When Amber Horn-Leiterman was working in the Twin Cities during her sophomore year in college, she thought she had made it. Getting dressed up and working on the third floor, the sixth-generation dairy farmer was in awe of a lifestyle that she never thought she would be part of. Although she would come to realize that a scenic landscape that included cows and family was the viewpoint that would fill her cup with purpose.
“I realized I like working with cows a lot more than people,” she says. “Plus, I don’t really like getting dressed up every day.”
After graduating college, Horn-Leiterman took a job working on a nearby custom calf operation and after she got married and was pregnant with her second child, she returned to her home farm. Along with her parents, Brian and Lori Horn, and her brother, Thomas, the family milks 1,500 cows on their home farm, Hornstead Dairy in Brillion, Wis.
“The opportunity to come back was there, and I took it,” she said, adding that her position has since evolved quite a bit to include more responsibility.
Today, Horn-Leiterman oversees herd management and the farm’s public relations, manages employees and assists with the farm records.
Horn-Leiterman’s husband, Kevin, owns his own off-the-farm business. The couple has four sons, ages 17, 16, 12 and 6.
After trying to bring two small children to the dairy to work, Horn-Leiterman realized there was a need to incorporate a sitter for her to get it all done.
“I was a happier person and a happier mom being on the farm full-time,” she says, although her children would still benefit from spending time on the farm, as they could hang out with their grandparents, as well as their uncles.
“There is always someone that was going somewhere, and the kids could ride along with,” she adds. “That is one cool aspect of raising kids on a family farm.”
Superwomen Strength
With her youngest two children both born on a Friday, which coincides with herd health day for the dairy, Horn-Leiterman was determined to be back to work by the next weekly herd check.
“I just wanted things to stay as close to normal as possible because it led to less disruption for everybody else,” she says.
Looking back, Horn-Leiterman says it’s okay for moms to let down their superwoman powers and ask for help, something she wishes she did more of.
“Truthfully some days I feel like a duck floating on water and paddling like crazy underneath,” she says.
Inspired by her own mother, Horn-Leiterman witnessed firsthand her mom doing it all—contributing to the farm, as well as caring for the family.
“She would milk in the morning and then again at night and then make meals for everybody in-between,” Horn-Leiterman says. “Mom was superwoman and I thought I can be like that, too.”
However, Horn-Leiterman says you can only be a superwoman if you have a good support system.
“Both my husband and I are self-employed, but we are very fortunate that we live next to my parents, the farm and his family,” she says. “The kids spend a lot of time at the farm now, but if they need a break, they can walk into grandma’s house and grab a sandwich.”
Health Scare
In September 2018, Horn-Leiterman had a big health scare that made her appreciate her farm family support system even more.
“You know as a mom, you don’t want to inconvenience anybody else. You want to be able to be that superwoman. You want to be able to take care of everything and anybody because that’s your job,” she says.
A blood clot that started in Horn-Leiterman’s legs would also enter her lungs. This led to the doctor saying ‘no driving’ for three months, which became Horn-Leiterman’s wake-up call.
I realized that my superwoman status wasn’t important anymore,” she says.
According to Horn-Leiterman, having a plan in place is a must, as you never know when you need a day off.
“Everyone needs a day off and you can’t be that person all the time,” she says. “We started an organization chart and outlined who was in charge of what. We changed the responsibilities so my phone wasn’t ringing all the time,” she says.
Horn-Leiterman shares her parents pour their blood, sweat and tears into the operation, and so Horn-Leiterman said she thought she needed to do the same.
“And I did do that. Although at times, I felt like I wasn’t putting as much effort in as what they had,” she says. “Looking back, they had each other for support. Whereas my husband doesn’t work on the farm, so I had to find my support system within that organizational chart.”
The organizational charts helped carve in breaks or time-off and without it, those breaks were simply not happening.
From 2011-2017, Horn-Leiterman served on the National Dairy Board and while she fully enjoyed her time on the board, she says that with her health scare, she is learning to be more mindful of what organizations and activities she says yes to.
“The best I can do for myself right now is to be home and raise my kids and get more involved locally,” she says.
Horn-Leiterman is proud of the four boys her and her husband are raising and says farm life teaches them a lot. She is also proud of the landscape she works on sustaining the family farm and can’t picture herself living in a city, working on a multi-story building.
“I’m glad I don’t have to get dressed up to go to work,” she says. “And I love that cows and family are part of my daily life.”
