Sixteen years ago, Lance and Jonna Schutte started something special in the rural Iowa hills of Clayton County. In addition to getting married, the young dairy couple began Jo-Lane Dairy, which is now home to 140 Holstein and Brown Swiss cows.
Their sweet story continues with the birth of each one of their four children -- Blake, Briella, Breklyn and Brayton. As a family tradition, Jonna’s parents, Dennis and Joan Worden, made the decision to help purchase a Brown Swiss calf for each one of their grandchildren to serve as the foundation for each child’s herd.
“All the bloodlines trace back to my parent’s farm,” Jonna says. “They started the tradition that each grandchild receives a heifer. The heifer born closest to the grandchild’s day of birth is the one they get.”
Earlier this month, the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Naig, presented the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award to the Schutte family. This award recognizes Iowa livestock farmers who take pride in caring for the environment, their livestock, and being good neighbors.
“Given all the time and hard work that goes into operating a farm, raising a busy family, and engaging with industry activities, Lance and Jonna continue to find many ways to also make a positive impact within their community,” Naig says. “The Schutte’s have demonstrated a high caliber of animal care, are good stewards of the land, and are dedicated to connecting students to agriculture and I am pleased to present Jo-Lane Dairy with the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award.”
In addition to milking cows, the Schutte’s raise replacement heifers, dairy steers and sell a few breeding bulls to bull studs. Jo-Lane Dairy also grows corn for grain and silage in addition to alfalfa, oats and rye.
Quality animal care is also a top priority for Jo-Lane Dairy. The family wanted to increase milkings to three times a day, but due to their inability to find help to make this happen, the Schutte’s leaned onto new technology to help manage their farm by adding Lely robots and a Juno feed pusher in 2013.
Since switching to robots, the Schutte’s not only have been able to increase the number of times the cows get milk per day, but they have also been able to increase production.
“We are now up to three milkings per day, with an average of 102 pounds per day,” Lance says.
The Schutte family can be found beyond their dairy barn, as they are active in their community. Jonna’s involvement is not an easy task, but she manages to be a 4-H leader, Sunday school teacher, Midwest Dairy Iowa Division Secretary, Iowa Dairy princess Advisory Council member, as well as serves on the Iowa State Holstein State and District Youth Committees. Furthermore, both Lance and Jonna volunteer as coaches for youth sports. The Schutte family also hosts an annual preschool farm tour each year.
In the past sixteen years, the landscape of this Clayton County Iowa farm has changed tremendously. From wedding bells, to milking robots, to an active family involved throughout the Clayton County community – the Schutte family is proud of the life they have built.
