Pickens County is Home to a New Dairy Farm in Zion

By Donna Bain
Staff Writer

Circle J Dairy has opened its doors for business in the Zion Community on Highway 159 outside of Gordo, Alabama. The business is family owned by Jessica and Tyler Vails and Jessica’s parents, Robin and Ralph Junkin, Jr.  They held a small grand opening at their farm store on January 1, 2023, and they have been selling out of their farm fresh milk daily ever since. 
The dairy received their cows on December 27, 2022, and they began milking them at that time to build up their stock of milk to sell. The farm store opened on January 2, 2023. 
The families are bottling 135 gallons of milk every other day from their Jersey and Holstein cows, and they are selling out every time. Their milk is available in their farm store in Zion, at Ashmore’s Fine Foods in Reform, Alabama, at Shop and Save and Sav-Mor in Vernon, Alabama, at Shop and Save in Fayette, Alabama, at Piggly Wiggly in Gordo, Alabama, and at Beard’s in Gordo, Alabama. They are also selling their milk at Mark’s Mart in Northport, Alabama. More businesses want to carry the milk, but they have a waiting list until they can buy more cows.
“We’re milking 14 cows,” said Ralph Junkin, Jr. “We’ve got three more cows bought, and we’re going to Tennessee to a couple that has some really good jersey cows. We didn’t know how many we were going to need to begin with. Luckily, we haven’t been able to keep the milk.”