OSSEO, Wis. — Graham Giese and Erica Lundberg welcomed visitors to Bert-Mar Farms Sept. 21 for the Trempealeau County Dairy Breakfast. On top of the traditional breakfast, visitors could explore the farm, from watching the 100 cows being milked in a tiestall barn to self-guided farm tours to entertainment for children, including inflatables and a petting zoo.
The event was held three months after it was originally scheduled due to rough weather in the Osseo area in June.
Less than a week away from the original June date for opening their doors to the community, Giese and Lundberg of Bert-Mar Farms saw a storm cell approaching. When the storm passed, 6 inches of rain had fallen, the driveway had washouts up and down, the once-whitewashed walls of the barn were a hazy yellow, and trees and branches were scattered across the yard.
It did not end there as rain was in the forecast for the rest of the week.
They called Brad Gopling, president of the dairy promotion committee, to see what their options were.
“Brad came out and saw the damage and even he hadn’t seen a situation quite like this,” Lundberg said. “We talked about our options after that. He was very understanding, and we figured out a time that would work best for everyone.”
June Dairy Month has been celebrated nationally for more than 85 years, so holding the annual event outside of its traditional month had its own hurdles. After June, it was county fair season in July and August, followed by the start of the school year and Labor Day. It was decided the third weekend in September would be best.
That provided Giese and Lundberg three months of time to get everything back in order at Bert-Mar Farms.
“It was great to have a longer runway leading up to the weekend,” Lundberg said. “But we had everything ready to go for the first time, so we tried to keep the shop clean.”
This included temporary storage of Giese’s tools in a trailer.
“We thought we were going to use the trailer for a week, but we were in there for four months,” Giese said. “It’s kind of like living out of a suitcase.”
Giese and the crew rebuilt the driveway that washed out with the June rain. It took 10 truckloads of gravel and three truckloads of lime screenings to get everything back in shape.
Along with the challenges that come with running a dairy farm, they said hosting the county’s dairy breakfasts brought its own challenges.
“It’s important to stay on task,” Giese said. “You always have to have the dairy breakfast in the back of your mind and always keep working to get things done in time for it. It was nice to have some extra time, but we also know that if we keep pushing things off, the next thing you know, the day is going to come and you’re going to need to have everything taken care of.”
Getting preparations complete was a challenge in June before the storm hit. The wet weather did not allow for the usual preparation for the originally scheduled breakfast.
“June was tough because of how wet the spring was,” Giese said. “We were still in the middle of planting; we didn’t have hay off. It was terrible.”
Not having the hay off would have posed a different kind of challenge as they used the 10-acre hay field just south of the farm for parking for the breakfast.
“Even this week was difficult,” Lundberg said. “I don’t think Graham slept twice this week as he was doing baleage bales, wrapping bales. We were multi-tasking, that’s for sure.”
They said the long nights and battling through the weather was worth it.
“Seeing all the people that come out to our farm is the fastest five hours of your life,” Giese said. “We had 1,700 people here and I realized after that, we only got to talk to 25 of them.”
Lundberg agreed.
“That’s definitely the most rewarding part, seeing all the people that were out here,” she said. “I didn’t think the barn was going to be as full as it was, but it was steady. The barn was full, the yard was full, the tent was full. It was really nice to put in all that work and see so many people come out and see our farm.”
Representing dairy is an honor Giese and Lundberg said they are proud of.
“It gives you some extra motivation to get everything cleaned up and looking nice,” Giese said. “Today’s public is so far detached from the dairy industry that we try to make it nice and informative and help them understand what we’re doing here and how it affects their lives.”
The family usually spends their June weekends traveling to dairy breakfasts across the state. Their experiences helped them tailor their approach to opening their own farm to the public.
“There’s not many tie stalls left operating,” Lundberg said. “That’s where we came up with the idea to milk during the breakfast. We wanted to show people how milking is done in a tie stall. We had people come in and ask where the parlor was, and we’re like, ‘You’re in it.’”
Giese said it was cool having people get “up close and personal” with their animals.
“We work with them a lot, so they’re used to people,” he said. “It’s amazing to talk to people who see our herd for the first time and they’re impressed by just how big our cows are.”
Big, older cows is the goal for Bert-Mar Farms. One of the main attractions in the milking barn was their 17-year-old cow.
“We want all of our cows to hit teenager age,” Giese said. “That’s just the way we are, good bad or indifferent.”
They said they are willing to open their farm again.
“Whenever they ask us, we’ll host it again,” Lundberg said. “It’s a lot of work, but we love it. We love bringing people to our farm to see our animals and to see how much we love our cows.”
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