How can we visit a family farm? That is a question I’m often
asked.
It is the right question at the right time, and I have the perfect
answer: Attend one of the 58 June Dairy Month breakfasts being held
during the month of June across Wisconsin. Most are held on actual
dairy farms where you and your family can see cows up close, pet
the calves and talk to living, breathing dairy farmers.
And for the low, low price of $5 or $6 (less for children), you’ll
get a farm tour and a big country breakfast, including an ice cream
sundae.
The entire listing of events is at the dairydifference.com
website, where you’ll find the events listed by date and
location. Just searching for June dairy breakfasts will get you
pages of listings. You can also call the Wisconsin Milk Marketing
Board at 608-836-8820.
Dane County is holding its 33rd annual Dairy Breakfast on the Farm
on Saturday, June 11, at the Haag family farm west of Dane, not far
from U.S. 12 north of Springfield Corners. (See danecountydairy.com for
directions.)
June dairy breakfasts on the farm go back to 1970 in Jefferson
County when the Clever Clovers 4-H Club was looking for a dairy
promotion for a contest. The idea of inviting a few city folks from
nearby Fort Atkinson to a breakfast on the farm took hold, and
Craig and Laura Beane and children Tom and Marcia offered their
Holwis Farm as a site.
The Fort Atkinson Camber of Commerce sent invitations “to visit a
dairy farm and have a free breakfast … limited to the first 100
people that call.”
The event was a booming success as 155 people actually came and
were fed scrambled eggs, Jones Farm sausage, Tuesday morning cake
(Laura Beane’s specialty), milk, and strawberry sundaes. And the
Clever Clovers 4-H won the dairy promotion contest.
Because of the success of the farm-city gathering, the next year it
became a statewide event as the Beanes again were hosts. The
American Dairy Association (ADA) of Wisconsin sent out invitations,
the Department of Agriculture brought a huge fry pan, and Lt. Gov.
Marty Schreiber attended.
The idea spread statewide, and the June Dairy Breakfasts on the
Farm continue as a popular event for the host committees and the
public, who eat a big meal and get to learn a bit about the dairy
business.
Two years later, the ADA of Wisconsin, predecessor to the Wisconsin
Milk Marketing Board, got involved, and it became a dairy promotion
event for the nation’s No. 1 dairy state.
Of course the breakfasts are tied in with the nationally celebrated
June Dairy Month, an event that got its start in 1937 — not as a
dairy farmer event, but as a drug store promotion to sell more
products by giving away free ice cream cones.
I remember well Dane County’s first June Breakfast on the Farm held
at the Maurice and Gerry Cooper farm at Token Creek in 1979. I
still feel sorry for that big crew of women cracking eggs by hand
for two days. (Nowadays the volunteers putting on the breakfast buy
the eggs in plastic pails.) I also remember Sen. Bob Dole shaking
hands with one and all.
The John and Julie Haag family, this year’s hosts at the Dane
County breakfast, represent dairy farming at its finest.
John was a Waunakee farm boy who worked as a hired man at area
dairy farms while trying to save money to begin his own farm. He
married Julie, a Lodi girl, and they rented a farm until buying
their own 170-acre, 50-cow, stanchion barn dairy in the town of
Dane in 1993.
Since then, the old red barn has been remodeled into a double six
milking parlor and holding area to milk the 100 cows housed in the
free-stall barn nearby. Newly born calves are housed in individual
stalls in a remodeled older building and, after a bit, moved to the
new open, airy heifer barn.
The Haags’ two children are much involved in the farm: Son Josh,
26, attended the UW-Madison Farm Short Course and is already a
member of Haag Family Farm LLC. His wife Melissa is a senior in the
UW-Madison School of Veterinary Science. Daughter Amanda is a
senior in animal science at UW-Platteville.
A visit to the Haag dairy on June 11 will not only provide a
breakfast but an opportunity to learn how the family has built such
a beautiful dairy farm and why they expanded their cow numbers over
the years. John says they will hurry their early morning milking
to allow all the family to be available to talk with the
guests.
When you attend a Breakfast on the Farm, don’t be shy. Talk with
those standing in the food line; chances are you’ll have a wait,
and it takes time to feed several thousand people.
Seek out the Haags. Ask them about their cows, crops and family.
Ask the hundreds of volunteers — food servers, tour guides, car
parkers and exhibitors — about dairying and let them tell you
about life in food production.
Then there are the cows — strange creatures indeed. They have long
faces and seldom say much. And when they do, it probably means they
are sick or in pain. Much has been written about cows mooing, and
young children are great at mimicking a cow “moo,” but my guess is
that they have actually never heard the real thing.
But cows are lovable. Their long faces and big eyes make them look
so sad and defenseless. And they stare unblinkingly and unmoving
but intently watching. No, cows don’t bite, but watch out for that
rough tongue.
Baby calves are another thing. They love attention and will suck
the fingers of unsuspecting children who hold their hands
out.
Take a look at the barn where the cows eat and sleep. See the feed
that makes the milk. Ask the farmers how much milk a cow gives and
how often they have a calf.
Take look at the field where you parked. Chances are it is a
hayfield that was cut and harvested in late May or early June and
will be harvested three or four more times before fall sets in.
Then ask the farm family where they stored the hay — in a bunker,
bags, silo or barn — and how much a cow eats each day.
Most dairy breakfasts have entertainment of many kinds. Take time
to grab a seat on the hay bales and listen to the music and
speeches. And usually there will be exhibits of dairy
products.
The breakfasts vary in the food served: Dane County serves
scrambled eggs as the main course. Rock County will serve pancakes
on June 4. Columbia County will serve pizza at its Moo-day Brunch
on June 18. Kewaunee County will serve cheese omelets and pizza on
June 12.
Take a day off, slow down, see how food is produced on Wisconsin
family farms. Gather the family and visit a farm. It’s June Dairy
Month!
John F. Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a
Madison-based agricultural information and consulting company. He
can be reached at 608-222-0624 or e-mail him at jfodairy@chorus.net.
A final note: Thus marks the end of “Cross Country,” my
column that first appeared in The Capital Times on April 20, 1990
— 21 years and about 1,150 columns ago. I did miss one. It was in
2006 when I lost three and a half feet of my colon during a
surgery.
Thanks to Dave Zweifel, who OK’d the idea so long ago and to the
faithful readers who have been so kind. So you know: Neither Dave
nor anyone else at the newspaper ever told me what to write or what
not to write. It’s been a great run! Thanks for reading.
This column and my other ag stories will continue each week in the
Wisconsin State Farmer (800-236-3313), the major farm weekly
newspaper that has also hosted my musings for so long.
Bye.