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DAIRY ST R

Volume 20, No. 6

“All dairy, all the time”™

Finally home

Brothertons buy a farm after searching for seven years By Krista Kuzma

krista.k@dairystar.com

WINTHROP, Minn. – After nearly seven years of searching to nd a farm, the Brothertons are nally home. At the beginning of the year Steve and Jessie Brotherton along with their two children Michaela, 5, and Jayce, 3, moved to a dairy farm with a 51-stall tiestall barn they bought near Winthrop, Minn. They milk 85 cows. “It still hasn’t sunk in,” Jessie said. “I wake up and say, this is actually my house, and I actually have things to do. It’s a good feeling to be settled. It’s a place to call home and it feels like home.” The Brothertons’ dairy story started

on the East Coast in Massachusetts, where Steve grew up on his family’s farm. After his parents sold out, Steve and his brother decided to start up the farm again in 1998; however, they, too, had to sell their herd in 2006. That’s when the moving started. Steve took a job as a herdsman in Vermont. After meeting Jessie on farmersonly.com in early 2011 and a quick few months of dating online, Jessie visited Steve in Vermont in May. Within the same month, she moved from northeast Missouri and the two became engaged. Steve’s dream to have his own dairy quickly became a shared goal. “I’ve always been a country girl, and I could see how much he loved it,” Jessie said. “I can’t see him doing factory work. It would break his spirit.” The two searched for opportunities that would allow Steve to work as a Turn to BROTHERTONS | Page 6

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KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR

Steve Brotherton pulls back sawdust underneath the cows in the Ɵestall barn he and his family moved to at the rst of the year near Winthrop, Minn. He and his wife, Jessie, milk 85 cows.

The Kieler

Village

Three dairy farm moms rely on each other, family for support By Krista Kuzma

krista.k@dairystar.com

RON JOHNSON/DAIRY STAR

The women of Kieler Farms Inc. – (from leŌ) Leah Kieler, Renee Clark and Ann Kieler – are thankful to have each other while juggling the roles of farmer and mom. The three are part of the Kieler family, who milk 1,600 cows on their dairy near PlaƩeville, Wis.

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The Kielers know farming with family can be difcult. “I remember thinking it’s one of the hardest things anyone could ever do,” Leah Kieler said. “But I also think anything that’s great takes a lot of work. As difcult as it is, it’s also that good.” Making it even better for the Kieler women is having each other to lean on – whether it comes to areas of farming or being a mom. Two generations of the Kielers – Ann Kieler, together with her daughter, Renee Clark, and daughter-in-law, Leah Kieler – are the female side of the ownership force that make up Kieler Farms, Inc., where they milk 1,600 cows near Platteville, Wis. “If we didn’t have each other, I don’t know what we would do,” Leah said. They farm together with their husbands – Ann’s husband, Louie, Leah’s husband, Eric, and Clark’s husband, Matt – along with Louie’s brother, George, and his son, Daniel. Each person has his or her area to manage. For the women, Leah is the parlor manager and leads the human

Turn to KIELER FARMS | Page 10


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