The will to farm

MARSHFIELD, Wis. — For as long as he can remember, Ethan Kieffer wanted to be a dairy farmer, despite not growing up on a dairy farm himself.

“I grew up helping on my uncle’s farm and other local dairy farms,” Kieffer said. “I knew I wanted to be a dairy farmer.”

The road to a barn full of his own cows has had twists, turns and lessons learned along the way. Kieffer started laying the foundation several years ago, purchasing a few calves and working with local dairy farmers to learn more about his desired career path. He worked and saved, counting the pennies that would one day fund that dream.

As his high school graduation neared in 2024, Kieffer procured a farm to rent, with a hopeful start date in mid-August. As the time neared to ready the facility and find cows, his prospective landlord opted not to rent the facility, leaving Kieffer to go back to the drawing board.

“I just drove up and down the roads, looking for farms that were empty, and researching to see if maybe I could find something to work out,” Kieffer said. “I was beginning to lose hope when I found this farm and was able to work out a deal to rent the barn and a couple of acres of pasture.”

Kieffer turned down the right road, finding the vacant Wood County barn near Marshfield on the same day he had originally planned to begin shipping milk. Kieffer readied the barn that had stood empty for several years, in preparation both to pass inspection for a Grade A licensure to sell milk, and to be ready for the cows.

Eight months later, Kieffer is milking 64 cows, mostly Holsteins with a few Milking Shorthorns and Jerseys mixed in and shipping his milk to Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Company.

“It was a lot of work, a lot of long days,” Kieffer said. “I did pretty much all of the work myself.”

During high school, Kieffer worked at a stainless-steel welding shop. There he acquired the skills for completing the pipeline himself with a borrowed stainless-steel welder, saving himself several thousand dollars.

“It wasn’t easy getting things going,” Kieffer said. “There was a whole lot of money going out and nothing coming in yet. It makes you kind of nervous to feel like you’re starting out in the hole.”

As he readied the barn, Kieffer began his herd by purchasing a group of cows from Holle-Oaks Dairy LLC, a St. Croix County registered Holstein breeder.

“The Holles were good to work with,” Kieffer said. “We discussed what I was looking for and my budget and they gave me a list of cows that I could go and pick from. I think this group has a lot of potential; I have some cows that I can breed from. My goal is to have a herd of Excellent cows one day.”

Kieffer blended those cows with the small group he had amassed throughout his high school years and added in cows he purchased through local auctions. The cows began filling the barn Oct. 17, 2024, about two months behind his original starting goal.

Eight months into his fledgling dairy career, Kieffer said he is happy with the progress his new herd is making.

“I don’t think I’m averaging yet what I will be down the road; the cows are still transitioning,” Kieffer said. “The bulk tank average is still right around 75 pounds, but the registered herd averaged 89 pounds on their (Dairy Herd Improvement Association) test.”

Kieffer is breeding his cows three times each to sexed semen before utilizing other options.

“The black calf market is really tempting right now,” Kieffer said. “But, I really want heifer calves on the ground to grow my herd.”

His first plan was to raise 16 heifer calves each year for replacement purposes, but with the price of replacements, Kieffer said he thinks he will raise all his heifer calves for the time being. He would like to explore doing embryo transfer work on his best cows to continue to improve his herd.

Kieffer works with his A.I. technician to select bulls and hopes to have his cows mated soon. His ideal cow is one with lots of body, good legs and good udders, Kieffer said.

“Input costs are challenging,” Kieffer said. “Everything is so high and milk prices fluctuating makes it hard to know what to plan for.”

Needing to allocate his resources wisely has required Kieffer to make do with what he has in many circumstances.

“I forked all my feed — 5,000-6,000 pounds a day — into the feed cart outside, all winter from October through May,” Kieffer said. “Now I’ve been able to set up a chopper box with a pulley, run the feed into that, and fill the carts from there.”

Kieffer component feeds his cows, buying his haylage and corn silage mixed and top-dressing with grain. He has access to three acres of pasture for his cows this summer and hopes to be able to buy his feed this year to buy feed off the field as the year progresses.

“I used the majority of my life savings as a down payment on the cows,” Kieffer said. “My down payment wouldn’t have had to be quite so big if I had asked my dad to co-sign for me, but I wanted to do this on my own.”

Kieffer continues to think in terms of what he would like to see his future hold.

“My first goal is to pay off the cows, and then to eventually work towards being able to buy a place someday,” Kieffer said. “I’d like to maybe be in a position to have a group of production cows on two robots and a small group of Excellent cows I could work with like this. I know it won’t be easy, but I also know it will be worth it in the end.”