A powerful March blizzard brought parts of Wisconsin to a standstill, blanketing roads, cutting off access, and forcing one dairy farm into an extraordinary decision.
Even as the storm shut down everything around one dairy farmer, it couldn’t stop the work, or the heart, of this farm family in Manawa, Wisconsin.
Whiteout conditions made travel impossible across the region, and for Chris Henschel, a dairy farmer in Manawa, the storm quickly turned from difficult to unprecedented. The March blizzard forced a decision he says he never expected to make.
“I would say this is probably one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen,” Henschel says.
Snow drifts reached five to fifteen feet high, and roads were impassable for roughly 36 hours. Milk trucks couldn’t get through, and employees couldn’t reach the farm, leaving the Henschel family to run everything on their own.
“The wind was huge because anytime you would plow anything, it would drift right back closed. So actually it basically wasn’t safe for drivers to be out… just my family trying to run everything by ourselves,” Henschel says.
With no way to move milk off the farm, the family was forced to make a decision no dairy farmer wants to face.
“Yes, we ended up dumping basically almost a day’s worth worth of milk because nobody could get here And have you ever had to dump milk before? We personally have no, we’ve never had, we’ve heard of other farmers having to do it, but we have never had to do,” Henschel says.
Even as the milk was lost, the cows were still cared for through the storm. Thanks to robotic milkers, the herd remained on schedule, but the human effort behind the operation became the biggest challenge.
“We milked with robots. So we did not have, our cows did not, it was more impact on our, the people, you know, just trying to get to the barn to take care of the cows and get the cows fed, you know, they did get fed a little late yesterday, but yeah, more, more so on the people than the cows. We made sure that cows were taken care of,” Henschel says.
While the financial impact remains uncertain, the storm tested the limits of the entire family and revealed just how far they were willing to go.
Ten-year-old Jack and six-year-old Elliot joined their parents in braving the blizzard, helping feed the cows and keep the farm running.
“Just getting around, getting the cows fed, you know, trying to open things up. So we could get the cows fed and get, you know, everybody taken care of and trying to keep everybody dry and clean. And yeah, that was a big truck, big struggle,” Henschel says.
Through the wind, drifting snow, and near-impossible conditions, the family pushed forward—ensuring the cows were fed and cared for even when simply reaching the barn was a challenge.
“Dad’s still plowing some snow, but just kind of cleaning some things up, but yeah, everything’s pretty much back to normal,” Henschel says.
It was a storm Henschel says was worse than the blizzard of 2018, and one he hopes never to see again. But it also became a powerful reminder of the resilience of farm families—where grit, teamwork, and family come together when it matters most.
