Kids Corner: The Lavey Family

Dylan Lavey
17 years old
Twelfth grade

When do you do chores? On the weekends in the morning and throughout the day and during the week when I get home from school.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? That depends on the season. In the summer, my favorite chore is cutting hay. In the fall, it’s plowing and hauling manure. In the spring, it is side-dressing. My least favorite chore is grinding straw bales — it takes a long time.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? Helping our builder paint barn boards on my grandpa’s old tie stall barn. It’s over 100 years old.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Learning to plant hay.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? The cows. I enjoy working with them, but I don’t have a favorite. 

What do you want to be when you grow up? A dairy farmer.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. I would have 100 cows in a tie stall barn and 1,000 acres. I would cash crop the land I don’t need for feeding cows.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Hide-and-seek and tag when I was younger. 

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? Lasagna.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Snowmobiling.

John Lavey
15 years old
Tenth grade 

When do you do chores? From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the weekdays and weekends, and on the weekends, I also feed cows in the morning.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? My favorite chore is feeding the cows. My least favorite chore is taking the tires off the bunker and cutting the plastic off.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? Chopping hay.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Snowmobiling around the farm and on the hay fields.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? Our dog, Mia. She is a German Shepherd, and she is always playful.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A dairy farmer and a crop farmer.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. I would have 900 cows and a nice, big, air-conditioned shop and mostly new tractors.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Kickball.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? My favorite meal is when Mom brings hamburgers out to the field.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Downhill skiing.

Julia Lavey
12 years old
Seventh grade 

When do you do chores? After school and on weekends.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? My favorite chore is feeding the rabbits. My least favorite chore is mowing the lawn.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? Covering the bunker.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Playing hide-and-seek tag.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? The cows that cooperate. These are the ones that let you pet them and work with you inside the pen.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A catapult officer for the Navy on an aircraft carrier. They guide the airplanes for takeoff.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. I would have cows and horses — more cows than horses because cows are awesome.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Ghost in the graveyard.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? Shepherd’s pie.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Travel.

Devon Lavey
10 years old
Fifth grade

When do you do chores? Morning and night. I help with bunker chores — moving feed and moving tires and cutting the plastic back.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? My favorite chore is putting feed into the pile. My least favorite chore is greasing the triple mower.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? Harvesting crops.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. I like feeding heifers up by my grandpa’s place.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? The cows, especially the ones I can pet.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A farmer.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. I would keep it the same as our farm but expand it a little. I would have more cows — about 2,000.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Tag.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? I prefer to do the cooking. My favorite thing I make is grilled cheese sandwiches.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Go to the lake.

Julianna Lavey
8 years old
Third grade 

When do you do chores? Mostly mornings and afternoons on the weekends.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? My favorite chore is cleaning up old feed for the heifers. I sweep it up before Dad lays down new feed. My least favorite chore is moving heifers from pen to pen.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? Naming the cows.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Swinging on the rope in the haymow.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? A brown cow named Caramel. She was the only brown cow on the farm, and I could pet her, and she wouldn’t run away. She lived to be 21 years old.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A baker and a teacher.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. It would be green and blue. There would be cows, some bunnies, cats to keep the mice away, and chickens — but no roosters.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Ghost in the graveyard.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? Arizona dish. It has chicken, Spanish rice, Western dressing and onions.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Go to McDonald’s, vacation in Arizona, and go trick-or-treating.

Danica Lavey
6 years old
First grade

When do you do chores? In the afternoons.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? My favorite chore is helping Dad feed calves and feeding the rabbit. My least favorite chore is waiting around for my dad to finish chores.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? Making a path to sled down the bunker.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Swinging on ropes in the haymow in my grandpa’s tie stall barn while our dad watches.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? I only like elephants. I like their long trunks.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A first-grade teacher.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. It would be an elephant farm with some bunnies. There would be a big, giant house with one side for the elephants and one side for the bunnies. 

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Playing tag on the round bales.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? French toast and eggs.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Going to Wolf Lake to swim, going to the New Holstein pool, going to the fair and going to the trampoline park. 

Dakota Lavey
4 years old

When do you do chores? Sometimes.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? Feeding calves.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Riding in big trucks and riding in the payloader.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? A giraffe.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Paw Patrol.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? Macaroni and cheese.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Go to the beach.

What do you like to do while your older siblings are in school? Play outside and help Mom cook.