By Jessica Keller

The Courier-Herald

It's been a difficult month for Enumclaw dairy farmer John Koopman, but he's hoping things will soon be back to business as usual.

Koopman and his dairy received national attention after it was discovered June 6 a reddish-black, caustic substance was splashed on 10 of his 330 cows, three of which died, drawing local and federal agencies to Enumclaw to investigate.

Since then, Koopman's life and work on the farm haven't been the same.

Everybody from officials at the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington State Department of Agriculture and King County Sheriff's Department officers have descended on his farm to investigate.

He can't count the number of answers he's given media from all over the United States. His phone has been ringing off the hook, and he wishes he could turn it off.

"We're all pretty overwhelmed," Koopman said, adding he never thought this could happen to him or his cows. "This is beyond our imagination."

Almost as incomprehensible and unwelcome as the idea of somebody entering his farm and poisoning his cows, Koopman said, is the notoriety this case has received, as well as the results it has turned up. Koopman found out, from a person from the Homeland Security Department, President Bush has been briefed about the case twice.

"It's like 'Wow, the president knows my name,'" he said, adding he wished it was under different circumstances.

But while the attention and notoriety is unwelcome, the experience harrowing and saddening, Koopman said he is somewhat reassured.

"When I saw who all was involved I felt they were going to get to the bottom of this, which was a good thing," Koopman said.

Steady progress has been made on the mystery of what happened to his cows since the investigation began, much of it revealed last week.

Tissue samples from a cow that died were analyzed at the FDA's Forensic Chemical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and revealed the toxic substance used on Koopman's cows was a "strong, oxidizing chromium compound," according to an FDA press release. The compound was specifically named as chromium 6 - a carcinogen - in other media sources. Chromium and its compounds are used in a variety of ways, including pharmaceuticals and industrial uses.

Since then, the investigation has revealed other leads. No suspect has been identified so far, but it has been reported FBI agents and other authorities have an Algona, Wash., resident as a person of interest, and took personal items from that person's house Thursday. Koopman said he was aware of that development, but didn't want to comment.

Koopman has been surprised how fast all the investigating agencies have produced results. He said the investigation really picked up the past week, beginning June 18, continuing to last Friday.

"But it started June 6, and my life's been upside down ever since," he said.

The investigation has been the hardest on him, Koopman said. While he is glad the investigative agencies have been so thorough, their investigation has "left no stone unturned, and it gets close and personal."

In exploring what happened to his cows, and who did it, and the more information investigators turn up, the more personal it gets for Koopman because more connections are made to his personal life and the people he knows.

"And that's the ugly part of it, that's the hard part, that's the part that hurts," Koopman said.

" You want to think somebody you don't know did it," he said. "I mean, you don't want it to be somebody you know."

But Koopman said as the investigation continued the past week it has been harder to think he might not have a personal connection to the person who hurt his cows. He's not sure what to think anymore, and he doesn't like being suspicious of people.

"It feels like you're almost pointing fingers," he said. "You start to look at people you know and wonder. I don't like that. I don't want to point any fingers."

While this has been a stressful time, Koopman said it was a relief when his milk was cleared by the FDA to enter the milk supply.

"Although I had no doubts that it would be," he said. "All the milk from all the sick cows from the very beginning never hit the milk supply."

According to an FDA press release, milk samples from Koopman's cows - those that were sick and those that were healthy - were tested, and minimal amounts of chromium, less than what is allowed in water by the Environmental Protection Agency, were found in those cows directly exposed.

Even without those results Koopman said he didn't worry anybody would be exposed to any toxic substance because he, and everybody else in the dairy industry, and the Darigold company, which his milk goes to, does everything possible to protect the milk.

"The front line of defense is the common farmer and Darigold," he said.

Koopman said as soon as he realized his cows were hurt and sick, without even knowing what was wrong with them, he separated the sick cows and isolated their milk to keep it apart from the rest of the milk supply.

"All the dairy farmers are like that," he said, adding dairy farmers are concerned about the purity of the milk supply and people's safety before they even think about the cost involved.

"We're willing to sacrifice the money and worry about the repercussions later," Koopman said.

While Koopman said he doesn't have any insurance on his cows, he doesn't feel he has much to worry about when it comes to getting paid for the milk he had to dump.

Koopman lost roughly 27,000 pounds of milk from his 330 cows the first day he discovered the sick cows. He estimates he lost 100,000 pounds total before his milk was allowed to go on the market again, which is roughly $20,000 worth of milk.

But Koopman said the Darigold farmers are a tight community and Darigold is a good company. Koopman said everybody has been supportive of him and he has been amazed at all who care, and they have given him hope that all will be OK, and financially everything will be taken care of.

Koopman is looking to the future and a time when the furor, excitement and attention has died down.

Things are slowly getting back to normal, however. His milk is back in the general supply. His sick cows are much better, Koopman said, and back where they belong, even though they are not producing any milk.

He'd really like a vacation, but doubts he could take one because he has a lot of catching up to do on his farm.

"I'll be glad when I can look back and laugh at it," he said, adding that hasn't been easy for him recently.

"There were times I felt totally overwhelmed and totally alone."

Koopman said throughout this whole ordeal he has appreciated the prayers and support offered from friends and even people he didn't know, stating they were a source of strength when he was feeling alone and unhappy.

"Sometimes it was just overwhelming, all the people who called me up to let me know they cared," he said, wiping tears from his eyes. "I'm just starting to cry."

Jessica Keller can be reached at jkeller@courierherald.com