From left, Madisyn R. Wright, 14, and her sisters, Bailey E. Wright, 12, and Peyton A. Wright, 8, show a video of themselves singing and dancing to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” (Photo — Christopher Lenney, Johnson Newspapers)

DEKALB — Three small-town girls have danced their way into the international spotlight thanks to an upbeat online video that had been watched on Facebook by more than 20 million people and shared more than 220,000 times as of last week.

The girls, Madisyn Wright, 14, and her sisters, Bailey Wright, 12, and Peyton Wright, 8, are singing and dancing to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” in a 2 minute, 40-second-long video filmed with their cows in the family’s dairy barn.

The video went viral after it was posted April 1 by their mother, Nichole, 34, who filmed her daughters. 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.

“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.”

They all attend Hermon-DeKalb Central School District.

The girls said they were also approached by a family from Ottawa while they were shopping at the Salmon Run Mall, Watertown.

Their father, John, 37, said he and his wife are still receiving dozens of Facebook messages every day after the video was picked up by the Irish Post, an online newspaper based in London.

“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.

Although the feedback has been exciting, the Wrights said the goal of the video was not to bring attention to their family.

“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.”

The couple also hopes the video will encourage people to support dairy farmers by purchasing more milk, cheese and other dairy products. A surplus of milk has prompted some farmers to dump their milk.

“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.

Some people have shared touching stories about how the video made them smile, including a woman with cancer and another who lost a child.

Madisyn said it took a couple of hours to make the video because she and her sister spent a fair amount of time laughing as their mother filmed.

“At first it was kind of embarrassing because we never did anything like that,” she said.

Mrs. Wright said she was encouraged by family members to post two videos, “Don’t Stop Believin'” and a second one the girls made to the song “When it Rains, it Pours.” The second one has not received as much response.

Some of the Facebook messages come from others who can relate to the hard work and struggles of farming and many people have complimented the Wrights on instilling a strong work ethic in their daughters, who start their days by doing barn chores.

The family’s vacations center on showing cows at local, state and national competitions.

Mr. Wright said he sends the same response to all the strangers who have messaged him on Facebook.

“Every single one, I put, ‘Thanks for the positivity,'” he said.

On Wednesday, he received a message from California that said, “Just wanted to say hi. You are doing one hell of a job raising your kids. Keep it up. Grew up milking cows and it was one of the best things my dad made me do. It made me the man I am today.”

Mrs. Wright said there have been mornings when she wakes up to find more than 800 Facebook notifications on her phone. She works as the bakery manager at the Canton Price Chopper store,

“I’ve had over 1,000 friend requests. I don’t accept them because I don’t know them. They can message,” she said.