Showcasing their fifth-generation farm

LUXEMBURG, Wis. — Cody Jeanquart is heading up an operation that has been a part of his family since his grandpa was a young boy. As the fourth generation, Cody relies on preceding generations as well as the generation to come to support him in running a successful business.

“It’s all family working here,” Cody said. “We have no outside help. The small family farm can still survive, but it takes the whole family to do it.”

The Jeanquarts milk 160 cows and farm about 500 acres at Lazy J Dairy LLC near Luxemburg. Cody farms with his parents, Robert and Vickie; his grandpa, Andrew; and his sisters, Beckie and Cassie. Cody’s cousin, Austin Simonsen, helps with milking and field work.

Cody’s great-grandparents, Raymond and Marie Jeanquart, founded the farm in 1956. Today, Cody, his parents and his grandfather comprise the LLC. Cody continues to gain a greater share of the ownership as his grandpa decreases his share.

The Jeanquart family is this year’s host of Door County’s breakfast on the farm, which is known as the Sevastopol FFA Alumni Dairy Breakfast. Held July 5 from 6 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., this Fourth of July weekend event is expected to draw around 5,000 people.

“This is the first time it’s coming south of Sturgeon Bay,” Cody said. “The breakfast usually gets a lot of tourists, but I think that is going to change coming this far south. I think we’ll get a lot more locals.”

Although Andrew is nearly 80, he still comes to the farm every day before 5 a.m.

“He helps feed, clean barns, and does a lot of manure handling and field work,” Cody said. “He also keeps an eye on the maternity area.”

Andrew said he is looking forward to hosting breakfast on the farm with his family.

“I’m 79 years old, and I’ve never seen breakfast on this side of the bridge,” he said.

The menu will feature pancakes served with locally made Door County maple syrup and cherry toppings, as well as eggs with ham and cheese. Cherry juice, cheese samples and ice cream will also be available. Visitors will have access to the freestall barns, milking parlor and calf barn, and the event will also include live music and a petting zoo.

“We’re going to have a lot of antique tractors on display, too,” Cody said.

Deciding to host was a decision the entire family stood by.

“We all said ‘Yes’ together,” Cody said. “We don’t make decisions by ourselves. My kids are starting to come help on the farm, so we have kind of a unique story with four generations working together.”

Cody and his wife, Mikki, have two sons — Andrew and Owen.

“Andrew is 11 and is just starting to milk cows,” Cody said.

The Jeanquarts milk twice a day in a double-8 herringbone parlor and ship their milk to Scenic Central Milk Producers Co-op. In 2009, they built a milking parlor, making a commitment to the future of the farm as the fourth generation stepped into position.

“I told my family, ‘If we’re going to continue, we have to do a little better with milking; we need to build a parlor,’” Cody said.

Red and White Holstein is the majority breed at Lazy J Dairy, complemented by Holstein, Jersey, Milking Shorthorn, Brown Swiss and Lineback breeds.

“My grandpa’s goal was always to have a red herd,” Cody said. “He bred with a bull, so he was kind of limited on what he could find.”

Cody brought A.I. breeding to the farm, and now about 60% of the animals are bred this way.

“I try to keep the red factor going,” he said.

Now, the herd is 85%-90% red, with many Holsteins carrying the red factor.

“When calves are born, we never really know what color they are going to be,” Cody said. “Most of our calves right now are red. We have a lot of heifers and have been selling dairy replacements for the last four years.”

Cows are housed in two freestall barns. In 2016, the family built a barn based on Cody’s design to house fresh cows and dry cows. A facility that specializes in transition animals, the barn features a maternity area and is laid out in a way that enables one person to move cows from pen to pen. Fresh cows remain in this barn for 90-100 days. Dry cows were previously housed in the tiestall barn, which now houses calves and heifers.

In the fields, cover crops have served as a source of feed for cows and heifers while also benefiting the soil for the past 10 years.

“We push the limits on cover crops,” Cody said. “You have to get seeds back in the ground; the window is small to get it done. We’re double cropping more or less.”

The Jeanquarts plant rye, winter wheat, sorghum, radishes, peas and oats as covers.

“We’ve been pretty fortunate to pull a lot of milk out of it,” Cody said. “That usually gives us almost two months of haylage. But it’s challenging. We have to fight the weather in October. It’s usually a pretty wet feed, so we have to be careful it doesn’t go sour.”

The Jeanquarts cover nearly 100 acres with a cover crop.

“We try to keep it growing all the time,” Cody said. “I frown upon bare grounds in the winter. It saves a lot of soil if you can get enough established to come through the winter. It seems like we get heavy storms that need a good growing crop in there to hold it down.”

Last fall, the Jeanquarts began generating electricity for their farm by installing solar panels on the roofs of their freestall barns and milking parlor.

“We did this to control our costs,” Cody said. “Hopefully it covers our light bill. The electric company can raise its rates, but our bill will stay the same. Our investment is made.”

When it comes to future dreams and plans, Cody said building a heifer barn is their No. 1 priority.

“We want to do a better job with our heifers and be more labor efficient,” he said. “Robots are another dream we have.”

This family-oriented operation continues to build on tradition as it makes improvements to sustain every generation involved.

“We struggled, and then after Cody came back from school, that’s when it really took off,” Andrew said. “I give Cody a lot of credit, along with everybody who’s here. If we didn’t work together and do what we’re doing, it would never work…We’re all on the same page.”