From city to country and loving it

I used to work 9-to-5 in the corporate world for an investment bank. I was about as far away from cows and farm life as you could get.

Then I met my husband, Brad, a fourth-generation dairy farmer, and my life changed in so many ways for the better. We were married in 1995 and within a week of being married, I moved from a big city to a small town and started a totally new career as a dairy farmer.

In my previous work, I was a very small cog in a big machine. I dealt with a lot of red tape and the daily decisions I made had little impact on the overall business. I helped make money, but I didn’t have anything tangible at the end of the day where I could say ‘I helped produce this.’

The life of a dairy farmer is just the opposite. Instead of saying ‘I helped someone make investments today’ I now can say, ‘I cared for these animals today’ or, ‘I helped to produce this milk today’ or, ‘I helped to raise this field of soybeans.’ It’s so much more rewarding.

Brad’s family has been on this land for more than a hundred years. It is an honor to be part of such a deep heritage. The generations that came before us had the same concern for the environment that we do today, which is why the farm is still thriving.

Since we live and work on our farm, it’s very important for us to maintain the environment. That means clean air and clean water for us and for our cows. We’re all drinking the same water. It only makes sense to make sure that it’s healthy and pure.

The cows are the most important part of our dairy.  Our goal is to keep them content and healthy. They used to lie on mattresses. Later we switched to deep beds of wood shavings. The shavings are like sand, but sand isn’t available around here, so we switched to something that’s just as comfortable.

Minnesota has unique challenges because of its cold weather. We’ve had days where it’s 40-below, but our barns are 20-above, which is very comfortable for the cows.

We also installed extended-day lighting for them. Cows are like people during the winter months. The darkness can make them crabby. So we provide them artificial light for 16 hours a day during the dark periods of the winter.  This definitely improves their mood.

We do all of this because the cows are our livelihood, and without them there’s no dairy, period.