Six generations keep farm in family

WAVERLY, Minn. — For 150 years every generation at Diers Corporation has faced unique challenges, and each has passed the family farm onto the next generation.

Colette (Diers) Thorson and her husband, Andy, are the fifth generation to milk cows at the Wright County dairy farm that was settled in 1874. Their daughters, Mikayla, Malorie and Victoria, help on the farm when they are not at school. Malorie is attending South Dakota State University studying dairy production with plans of returning to the home farm as the sixth generation. Colette’s parents, Gary and Linda Diers, live on the farm in a house built in 1890.

“A lot of credit needs to be given to all the generations before us,” Andy said. “Dairy farming is a tough business and they made it through a lot. You have to be willing to get through the tough times to enjoy the good times. They persevered through a lot to continue on the farm.”

Colette and Andy milk 250 cows in a double-12 parabone parlor and farm 900 acres. Gary, at 82 years old, helps on the farm as he can. Over the years, he farmed with several of his brothers and some of Colette’s siblings helped on the farm at different stages too.

Colette said when she was growing up, they finished steers, raised beef, raised hogs from farrow to finish, and raised sheep and dairy cattle as well.

“Each of the uncles had their own entity on the farm,” she said.

Hermann Diers settled the farm after serving in the Civil War, claiming his 140 acres through the Homestead Act. Edward Diers took over the farm from Hermann. Roland took over the farm from Edward, at the age of 12, when his dad died by suicide during the Great Depression. Gary and his brothers took over the farm from Roland, and in 1969, they reorganized the business as Diers Corporation.

History in the early years is limited, but the family has cow production records back to the 1920s and 1930s. The records show the family milked 27 cows in 1925 until the Great Depression.

“That blows my mind that we had that many cows back then,” Colette said. “During the Great Depression they had to sell some cows. The story goes that they lived off one cow for a while after my great-grandpa committed suicide.”

The barn that was built in 1920 still stands today and is used as a calf barn. The Diers family were early adaptors and installed a single-3 parlor in the 1950s. The freestall barn was built in the 1960s and is still used today. A new parlor — a double-3 surge parlor— was installed in 1974. Then the parlor was remodeled in 2013 to be a double-12 which is used today.

“My dad taught me to make the best of what you have,” Colette said. “I appreciate what my dad taught me, making use of everything we have in the best, most efficient way.”

Today, Colette uses the century-old dairy barn and an old hog barn as calf barns.

“That is my best calf barn,” Colette said. “It is so well ventilated and so it works great.”

While Colette is a fifth-generation dairy farmer, Andy did not grow up on a dairy farm and is a generation removed from the farm. He grew up in central Wisconsin surrounded by dairy farms, but both of his parents had jobs in town.

“I knew from a young age that I wanted to farm,” Andy said. “I was in 4-H and helped at farms in the area. I spent as much time as I could at my aunt and uncle’s dairy farm.”

Andy and Colette met in college at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. While dating, a position at Colette’s family’s farm became available to continue work done by her sister, who was going on maternity leave. Andy decided to try it, and he never left.

Colette had set her sights on taking over the farm while she was in high school. Before coming back to the farm full time her dad encouraged her to try pursuing something else first.

“I knew I wanted to take over the farm, but my dad told me to go to college,” Colette said. “I did, and my senior year of college I went to work at a dairy farm and I realized I missed it terribly. I didn’t want to go back to school. I wanted to stay working on the farm.”

Colette came back to the farm right after college and she and Andy have been farming with Colette’s parents ever since. Now, Andy and Colette are starting to incorporate Malorie, the next generation, into their decision-making process.

“We are doing what we need to do but we want to wait to see what the future holds before we make any major decisions,” Colette said. “We need to involve the next generation in any and all major decisions.”

Andy agreed.

“It’s amazing how life goes so quickly,” he said. “It feels like yesterday Colette and I were making decisions with Colette’s dad and uncle about transition. All of sudden, now we are at a point where the decisions we are making today are about the next generation.”