FREEPORT, Minn. — Steve Klaphake fondly remembers working together with his dad, Mathias, on their dairy south of Freeport.
For many years, the duo worked together daily on chores and fieldwork.
Fast forward a couple of decades and Steve is now the elder statesman on the farm, working with two of his sons, Kevin and Mike, in a partnership at Clay Hills Holsteins. They milk 120 cows, raise steers and farm 380 acres.
“It’s awesome,” Steve said. “I am so privileged. I am so proud of what we have here. I am glad I didn’t have to sell the farm to somebody else and can do this with them.”
Previously, both Kevin and Mike had helped on the farm while also having off-farm employment until 2020, when they came back full time and formed a partnership.
“I always wanted to come back; it’s what I know and love,” Kevin said.
The trio had a full slate of work to do Oct. 13-14 on their Stearns County dairy.
Around noon Oct. 13, Steve’s nephew, Jeff Klaphake, who does custom work, rolled in to combine corn on a field just north of the farmsite. Steve, Mike and Kevin hauled loads to the corn dryer and did other jobs around the farm. The field was the last to harvest for the Klaphakes. The corn was yielding over 200 bushels an acre and was down to 15.5% moisture.
By 3:30 p.m., with combining nearly complete, Mike switched duties and started on chores. He oversees calf care.
“I enjoy being outside taking care of animals and doing fieldwork,” he said. “It is fun watching a baby calf grow up to be a cow or steer. It brings me joy. I like the lifestyle; it is in my blood.”
The Klaphakes raise their own heifer calves, and for the past seven years they have raised over 500 bull calves as steers from a week old to 500 pounds.
“It is rewarding seeing cows milking and the steers leave,” Mike said. “We would like to finish (the steers) but we don’t have the room or corn.”
The Klaphakes finished combining around 5 p.m. Then, Kevin and Steve turned their attention to their chores. Kevin headed to the barn to work with the cows in their robotic dairy barn. They have been milking with two robots for 15 years. He walked a couple of cows to the robots and scraped down the beds in the freestall barn. Overseeing the milking herd, doing the breeding and keeping tabs on cow health are prominent roles for Kevin.
“It’s something different every day and I like the cows and the flexibility,” Kevin said. “They all have their different personalities and they don’t talk back to you. When I first started, I wanted over a 4.2% butterfat and we accomplished that a year or two ago.”
In the meantime, Steve mixed feed and fed the milking herd. The Klaphakes mix morning and night for the milking herd.
Around 7 p.m. all three men were back with their families.
Mike and his wife, Naomi, have three children: Case, Lane and Eva. They live in a second house on the farm. The family often shadows Mike while he works.
“I love it,” Mike said. “They can come down and help me if they feel liking coming out. Just being with them is joy.”
Kevin and his wife, Mariah, also have three children: Mallory, Clayton and Colton. They live close to the dairy.
“The cousins love playing together on the farm,” Kevin said.
Steve and Pam have six children. Kevin and Mike are the only ones involved with the farm.
Tuesday morning struck early for the Klaphakes. All three were down to the barn around 5 a.m. doing their daily chores.
Kevin’s duties were in the freestall barn. He first checked to see if anything freshened. He started breeding five years ago and said he enjoys seeing the next generation of animals.
“I like to see if anyone calved,” he said. “It’s cool to see some of the breeding work I have done come to fruition.”
Then, Kevin used a side-shooter to add sawdust under the cows, scraped stalls, bred a couple cows and herded some through the robots. He also powered washed the robot room.
Mike hopped in his side-by-side and fed milk replacer and feed to the hundreds of calves waiting in huts just west of the dairy barn. He also prepared some empty huts for new calves.
Steve mixed feed for all the heifers and cows.
“We all have a job to do,” Steve said. “We don’t have to hire anybody. It has been fun. It’s a blast when you can work with your sons. We all get along.”
By 6:30 a.m., the chores were done, and they went back to their families for a quick breakfast.
Later in the morning, Steve had a meeting and Mike and Kevin headed to a local dairy farm to bring more bull calves back to the farm. Once back, they tagged and castrated the calves.
When Steve returned to the farm, the trio headed to a neighboring farm site they rent to put plastic around 250 round bales of corn stalks they had made earlier this fall.
The Klaphakes have a stand they use that can be operated with a skid loader. Steve lifted the boys and the plastic to the top, and each one pulled down on one side to make quick work, just beating the rain that had become steadier.
The guys said they are hoping to make an additional 550-600 bales this fall.
“It was a good feeling to have that covered,” Mike said. “Then we got rain to settle the dust and put moisture back in the ground. You have your moments, but every day is a pretty good day, as long as you can get in the house and see your wife and kids and nobody gets hurt.”
With corn harvest done, the Klaphake’s have their eyes set on doing corn stalks, hauling their pit and doing fall tillage.
“Whenever I take out the moldboard plow to plow alfalfa, I think it’s cool that Grandpa plowed the same dirt I am plowing now,” Kevin said.
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