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How did you get into farming? In 1978, when I was a sophomore in high school, I bought two heifers. They both had heifers and my herd grew from there. I took over my dad's operation in 1980 when he had a sale.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced since you started dairying and how did you overcome it? Moving to this place in 1989 was our biggest challenge. The previous owners had taken a bankruptcy and the place had been abandoned. There was junk everywhere, rocks in the yard, and weeds that were taller than a man. All the free stalls and anything stainless steel was gone. It took a long time to clean it up and make it into a functioning dairy.

What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Work hard, keep your debt low, and pay attention to the details.

What is the best investment you've ever made in your dairy? Our hoop barn for raising calves. Also, a tractor with air conditioning and a heater.

If you could add one piece of equipment or technology to your operation and price wasn't an issue, what would it be? A large heifer raising facility where we could keep all our heifers.

What is your favorite thing to do on the farm? For Mary, it's milking. For Tom, it's cutting hay and chopping silage.

What is your favorite dairy product? Butter.

What is your favorite tool? My air impact wrench.

What are your plans for the dairy in the next five years? Maintain our herd and try to improve our heifer facilities.

Tell us about a skill that has made dairy farming easier for you. Tom is very good at math. You'd be surprised at the amount of math a person has to do every day on a dairy farm.

If you could take a vacation anywhere, where would you go? We would love to visit Hawaii.

If you could have a celebrity help you for a day, who would it be and why? We would pick John McCain. We don't think he knows what it takes to run a dairy farm, all the work that goes into it and what it's like to pay for your own insurance.

What are your hobbies? Tom used to play cards and we would go to town on Tuesday nights to play in pepper tournaments. Other than that, we keep busy with 4-H activities.[[In-content Ad]]

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