A true family affair

JIM FALLS, Wis. — Sometimes it takes more than a village to make a dream come to fruition. Such is the case for Mitchell Romundstad and his family, as three generations work together to connect the past with the future and keep the lights shining and the milk flowing on the dairy farm that has been operated by their family since 1983.

“We’re really just a true family farm,” said Mitchell Romundstad. “I always wanted to do this growing up, and now because my family helps me, and wants to see the farm continue, I’m able to start working on making that dream happen.”

Mitchell, his grandfather, Gary Lazarz; his mother, Staci Romundstad; his aunt, Sonja Roper;  and his girlfriend, Sami Ciolkosz, all work together milking 50 cows on their Chippewa County dairy farm near Jim Falls. In addition to working on the farm, Mitchell, Sonja and Staci all hold off-farm jobs as well.

The herd consists of a mixture of Brown Swiss and Holsteins, both red and black. Mitchell admits he has a fondness for the big, brown cows. The Brown Swiss first came to the farm in the mid-1980s.

“Our dad wasn’t crazy about them, but our mom liked the Brown Swiss,” Sonja said. “Pretty soon we all fell in love with the breed. I’d have a whole herd of Brown Swiss if I could.”

That family affinity for the Brown Swiss, combined with the longevity the breed is known for, have helped them increase in numbers over the years.

“We have quite the number of family units, family trees of Brown Swiss,” Staci said. “We have mothers, daughters, granddaughters...three, four and even five generations from the same family.”

By working with the older generations within his own family, Mitchell is receiving more than chore help, he said.

“Grandpa has been here, working this farm for a long time,” Mitchell said. “He’s done the work and learned what works and found out what didn’t work. I’m able to learn from that experience, rather than make the same mistakes twice.”

Mitchell started working his way into the farm’s management while he was still in high school, working alongside his grandfather. After high school, he studied animal science at Chippewa Valley Technical College and interned with CentralStar Cooperative Inc. as an A.I. technician, where he learned the valuable skill of breeding cows.

While formal transition plans have not commenced, Mitchell said that is his goal, to eventually work towards farm ownership, whenever his grandfather is ready to take that step.

In the meantime, Mitchell has been using the things he learned at school to begin to make improvements on the farm to increase both efficiency and productivity. Tunnel fans have been added to the barn to improve air quality and ventilation. In February, Mitchell began feeding a total mixed ration, moving away from component feeding.

“That has made a pretty good impact on our production,” he said. “The herd average went up more than 10 pounds per day in the first few months after switching. I’m looking forward to seeing how the cows will do as more start new lactations. The ones that have calved since we started are really cranking along.”

Mitchell also appreciates that feeding TMR allows him to keep better track of feed inventory.

“Before, I never really knew exactly how much feed we were feeding,” Mitchell said. “With the TMR, it’s all measured out. I know exactly how much corn silage we need to chop now. Maybe we can combine 10 acres instead of five, which gives us more flexibility on the crop side, too.”

Nearly five years ago, the family added 18 comfort stalls onto the barn and placed mats throughout.

“You can really see the difference those changes have made,” Mitchell said. “I think the cows in new stalls lay down faster than the cows in the older part of the barn.”

Putting his internship experience to work, Mitchell began not only breeding cows himself to save money, but also to select bulls and make matings.

“I used to show cows when I was a kid, so I try to pick bulls that make fancy cows, but they also have to have some production behind them,” Mitchell said. “I like all-around cows, with lots of strength, nice cows with good udders that can handle walking out to pasture.”

At the urging of his girlfriend, Sami, and fellow Brown Swiss breeders, Brandon and Meredith Maier, Mitchell worked with the Brown Swiss Breeders’ Association of the USA to obtain registration papers on the cows.

“My grandma, who passed away last September, had kept immaculate records from day one,” Mitchell said. “It was all right there in notebooks that she kept, and we were able to go through all the cows, so several of the Brown Swiss are now fully registered, and others are in the identity enrollment program.”

Mitchell also registered his own prefix with the association, Iron Creek, and held his first herd classification in June, which also netted him his first Excellent cow.

“That was pretty exciting, to have an Excellent cow right away,” Mitchell said. “I figured we had some that were pretty decent, but it was a great feeling to hear that from someone else, too.”

As he works to continue to improve and build the genetics in the Brown Swiss herd, Mitchell has a goal of eventually being able to market animals and show again.

“That’s one thing about Mitchell, he’s constantly researching, looking for new ways to do things,” Sonja said. “He’s not willing to just let good enough, be good enough. He’s always looking into things to see where we can improve.”

Mitchell acknowledges it will likely take a while to reach those goals but is looking forward to the challenges ahead.

“We just want to work on continually getting better,” Mitchell said. “I think the key to staying smaller is managing your cows to get more milk as efficiently as possible with a forage-based diet. I’d rather do a better job caring for 50 cows with an 85-pound herd average than having 100 cows averaging 65-70 pounds of milk.”