25 years of dedication

BELLEVUE, Iowa — After Scott and Tricia Holdgrafer purchased their farm outside of Bellevue, they started expanding and were looking for more full-time help. Twenty-five years ago, they hired Travis Ties, who recently earned the Milk Business Awards Employee Excellence Award.

“When Tricia first told me, I said they should just give it to the next guy,” Ties said. “I don’t need it.”

Ties said their nutritionist, Samantha (Reighard), and Tricia, nominated him for the award and submitted the application.

“It was nice they went through all that effort to put me up for this,” Ties said.

Ties will be recognized at the 2025 Milk Business Conference Dec. 2-3 at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ties is the head of feed operations at Holdgrafer Dairy Inc. and assists with crop production, while taking on the role as the farm’s mechanic during the winter.

He grew up on a farm just a mile away from Holdgrafer Dairy and lent a hand with chores when he could. He went to Northeast Iowa Community College, where he studied diesel mechanics, and accepted his first job post-graduation at an implement dealer. Life in the shop failed to generate the same level of excitement as life on the farm.

“I was there for eight months, but it was too much inside,” Ties said. “When the weather is nice, I want to be outside. I was still helping out here at Holdgrafer’s and they offered me a (full-time) job. I love being outside and I love what I do. If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t be here for 25 years.”

Over the past quarter century, the Holdgrafers have come to depend on Ties thanks to his dependability, consistency and accountability.

“When I started, I was working more on the crop side,” Ties said. “Scott’s brother was working here and feeding the cows, and I would cover on weekends or whenever he couldn’t do it. After he left, I stepped into the feeder role.”

For the first two years, Ties fed the cows and then helped finish milking. When the Holdgrafers first purchased the dairy farm, they were milking 50-60 cows. Currently, they milk 400 cows in a double-8 parlor.

As the herd continued to expand over the years, Ties saw his role shift out of the parlor and onto the mixer. As the head of feed operations, he feeds the milk cows, dry cows and mixes batches for the farm’s heifers that are raised at four nearby locations.

Through his dependability and consistency, Ties has been a proven commodity to Holdgrafer Dairy. He earned his path by proving to the Holdgrafers every day what he was about and has continued to build up the trust of Scott and Tricia.

“I’m literally here seven days a week,” Ties said. “Scott and Tricia know I’m going to show up, feed the cows and be accountable. They know that I’m going to put as much time and effort into this farm as I would my own.”

That confidence the Holdgrafers have in Ties has given him the freedom to work on what he sees fit throughout his day on the farm, with little oversight.

“There haven’t been many days when Scott would ask me what I was going to work on,” Ties said. “He knows that I have a plan, and after gaining Scott and Tricia’s trust, I have the freedom to run it like I would my own. I show up every day, I know what needs to be done and I’m allowed to handle it how I want to.”

From his role mixing feed, Holdgrafer knows that his everyday actions can affect the herd and the farm. That challenge is something he thrives on.

“I check the milk chart every day,” Ties said. “When I see that the cows are up, I feel like the feed is working, and I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I’ve always been kind of competitive. I want to see the farm do well, and that means that I’m doing well too.”

That competitiveness extends beyond the feed alleys at Holdgrafer Dairy. Dominic Holdgrafer, the oldest of Scott and Tricia’s five sons, also drives a pulling tractor, Mama’s Money Reloaded. The International 1466 pulls in the hot farm class, and its primary mechanic happens to have worked for the Holdgrafers for the past 25 years.

“I go to all the pulls,” Ties said. “I do pretty much all the wrenching on that tractor. We do all our own engine overhauls, clutch work, anything like that.”

Because he has worked at the farm so long and is an integral part of the team, some of Ties’ habits have influenced the Holdgrafer children as well.

“I think I’ve been more helpful to the boys than I realized,” Ties said. “I get that from those guys every now and then. We’ll work on something and they’ll tell me they do certain things one way because that’s how I always did it.”

Ties has been an important piece of the Holdgrafer operation. The variety of farm work is something he appreciates, in addition to working outdoors, and taking care of the cows that take care of him and Holdgrafer Dairy.

“I enjoy coming here every day and doing what I love,” Ties said. “It’s something different all the time. It’s never the same thing; it’s not monotonous. You never know what’s going to happen. You can have your plans mapped out, but then a wrench gets thrown in, and now you have to go a different direction.”

For every twist and turn in the path ahead, Ties is there to help work with the Holdgrafers as they continue to trek forward.

“I treat this farm like it’s my own,” Ties said. “I take pride in my work. I’ve been able to get my foot in the door and carve my own path. It’s led to me having the freedom to do what I’ve always wanted to.”