Three hilarious sisters on a dairy farm belt out Journey as they tend to the cows

From The Git Up Challenge to the Quarantine Challenge, the world sure is happy to watch folks strut their stuff on social media.

But The Dairy-Off? That’s one we hadn’t heard of until recently.

So it begins

In 2018, Katie Dotterer-Pyle, a dairy farmer from Maryland, first posted a video of herself dancing in her barn on Facebook. Then her friend Jessica Peters from Pennsylvania got involved.

On March 25th, the first #DairyDanceOff was born.

Facebook - Spruce Row Farms Source: Facebook - Spruce Row Farms

The video was captioned:

“Last week, a friend of mine Katie Dotterer-Pyle of Cow Comfort Inn Dairy, posted a video of her version of stress relief. Cole and I immediately responded with our own dance video and an idea was born.
Watch the video to accept our #DairyDanceOff challenge then share it! Help us show the world that even though we’re going through a rough patch, you can’t keep a good farmer down.”

Facebook - Spruce Row Farms Source: Facebook - Spruce Row Farms

Up to the challenge

The Wright Family are third-generation dairy farmers in Dekalb, New York. John and Nichole Wright have three daughters, Madisyn, Bailey, Peyton. It was the kids who decided to get in on the challenge.

YouTube - Watertown Daily Times Source: YouTube - Watertown Daily Times

Dairy farming is hard work, so everyone needs to blow off a little steam from time to time, even if they’re just helping out their parents.

But the girls’ video was so special that it spread around the world, viewed by over 20 million people on Facebook and another quarter million on YouTube within weeks of being posted. That’s because it’s adorable.

YouTube - Watertown Daily Times Source: YouTube - Watertown Daily Times

Don’t Stop Believing

Of course, from the opening seconds of an iconic song, you know you’re not going to turn it off. Has anyone ever clicked away from Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'”?

That’s right, the girls chose the ultimate classic for their singing and dancing routine – the 2-minute and 40-second-long video was filmed in the family’s dairy barn with cows in the background as they sang and danced with abandon.

YouTube - Watertown Daily Times Source: YouTube - Watertown Daily Times

According to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise:

“The girls made the video as part of #DairyDanceOff that was started to raise awareness about low milk and cattle prices and the tough time faced by farmers.”

Newfound fame

Farmers don’t let fame go to their heads. After all, they know there are more long days ahead, even if they stop for a little fun in between. But the girls were tickled that their fun video got so much attention.

YouTube - Watertown Daily Times Source: YouTube - Watertown Daily Times

“It’s crazy, because my friends come over and say, ‘You’re famous; can we have a VIP pass to get in your barn?’” Madisyn said. “I’m just like, I’m the same person I was before.”

Soon, their parents were waking up to thousands of messages on Facebook. Their daughters were particularly big in the UK!

Going viral and international

John Wright told the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that once the video was picked up by the Irish Post, they were inundated with friend requests.

“This video is huge in Ireland and the United Kingdom. I had someone contact me last night from Scotland. He said he was having a terrible day, watched the girls’ video and wanted to say thanks,” Mr. Wright said.

YouTube - Watertown Daily Times Source: YouTube - Watertown Daily Times

But the goal wasn’t to get famous.

“Right now, the dairy industry is in a crisis,” Mr. Wright said. “This Dairy Dance Off was kind of designed to bring positivity to a negative time, that’s all it was for. We don’t want the story to be three little girls who went viral and that’s it. We want it to be three little girls who went viral with a message.”

Driving home the message

The #DairyDanceOff is about fun for sure, but the larger message is about bringing attention to the struggling dairy industry. The Wright family hopes that seeing their video will also help people realize that they need to support their local dairy farmers.

“The exposure for the girls has been fun and it’s been uplifting, but the exposure for the Dairy Dance Off is what it’s about. We’re trying to raise awareness for the dairy crisis that we’re in right now,” Mr. Wright said.

At the time, a dairy surplus was forcing farms to dump some of their milk, costing big bucks. So perhaps “Don’t Stop Believin'” was the perfect tune to pump them up.

Be sure to watch the video below for yourself. It’ll be hard not to sing along!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: YouTube – Watertown Daily Times, Facebook – Nichole Countryman Wright, US Dairy, Adirondack Daily Enterprise

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