens its doors every Saturday from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Customers don’t just buy milk, chocolate milk and ice cream; they watch the process. Through a large viewing window in the parlor, families watch the cows being milked into glass weight jars — vintage equipment Ralph Jr. salvaged from old dairies to maintain a connection to the past.
A Family’s Resilience
The return of dairy to Circle J Dairy is a true family affair. Vails’ father helps with the cow side of the business – breeding, herd health and record keeping – and her mother serves as foreman of the creamery, as well as helping milk, too. Vails’ husband is also a huge part, lending a helping hand with milking, delivering milk and feeding calves.
“My mom handles the pasteurizing and the ice cream recipes — dutch chocolate, vanilla bean, and butter pecan. I handle the marketing, the labeling and the milking, as well as help with milk deliveries. It takes every one of us to make this operation work,” Vails says.
Watching it all is two-year-old Lula, the fifth generation. Sporting rubber boots, she is already learning the “shoo” of the cows and the rhythm of the parlor. For Vails, seeing Lula in the barn is the ultimate full-circle moment.
“Seeing the next generation learn what we do on a daily basis is the coolest thing ever,” she says. “Lula loves to help feed the bottle calves and help in the milking parlor.”
Reclaimed Legacy
As Circle J Dairy looks toward the future, the goal remains the same: clarity and control. By processing their own product and selling it directly to their neighbors, they have bulletproofed their legacy against the volatility that took their cows away in 1995.
Vails is now the face of dairy in a region that had nearly forgotten what a local milk bottle looked like. She has bridged the gap between her grandfather’s flat milking barn and a modern, tech-forward creamery.
“I think Papa would be down here every single day if he were still with us,” Vails says. “He’d be giving advice and probably trying to help us milk. I just hope we’re making him proud by keeping the roots alive in a new way.”
In Gordo, Ala., the silence has been replaced by the sound of progress. Circle J Dairy isn’t just selling milk; they are selling a return to the land, a connection to the community and the enduring power of a family that refused to let their heritage fade away.
“My dad always says: ‘Just do your best, work hard and it’ll all be fine,’” she says. “We all still try our best to stick to that advice daily, too.”
