Seizing opportunities, creating a future

COLBY, Wis. — Determination, resilience and a willingness to seize opportunities that arose from difficult circumstances are all qualities that helped J.C. and Alsha Verhoef lay the foundation for the dairy farm dream they began creating in 2011.

The Verhoefs, with their children, Nicole and Pieter, milk 500 cows in a double-8 parlor on their Colby dairy farm, averaging nearly 100 pounds of milk per cow per day. They farm 1,200 acres on which they raise the crops to feed their herd. They will welcome their community to their farm June 22, when they host the Colby Dairy Breakfast.

“We need to educate the people a little more,” J.C. said. “We need to promote our industry more than just feed people pancakes and cheese curds. We need to teach them about the technology we have today, how we care for the land and for our cows.”

The family is honored to be asked to take on that task, Alsha said.

“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, dairy farming — they just go out and milk the cows,’” Alsha said. “The world has changed — the technology we use in the fields, in the barn — it’s amazing to see.”

The Verhoefs are proud of what they have built, from their purchase of what they saw as a farm for the future, where they could build their dream.

J.C. first came to America in 2007, when he was hired to manage a large dairy farm in southwestern Kansas. A chance meeting at the baggage claim carousel at the Denver International Airport brought the couple — both natives of the Netherlands, with dairy farm backgrounds — together.

“You never know what you might find at baggage claim,” Alsha said. “We went to have a coffee and the rest is history.”

Alsha left her job as a registered nurse in Regina, Saskatchewan, and joined J.C. in Kansas. The couple shared the dream of starting their own farm.

“In 2009, the whole dairy industry and the world kind of collapsed,” J.C. said. “We saw it as maybe an opportunity to start.”

With their savings in hand, a young child in tow and a second on the way, the Verhoefs began searching for a farm to call their own.

“We started looking in Missouri first, but it wasn’t our place,” J.C. said. “I knew from being in western Kansas, I wanted my water to come from above, not from the ground, I wanted to stay away from irrigation. Somebody suggested we look at Wisconsin, where all the dairy industry started.”

The Verhoefs began researching farms and regions of the Badger State, looking at dozens of potential sites before finding the place they now call home, in central Wisconsin.

“Everything just clicked into place, smoothly,” Alsha said. “We like it here; we have wonderful neighbors. We like Colby and Wisconsin — we like the four seasons we have here.”

Starting out with an empty farm and Alsha seven months pregnant, the Verhoefs secured a milk market with Grassland Dairy Products Inc., and began stocking their farm, purchasing 230 springing heifers and 20 milking cows.

“You cannot start with just one cow in the tank,” J.C. said. “We planned to start off milking 250 cows, three times a day, right away.”

In 2012, the Verhoefs again found opportunity from less-than-ideal circumstances.

“It was so dry, they were selling heifers for less than $1,000 a piece, so we bought another 50 springers,” J.C. said. “We had the feed inventory. Another thing we did in the second year, with mostly all second-lactation cows, was to begin milking the fresh cows six times a day. They brought us a 108-pound average, No. 2 in the state. We had good milk prices after the drought, and we had a lot of milk because of those cows. That was nice, it really started us growing, with almost no labor costs.”

The early years of their career came with challenges for the young family.

“It was just the two of us here, with two young children,” Alsha said. “We didn’t go out, we didn’t see anyone else. It’s only been in the last five or six years we’ve started to socialize more, to get involved with the school and community.”

The Verhoefs continued to capitalize when opportunities presented themselves, purchasing a neighboring farm to grow their land base. That led to building a new freestall barn to grow their herd to its current size. A commodity shed was added in 2023, which will serve as the venue for the breakfast.

The Verhoefs are excited to share their livelihood with the community, highlighting the technological advancements that are part of every day on the farm.

“We have CowManager and a representative will be here to show people how it works,” J.C. said. “We want to share how we care for our cows.”

The Verhoefs are passionate about being good stewards of the land, another message they want to share. They utilize GPS technology for precision planting, fertilizing and yield monitoring during harvest; drag hoses to inject manure; no-till cropping; and cover crops.

“Injecting the manure lets us use it more wisely; it decreases the fertilizer we need to buy,” J.C. said. “We test the soils and keep watching. Some fields might need a little, but most fields are good with the manure. It’s better for the environment and for our checkbook at the end of the day.”

The Verhoef’s custom crop operator will be on-hand with equipment to share the measures taken for environmental sustainability.

“With the technology, we’re able to be more frugal and more sensible in using chemicals and fertilizers — we don’t just randomly spray entire fields,” Alsha said. “We can use it where it needs to be. Each plant gets its individual portion of what it needs.”

Providing a backdrop for community building while educating the public about agriculture is a remarkable opportunity, the Verhoefs said.

“Isn’t it great that families come and talk, they socialize and spend time together,” Alsha said. “You don’t see people on their phones at the breakfast. There are old-timers and youth, lots of families — it’s a good mix of our community.”