GOLDEN YEARS OF DAIRY

It’s not exactly what you expect from royalty, but for Kathy Zeman, being Princess Kay was more about the cows and less about being a princess.

“Put me in a show ring, I’m fine, but not the princess stuff. It’s not my cup of tea,” said Zeman. “I just wasn’t princessy enough.”

It’s kind of an ironic twist for Zeman who found herself showcased on a statewide platform after being crowned the first ever Princess Kay of the Milky Way from Steele County in 1976. For one year as an 18-year-old farm girl from rural Ellendale, Zeman traveled all corners of the state serving as the highest profile ambassador of Minnesota’s dairy industry.

In the years after serving as Princess Kay, Zeman was one of the first to advocate for the program to ditch the crown and banner. “It’s a distraction,” she said. However, her suggestion has never gained steam as Princess Kay still wears a banner and crown today.

Three other Steele County women have gone on to become Princess Kay since Zeman, including Kari Schroht Reuvers in 1978, Kristy Mussman in 2008 and Jena Hanson, who was crowned last month.

“Princess Kay was kind of a blur. It was shear tear. Oh my God moment,” she said recalling when she was crowned. She wore a black gown which she remembered Ev Stransky made her wear it. Zeman had no fancy fingernails or make up.

“I was the least qualified to be Princess Kay,” Zeman said. “I loved my cows and that’s the only reason I ran.” 

Zeman said she had a great experience during her reign as Princess Kay, but she has one confession. “I followed through with being a princess, but I wanted to just focus on the cows. I tolerated it, but I did not like the limelight,” she said during a recent interview in her kitchen decked out with what else but cows.

She laughs now about how many banquet meals she had to eat while being Princess Kay. “Do you know how many times I had to gag down fruit cocktail,” Zeman said, noting she was raised by her parents that you eat all your food and not waste anything.

Dairy folks in Steele County, Zeman said, were instrumental in grooming young women to become county princesses as well as Princess Kay. “We were trained on how to be a princess,” she said. “We called it a charm school. We got taught how to sit, stand, eat, walk and talk.”

The following year Zeman became the National Holstein Girl. “Everything happened in those years. It was a fun time,” she said.

One of her favorite highlights came in 1977 when she took part in a milking contest with Bobby Randall, a then Minnesota Twins player. For the record, Zeman beat Randall in the contest, which isn’t surprising for a woman who grew on a dairy farm.

Zeman’s 90-pound butterhead, which has always been a trademark of the Princess Kay program, was divided with half going to Litomysl and the other half to Marion School.

She holds the distinction of being the only Princess Kay in the Zeman family. Her younger sisters, Liz and Kateri, were runners-up in 1988 and 1992.

Steele County’s dairy princess program began in 1953, a year before Princess Kay started.

Zeman has advice for other women seeking to become Princess Kay. “Know your industry and practice speaking. Get to know the business side of it,” she said. “Be more than just a figure head.”

Asked what Princess Kay did for her, Zeman said: “It gave me a platform. It gave me opportunities that did not exist like scholarships.” She said she took advantage of everything she was given and now throughout her life has focused on paying back in some way.

Looking back on the Princess Kay days, Zeman said she was young and naïve. “I love to grow old,” she said. “I’ve evolved as a human being.”

She credits the early leaders of agriculture in Steele County for her success. Some of them included Brad Rugg, Larry Tande, Jeff Hawkins and Russ Gute. “They created programs that allowed us to grow. They made me who I was. We were just a bunch of dorks,” she said. “The 1970s were not easy years. They were tough but we all hung in there.”

“We had a typical dairy farm with 200 acres, 32 cows and some sheep and hogs,” Zeman said. “We grew up in the golden age of agriculture.” Her parents, Dick and Joanne Zeman, had 12 children “so he had a good work force.” She chuckles about how mom and dad raised independent, mouthy children. “That’s their fault, not mine. We are all like this,” she says hinting that her mouthiness remains one of her most notable traits today.

Zeman also credits her father for instilling the love of cows into her. “He was a master livestock breeder,” she said.

A half century later, that love continues with Zeman. She has owned Simple Harvest Farm Organics near Nerstrand since 2006 where she has 20 acres of “very slopey, highly erodible land.” She battles severe soil erosion with roots popping up all over.

“I always knew I wanted to farm,” she said, noting she previously owned a farm near Meriden.

The full-time farmer has sheep, dairy goats, hens, turkeys and ducks. Zeman grows grass to “throw the livestock out there to feed them.” She said she is not considered a dairy farmer, though she milks the goats.

“I have a certified organic program with no drugs and no chemicals,” she said. “We don’t need them.”

Besides farming, Zeman has a strong background in ag business. In her earlier years after attending the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, she worked for semen and feed companies. She also worked for the University of Minnesota Extension in Steele County during the 1980s.

For the past three years she has been involved with Wifery, an exploding popular educational program that teaches practical, hands-on livestock veterinary skills to farmers and animal owners. Zeman is one of six co-founders of the program. “We’re losing vets that want to deal with large livestock,” she said.

Since 2012, Zeman has been the executive director of the Minnesota Farmers Market Association, which during her reign has increased the number of farmers markets across the state from 208 to 404. “My goal is to have 1,000 so that everybody has food to feed their communities,” she said.

MFFA also trains cottage food producers across the state focusing on food safety.

“I know how to help people. I need to help others,” Zeman says. “I was given a lot and I will give back.”

Aside from farming, Zeman focused her energy on being a caregiver for her brother, Dominic, who suffered from down syndrome. “He lived in a group home, but that situation did not work out for him. He then lived with me on the farm for 23 years,” she said. “He loved living with his older and bossy sister.”

Dominic died in 2023 after battling dementia in his later years.

Zeman is incredibly happy and proud of what she has accomplished in her lifetime, especially over her later years. “I get to do exactly what I want to do without making many compromises. I have a farm that’s healing the plant,” she said.

But what about Princess Kay?

“She was a part of it. She helped me get here.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, however, Zeman doesn’t consider Princess Kay as being her greatest memory or accomplishment. Rather it’s something that she has worked on since she was 6.

“My cows. I loved my cows.”