Patrick Christian is like many dairy farmers, as he grew up alongside his younger brothers learning to milk cows, feed calves and bale hay on his family’s Lomira, Wisconsin dairy farm. However, for Patrick, his life calling was away from the family farm, or so he thought. Eventually, he married his two loves together—education and dairy—and has used that to help push his family’s dairy farm forward.
Dale and Mary Christian encouraged their sons to figure out if farm life was for them. Patrick, the oldest of four boys, worked off the farm in restaurants and a lumber yard. Then, Patrick graduated high school and headed to college where earned a degree in elementary education with a minor in biology.
“I have a passion for education,” he says. “When I graduated from college, I told my dad, ‘I’ll never touch a cow again.’”
A couple of years after college and after teaching, Patrick found himself burned out of education. At the same time, in 2005, his family’s farm was undergoing its first expansion.
“My intention was just to come back for a year to refresh my brain and see if I really wanted to go back to education,” Patrick recalls, sharing that his father chuckled and harassed him, saying, ‘I thought you were never going to touch a cow again!’”
Patrick soon realized to never say never and quickly learned that farming is something that just gets in your blood and it’s hard to get it out.
One farm project led to the next and Patrick never went back to teaching. Although, he did take a short stent working as a field representative. However, after that, he came back not only to his family’s farm but also to education, as he completed his master’s degree in leadership and quality.
Chistian Hill Dairy
Today, Christian Hill Dairy is run by Dale and Mary, along with their four sons: Patrick, Chris, Curt and Bob. The Christian family smiles big, as the next generation is also showing interest in the family farm, too.
Currently, the farm milks 2,600 cows three times a day. Their last expansion (it’s third) included expanding their parlor from a double 24 to a double 44 that is expandable to a double-50. Patrick shares that the farm plans to grow to 4,000 head in a couple of years. Christian Hills Dairy farms 4,000 acres and they are also in the early stages of beginning construction on a RNG facility, too.
Naturally, Patrick is inquisitive, loves education and loves sharing his knowledge with others. He tries to help his 40-plus employees understand the why’s behind their protocols and their farm’s mission.
Although Patrick candidly shares that labor hasn’t always been on cruise control at their dairy.
“Labor was a challenge last year,” he says. “I found that I just didn’t have the right manager in the right spots. So, after the expansion, we moved some people and some managers around and that really helped with the retention.”
Similar Challenges
Patrick admits that there are some parallel challenges to both education and farming. That being labor.
“There are fewer and fewer teachers,” he shares. “When I’m working with my employees, I see that they crave information, just like my students did.”
To simplify job training and to ensure jobs are done consistently at Christian Hills Dairy, Patrick uses the standard operating procedures (SOPs) provided in Merck’s Dairy Care365 program.
“I like the Dairy Care365 guidelines and templates because they are a great starting point and easy to customize for our dairy,” Patrick says. “We try to have SOPs for every procedure we do.”
Every month, Patrick conducts employee meetings and not only goes over protocols, but also incorporates something unique to help inspire his employees.
“We go over the Merck 365 program, which has been valuable, but also I try to come up with something that can help benefit them with their daily lives, too,” he says.
In addition to managing employees, Patrick also oversees the farm’s books, as well as their milk quality program.
Seeing that the classroom is everywhere, and learning is everywhere, Patrick wholeheartedly believes his time was well suited to serve as president of the National Mastitis Council board of directors.
“Milk quality is a huge focus for our farm,” he says. “And networking at events, like National Mastitis Council meetings is valuable.”
Excitement in Dairying Landscape
For Patrick, the excitement that the dairying landscape provides is hard to duplicate outside of the farm. He says each time a tanker of milk leaves the farm he smiles.
“I’m helping to feed people around the world,” he says. “We’re providing a nutritious product.”
Patrick also finds pride in being a good community leader. He serves on the local parochial school board and also gives presentations to nearby schools on dairy farming. He says doing that allows him to combine his two loves—farming and education.
“I love to talk about how technology and science play a big role with farmers,” he says. “Anything I can do to get more kids excited about agriculture is a win.”
While it has been nearly two decades since Patrick came back to the family dairy, he says he has no regrets. He loves being able to work alongside family, with his employees and caring for cattle and land.
“Again, there is something about dairy farming. It gets in your blood,” he says.
