Stewardship at Trailside Holsteins

FOUNTAIN, Minn. — It has been nearly 50 years since Trailside Holsteins started with a family and a half dozen cows. This year, the multi-generation farm was presented with the 2024 Fillmore County Farm Family of the Year award from the University of Minnesota, recognizing their commitment to the environment and community contributions.

“It’s quite an honor to be recognized as Farm Family for Fillmore County,” Margaret Johnson said. “We try to stay active within the community, and so people can recognize dairy farmers as active people. … It is important to be good stewards of the land, which is something dairy farmers have been doing for generations.”

Trailside Holsteins started in 1977 when Jon Johnson bought the family’s home farm and started with six cows. His son, Michael Johnson, joined the farm in 2009 after graduating from college. Today, the Johnson family consists of Jon and his wife, Sharon, as well as Michael and his wife, Margaret, and their five children: Sawyer, Levi, Claira, Jacob and Royal.

The farm itself has grown to 1,400 animals. The Johnsons and their staff milk 650 cows three times a day in a double-8 parallel parlor. All of their replacement animals are raised on the farm, and the feed they eat is grown on the farm. Trailside Holsteins maintains 1,200 acres of alfalfa, corn and rye.

Cows are housed in sand-bedded freestall barns — the first of which was built on the farm in 1996.

“Sand bedding is really a great way to house animals, dairy cows in particular,” Margaret said. “It’s very clean, it’s very comfortable for the cows, kind of like being on a beach. The sand molds to their body, and it’s the cleanest, most comfortable option for cows. Also, in southeast Minnesota, it’s a resource we have available to us. We have all these little sand bluffs around southeast Minnesota, and we have our own sandhill we can take sand out of for our cows.”

Sustainability is a major focus of Trailside Holsteins, preserving the land and managing it for the community and the next generation. They use multiple sustainable farming practices such as crop rotations, contour strips, cover and perennial crops and manure fertilizer. They use LED lighting and other technological utilities to minimize their electricity and water usage.

“Jon has always been very cautious with tillage practices and soil conservation,” Margaret said. “We’ve always been very conscious of taking care of the cows. Jon always says, ‘Take care of the cows, and they’ll take care of you.’ (We’re) working hard to conserve all the resources we have available to us, and it works into our end goal of being able to maintain not only a business but a lifestyle we all enjoy.”

The Johnson family’s impact is felt beyond Trailside Holsteins as they involve themselves in their community. They are members of the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation, the Fillmore County American Dairy Association, the Midwest Dairy Association’s corporate board, the Dairy Herd Improvement Association board and the Preston Area Community Foundation board. They participate in the Adopt a Highway program and, as members of Christ Lutheran Church in Preston, they help teach Sunday school and serve on the church council.

“We were raised with that value to give back and serve our community, whether it’s the dairy community, local community or faith community,” Margaret said. “Everybody has to participate and put in the effort; that’s how it works on the farm … It’s no different than running a church or an organization or whatever you may have. We feel it’s our responsibility to give back to our community, whichever community that may be.”

Margaret said she is also grateful for the learning opportunity Trailside Holsteins gives her children, who often help on the farm however they can. Whether or not they are the next generation to run the farm, she is glad they get to experience life in a hands-on way.

“I’m very blessed I can stay home with our kids for the most part so we can be at the farm a lot as a family, working together, building those bonds with each other and learning to work together,” Margaret said. “I think there’s so much value in the life lessons they’re learning, and we hope that’s something they can pass on.”