Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Elaine McNorton reaches for an udder while visiting the Shatto Milk Co.

OSBORN, Mo. — Five years ago Leroy Shatto hoped his herd would remain profitable long enough to build up his idea of a glass-bottle dairy.

He never dreamed the cows would turn into a tourist attraction.

Shatto Milk Co. will hold its annual Family Day at the Farm from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Almost 6,000 people attended last year’s event. The dairy welcomes visitors on the other 364 days of the year as well, and nearly 40,000 people turned out for tours in 2007. The statistics compare favorably with St. Joseph’s largest museums.

The visitors provide a nice change from the old days, when Mr. Shatto sold his milk to larger dairies and worked the cows in anonymity.

“I’ve talked to cows for so many years. It’s kind of nice talking to people,” Mr. Shatto said.

Shatto’s formula of glass bottles and milk with no added hormones gained popularity quickly throughout the Kansas City area. Mr. Shatto suspected that a few customers might want to see where their milk came from, so he included a country store in the plans from the start. A window up the stairs behind the cash register lets visitors watch as workers bottle the milk. As groups grew larger, Mr. Shatto started giving tours.

“Not very many people climb the stairs these days because they see it better on the tour,” Mr. Shatto said.

The farm draws a diverse mix of people to rural Clinton County, including a group that came all the way from China.

“It’s so much fun to be here on Saturday or Sunday because you don’t know who is coming,” Mr. Shatto said.

Marci Bennett, executive director of the St. Joseph Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the organization often points visitors to sites outside St. Joseph like Shatto through the bureau’s membership in the Pony Express Regional Tourism Commission.

“We have more and more tourists and tour groups that are interested in the agritourism market,” Ms. Bennett said. “These people don’t know the difference between Buchanan County or Clinton County or Worth County, so we try to show them all of the great places we have that are just one tank of gas away.”

Mr. Shatto doesn’t know how many people will make the trip for Saturday’s family day. The crowd could be large if the rain holds off. But on Thursday, Mr. Shatto had other concerns. Workers needed to finish laying cement outside his new barn and the delivery man still hadn’t showed up with the new ice cream freezer.

That’s right. Shatto Ice Cream. Mr. Shatto said he hopes to have samples available Saturday, but the product will not hit stores until the company can tweak its recipe a bit. Shatto refuses to sell a product unless it’s the best in Northwest Missouri.

“When we first started this I thought I might make enough money to slow down a bit, but we just keep adding on,” he said. “I’m busier than ever.”

Clinton Thomas can be reached at clintonthomas@npgco.com.

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WHAT

Family Day at the Farm

WHEN

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday

WHERE

Shatto Milk Co., south of U.S. Highway 36 on State Highway 33; north of State Highway 116 on Highway 33.