Identifying and developing the future leaders of an operation can be a challenge for some dairy producers. Fortunately for Jim Fitzgerald, co-owner of Soaring Eagle Dairy in Newtown, Wis., he didn’t have to look beyond his family tree.
“I have four daughters and a son,” Fitzgerald says. “Three of my daughters, Julie, Kelly and Stacy, are back on the farm full-time as is their brother, Nick.”
The journey to transition the family farm included valuable help from a trusted attorney and accountant and hard work from his passionate children.
Buy-Sell Agreement is a must
“When we were doing our first partnership with our oldest daughter Kelly, a consultant we were working with told us the most important thing in a partnership is not how you put the partnership together, but how you are able to take it apart,” Fitzgerald says. “If somebody decides they want out at some point, you need to have a strong buy-sell agreement. You hear about farmers who want to retire, but they can’t agree who gets what and how much, so it’s important to have that figured out ahead of time.”
For Julie Maurer, the Fitzgerald’s second-oldest daughter, the opportunity to work with the consultants during the transition process was valuable.
“I think it’s important to have creative thinkers at the table to help determine a way for the next generation to get into farming,” Maurer says. “Having people with experience and a professional background was super helpful. I don’t think we would have come up with some of the transition arrangements that we did without them.”
A slow transition
While Jim’s children have been involved on the farm since a young age, they weren’t fully prepared to take the reins when they became part owners.
“It wasn’t like flipping a light switch,” Maurer says. “Dad didn’t stop farming the day we came on. There was a lot of time for mentorship and growth, and he still gives us plenty of advice today. It was more of a slow transition.”
Introduce stakeholders
Though the Fitzgerald siblings had known and met several of the stakeholders over the years, the reintroduction as business partners was another important piece of the transition puzzle.
“We’ve been introduced and included in all of our stakeholder meetings,” Maurer says. “And we’ve been at the
table for all of those meetings from the very beginning, so I think the partners we work with have always supported the next generation being involved.”
The future depends on it
While the task of creating a succession plan is a daunting one, it is fundamental for the future of every operation.
“I think you need to look at the farm as a business to keep moving forward,” Maurer says. “How do you make that happen when you’re gone or retired? Too often, it’s ‘20% of the farm is mine, and I’m entitled to this,’ and that’s a dangerous way to look at things. When you have a business you are proud of and have put so much work, time and effort into, you hate to see it cut into a pie and sliced up. The business should be viewed as its own entity that you are afforded the opportunity to carry forward.”
As a fourth-generation dairyman, Jim Fitzgerald worked alongside his father for 13 years before making the decision to farm on his own. In 1980, he and his wife purchased a farm 1 mile down the road and set out to milk 60 Holstein cows. Today, Soaring Eagle Dairy milks 1,100 cows. Each family member plays a specific role:
> Jim and Sandie: semi-retired but continue to help on the farm as needed.
> Daughter Julie Maurer: human resources and office manager.
> Daughters Kelly Goehring and Stacy Klotz: herd managers.
> Son Nick Fitzgerald and son-in-law Jeremy Klotz: farm maintenance and crop management.
