THE GREAT
See pages 24 and 25 of this section for details!
C E L E B R A T I N G
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Y E A R S
DAIRY ST R 25
November 25, 2023
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 25, No. 19
Dairy farming for themselves Fancsalis buy farm of their own By Amy Kyllo
amy.k@star-pub.com
AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR
Bradley and KaƟe Fancsali, holding Buckley, smile Nov. 14 in a shed on their farm near Hayeld, Minnesota. The Fancsalis bought their farm in 2022.
BBE High School adds dispensers in cafeteria, weight room
HAYFIELD, Minn. — On a morning late in May 2022, a semi-trailer, three trucks with cattle trailers and personal vehicles left a farm near Dodgeville, Wisconsin, and drove to a new farm in Minnesota. “I wish I would have gotten more pictures of it,” Katie Fancsali said. “The whole caravan … everything in our whole lives (was) right there.” Bradley and Katie Fancsali and their son, Buckley, own and operate a 100-cow dairy farm near Hayeld. They purchased the farm, house, land and a herd of dairy cows from Daryn McGowan in 2022. Neither Bradley or Katie grew up on a dairy farm. Brad-
ley was introduced to the dairy industry by a dairy farmer who babysat him. Katie milked a cow for the rst time at about the age of 16. The young couple has experienced many naysayers in their dairy-farming journey. “Everybody’s going to tell you that there are no opportunities in dairy, (that) it’s not a smart thing to get into,” Katie said. Bradley agreed. “We’ve had a lot of people who told us that we couldn’t do it,” he said. Among the people who were negative were dairy farmers. Katie said it is unfortunate that people have this perspective. “It’s a hard life; it’s not easy,” she said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s a good life.” Bradley, who was in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 2012-19, started working on dairy farms in 2013 as soon as he completed basic training and even worked on two research farms.
Fresh milk is served
By Jan Lefebvre jan.l@star-pub.com
BELGRADE, Minn. — Students at Belgrade-BrootenElrosa High School live in the heart of Minnesota’s dairy country, so most are familiar with the pleasure of drinking fresh milk. On Oct. 24, two new milk dispensing machines were added to the school’s cafeteria, providing a local, fresh product. A few weeks later, a third milk machine became available to students using the weight room. Aaron Radermacher, a dairy farmer who has been on the BBE School District’s board for six years, took part in launching
JAN LEFEBVRE/DAIRY STAR
Students Aiden Radermacher (from leŌ), Gunnar Heieie and Max Heieie, along with school board member Aaron Radermacher, hold cups of fresh chocolate milk Nov. 9 at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa High School in Belgrade, Minnesota. Two milk dispenser machines were added to the school’s cafeteria this fall through a grant from Midwest Dairy. the change. He said it all began with a question from high school principal Laura Spanier.
“(Adding dispensers) was something I had brought up to people before, but it didn’t gain
much traction,” Radermacher said. “Then Laura mentioned to me about another school get-
The couple met in 2019 when Bradley was working as a herdsman at a dairy near Zumbro Falls and Katie was a sales representative for ABS Global. They married in 2020 and had Buckley in 2021. After working together on various dairy farms, the Fancsalis nally came to a dairy farm near Dodgeville, Wisconsin, where they were in charge of the dairy herd for two years. However, buying or renting that farm for themselves was not an option, and the Fancsalis’ goal was to eventually work for themselves. The Fancsalis began looking for a farm near to either Bradley’s parents in Wisconsin or Katie’s parents in Minnesota. In early winter of 2022, Daryn McGowan, a former classmate of Katie’s mom, reached out to Katie’s dad with the news his farm was going to be for sale. Turn to FANCSALIS | Page 7
ting dispensers, and she asked me, ‘What’s this all about?’ So, I checked into getting a grant through Midwest Dairy, and that’s how we got the ball rolling.” Spanier said Radermacher was instrumental in making everything happen. “He really took the lead and got the grant,” she said. “For the rst day we rolled out (the dispensers), Aaron did a good job of contacting local dairy farmers and having them come in and help the kids and explain how to use the machines.” Radermacher completed paperwork for the grant in July in time for Midwest Dairy’s August due date. Beginning Oct. 24, two machines were operating at the school. The grant included both machines that have two dispensers each, the stainless-steel
Turn to BBE DISPENSER | Page 6