Growing up on a family farm plants deep roots that only those who grew up on a farm can describe. While many children grow up and leave the farm, some do return to their family dairy.
Though there is no right path that can bring you back home to the family farm, two dairy producers from opposite sides of the country share their journeys that brought them back home.
Wickstrom Jersey Farms, Inc.
In 1972, the late Duane Wickstrom started Wickstrom Jersey Farms, Inc. in Hilmar, Calif. His sons, Scott and Mike, helped expand the herd from its original 500 head once they graduated from college in the 80s. From there, the herd grew to milking 1,800 Jerseys by 2010.
Three years later in 2013, Mike’s son, Brent, returned home after graduating from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
“We continued working on increasing our efficiencies, and with the addition of a new special needs barn to streamline housing for all dry and maternity animals, we now can milk 2,500 cows,” Brent shares.
In 2021, the Wickstrom’s started a new dairy - Pinnacle Dairy - on a rented facility that allows them to milk an additional 1,200 Jerseys.
Early Beginnings
Growing up on a third-generation farm, Brent knew early on that he wanted to grow up and be a dairy producer. Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Brent would follow them around, along with employees, learning how to do various tasks.
“I worked with the calf feeders, filling milk buckets and grain buckets, giving vaccines and repro shots,” Brent shares. “Eventually, I worked with the maternity and hospital crews to learn how to treat sick cows and newborn care.”
Additionally, Brent participated in both 4-H and FFA and knew the path forward was to head to his father’s alma mater and study Dairy Science. He also minored in Agriculture Business and Crop Science.
Brent says his parents, Mike and Margaret, always joked that he wouldn’t have a job at the dairy without a degree.
“That was never a problem with me,” he says. “I always knew my path forward from an early age.”
Brent says that his parents’ advice pushed him to do something else first before coming back to the family farm.
“I think they were encouraging me to get out and live in the world,” he says. “I’m glad I did just that. Some of my best memories are at college.”
Brent spent his summers in-between college back at Hilmar to work on the dairy.
“I started taking care of employee management, data entry, and making sure our protocols across the farm were all up to date and being followed correctly,” he shares. “I also handled cattle movements throughout their lactations to make sure they move to the correct pens as they transition from fresh to the later stages of lactation.”
After graduating from Cal Poly, Brent returned home full-time and was immediately put in charge of most of the day-to-day activities.
“I went through all of our protocols and made sure employees were trained to do them correctly,” he shares. “I pretty much started doing whatever I could to make the farm more efficient.”
Focusing on efficiency, Wickstrom now tracks the correlations of pounds of energy corrected milk to pounds of dry matter feed.
“We have always worked closely with our nutritionist to try to make milk as efficiently as possible, both from a feed standpoint as well as management,” he says. “We focus on lock-up time, minimizing time without feed, cow cooling and water availability. All of these things have helped us improve our efficiency.”
While Brent’s roles naturally have grown step by step, he still mainly oversees all employees and ensures that the dairy is running smoothly.
“Luckily my father is still on the dairy working with me, so I have a lot of help,” Brent says.
Advice to Future Farmers
Brent says the best advice he has to offer those that are considering joining the family operation is to be open with your family and make sure it’s what you both are committed to doing long-term.
“Working with family is awesome, but it has to work for everybody,” he says.
Brent says his one regret is that he never conducted an off-the-farm internship while he was in college.
“It didn’t seem like it at the time, but I think it would have been a great experience to get out and see how it is working somewhere else and how things are done differently,” he shares. “Going to college was great for me, but I don’t think everyone needs to go to college. However, I do think everybody needs to try to experience life outside of their hometown at some point.”
Brent, who has been back on the family farm for nine years now, is happy with his long-term goal of joining the ownership and workforce at Wickstrom Jerseys. He says he hopes more people continue to follow their dreams and keep making this industry even better.
Way-Har Farms, LLC
Nearly 3,000 miles east, Jaylene Lesher and her family own and operate Way-Har Farms, LLC in Bernville, Pa. The Lesher family milks 250 Registered Holsteins and Jerseys. The farm grew as the family interest grew, and in 2015 the Lesher herd increased from 100 to 250 head. The Lesher family also operates Way-Har Farm Market, their family-owned country store that offers processed and packaged fresh farm milk to customers.
Like Brent, Jaylene always knew she wanted to be part of the farm. Her deep-rooted passion for working with registered cows served as the motivation that pushed her to obtain an Animal Science degree from Penn State.
“My classes and connections at Penn State further grew my desire to learn more,” she says.
More Than a College Experience
From dairy science club to dairy judging to Dairy Challenge, Jaylene participated in as many programs as she could while attending Penn State. She also made it a priority to take advantage of internship opportunities during her time away from the farm.
In 2014 Jaylene packed her farm boots and headed to Wisconsin where she landed a summer internship at Rosy-Lane Holsteins in Watertown.
“While I was there, I sharpened my cow care skills, experienced Wisconsin culture and gained lifelong friends. Lloyd and Daphne Holterman, Tim Strobel and Jordan Mathews truly showed me the possibilities of what can be achieved with intensive cow care and management,” she says. “That was the turning point for me to return to my family dairy.”
Going outside her comfort zone, her second internship was what Jaylene calls a good learning experience in food processing at Bell and Evans Chickens.
“This company is growing exponentially,” she says. “I wanted to see how they manage that growth and see food processing on a bigger scale.”
After graduating from college, a friendly tag in a job posting on Facebook and lucky timing helped Jaylene land her first job. In 2016, she joined Kings-Ransom Farm, LLC, in New York as their calf manager. For two and half years she oversaw the health and nutrition of 200 plus calves and youngstock.
“I gained first-hand experience in middle management and made strong connections with the King family and farm team,” she says.
In October 2018, Jaylene made the decision to return home to her family dairy and work as the herd manager.
Jaylene shares that her parents, who are the sole partners of the farm and business, highly encouraged her and her siblings to study or work away from the farm first.
“We didn’t have any written rules or expectations, but they did help us weigh out our options and supported us making decisions on our own,” she says.
Pieces of Advice
As the Way-Har herd manager, a role that Jaylene continues to hold, she oversees herd health, reproductive management, youngstock care and employee training.
Before starting this role and per Jaylene’s request, she was provided with a written job description that outlined clear expectations, compensation and living arrangements that her parents provided her.
While Jaylene returned to the dairy, her top responsibilities were onboarding and scheduling milkers, carry-out all reproductive work, as well as caring for post-fresh cows and calves. She still conducts all of these tasks, but has learned how to utilize her time wisely.
“I started an ovsynch program, changed nutritionist twice, updated our vaccine programs, vamped-up our milking procedure and parlor training, changed out our hutch calves’ diets and actively took on stall management,” she shares.
While Jaylene still focuses on cows and serves as the herdsman, she proactively steps up and looks for any way to improve production.
The third-generation dairy farmer offers two pieces of advice for aspiring dairymen and women.
“Follow the path where opportunities take you,” Jaylene says. “Whether it is a trade school, four-year degree, a position at the home farm immediately after graduation, or an industry job elsewhere for a few years. Take the position where you feel you are going to grow the most.”
Secondly, Jaylene encourages young farmers to frequently use their contacts, connections and resources.
“Colleagues, past co-workers and bosses, extension agents and neighboring dairy producers are willing to help you,” she says. “You simply must ask for it.”
While there is no place like home, there is also no correct path to bring back the next generation of dairy farmers. An open conversation with the past generation and the willingness to step outside of your comfort zone and/or your zip code can act as a boomerang to return you home to your childhood dairy farm.
