Balancing dual roles

KELLOGG, Minn. — For Garret and Alicia Miller, juggling dual roles is an everyday reality that brings both sacrifice and reward.

At Garret’s full-time job, he spends mornings and afternoons across the Mississippi in Wisconsin working as a milk inspector for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. At his second job, he spends weekends and weekday early mornings and evenings working on his family’s dairy farm near Kellogg.

“It’s always been my lifestyle,” Garret said. “I’m not the type to sit around and let grass grow under my feet. … The reward (is) in the end, seeing the crops grow, harvesting the crops, and … raising the calves.”

Though Alicia is not involved on the dairy, she is part of making it all happen. She works as a special education teacher in Lake City and takes on extra childcare for their two children, Aida Jo and Tucker, so that Garret can farm.

“I know farming makes him happy,” Alicia said. “It takes a lot of time away from our family, but I know it’s something that (he gets to do).”

Garret’s parents, Dan and Karen, milk about 90 cows in an over 100-year-old, 44-stall, tiestall flat parlor. Cows are housed in a sand-bedded freestall barn. They also raise feed and cash crops on 340 owned and rented acres.

Garret’s role on the dairy includes milking and chores, hauling manure, fieldwork and more.

“I’ve been basically involved in the dairy ever since I was born,” he said.

On the farm, Garret works beside his parents as well as his siblings, Blaine and Ellie, who help occasionally around their full-time jobs, with Blaine doing most of the grain trucking. Garret’s youngest sister, Ava, works on the farm in the afternoons after school.

Spending time with family is Garret’s favorite part of dairy farming. This has been especially meaningful because of the sudden and unexpected death of his 16-year-old brother, Aidan, in 2019 from cardiac arrest. Being on the farm has been part of navigating life after loss the Millers said.

“Growing up and spending every day working alongside family is something that’s often taken for granted,” Garret said. “Thinking back on the short 16 years I had with Aidan, I spent more time with him in those 16 years than most people spend with their family in a lifetime. There are not many other occupations out there that you could say that about.”

Garret has been working in Wisconsin for about eight years, but his first job as a milk inspector was working for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture in the St. Cloud area.

Garret said working as a milk inspector allows him to gain new ideas for the dairy.

“Every day I’m seeing different setups and some of the best ways of doing things for other people,” he said. “It’s always good to bring those ideas back home and incorporate them into our facility to make it better.”

Garret inspects around 400-500 dairy farms on the western side of Wisconsin. Some counties in his coverage area include Trempealeau, Buffalo, Pepin, Pierce, St. Croix and Dunn. He said a big reason he took the job is the opportunity to see the countryside.

“It’s probably one of the coolest areas around with the bluffs … and the river and all that,” he said. “I inspect everything from the 10-cow herds to 7,000-cow dairies. Getting to see the variety and the countryside, I guess is what I enjoy most.”

Garret said it was an adjustment to be in a role where those he interacts with are not always looking forward to his presence because of his authority.

“Once people get to know you and know your background a little bit, I think that helps the relationship and people understand that we have a job to do and it’s part of the position,” he said.

Garret said being a dairy farmer himself helps with this.

“When I’m going out and … enforcing the rules and stuff, it helps to have a background in the dairy industry, (versus) somebody with no background, coming out and telling them, ‘You have to do it this way,’” he said.

Alicia said there have been family sacrifices made so that Garret can work on the dairy farm. Alicia played volleyball in college and was approached for coaching positions in Lake City. However, because Garret is at the farm in the evenings when she would need to be at practices and games, she forwent the opportunity to support Garret’s farming passion.

“You have to give up things,” Alicia said. “It’s worth it because, obviously, this is important to him. … Sometimes you have to give a little more when it’s farming related. I have to take care of the kids more, and he’s got to be up here (at the farm).”

For Garret one of the biggest rewards of the farm is introducing it to their children. He enjoys having them help with chores and showing them the calves.

“It’s important to learn hard work at a young age, and better to be outside and around the animals rather than sitting on the couch and watching TV,” he said.

Garret plans to continue be a milk inspector, but he does not know the future of his family’s dairy when his parents retire someday. He said he may potentially take over the dairy, however, their facilities are small and aging.

“I’ll always be involved in the farm some way or another,” Garret said. “If it’s not dairy, it’ll definitely be beef. … There will always be cattle on the farm.”