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“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 18, No. 12
August 13, 2016
Simons satised with decision to dairy
Dubuque family looking for a farm of its own By Ron Johnson
ron.j@dairystar.com
DUBUQUE, Iowa – Wanted: Dairy farm where a family of three can put down roots and stay a spell. Robby and Nichole Simon, and their daughter, Mackenzie, are farming already, but they know their days are numbered on the place they rent from Nichole’s father. Houses are creeping into the valley that’s just a couple miles south of Dubuque, Iowa. As the crow ies, the city of 60,000 lurks a mere mile away, over a hill. “We would love to buy this place,” Nichole said. “But I’m not sure if that will ever be possible. There’s a lot of development around here.” The rolling ground around the Simons’ 7 Hills Dairy is popular with people who have the money to spend on expensive houses. Nichole said two newer ones nearby are valued at $500,000 each. Land prices in the area reect the area’s allure. The Simons said one tract of farmland recently fetched $9,000 an acre; another brought $15,000 per acre. A larger farm nearby has an asking price of $22,000 an acre, according to the Simons. Prices like those make it impossible
RON JOHNSON/DAIRY STAR
Robby and Nichole Simon, with their daughter, Mackenzie, milk 50 cows on a rented farm near Dubuque, Iowa. Some day they hope to own their own place.
for a dairy farm to pencil out – especially at $14 milk. Asked what she thinks about those sky-high land prices, Nichole said, “It stinks. But we can’t do anything about it.” So Robby and Nichole have accepted the fact that they and their 6-year-old daughter will one day have to move. That day might lie 10 years down the road, or it could arrive sooner, Robby said. To start preparing, Robby and Nichole have been testing the farm real estate waters. “For probably the last three years we’ve been trying to nd something,” said Nichole. “He has family in Minnesota, and we’ve looked there. It’s really hard to nd anything around here.” Nichole’s father, Dennis Watters, made the move across the Mississippi River. He and his wife, Sharon, milk 300 cows near Cuba City, Wis. Robby and Nichole have milked cows on their present farm for 10 years. Before that, they lived on her parents’ home place and worked the third milking shift on a 450-cow farm near Farley, Iowa, about 20 miles to the west. Nichole and Robby were friends and attended school together. But, then they went their separate ways, only to meet again at the farm where they milked together. Sharing the milking parlor pit sevTurn to SIMONS | Page 7
A whirlwind of emotions
Jorstad’s dairy farm hit by tornado on July 27 By Brittany Olson
brittany.o@dairystar.com
CHETEK, Wis. – It was supposed to be a quiet Wednesday afternoon on July 27 for Kjell Jorstad. “I had been cutting hay all day long, and it was beginning to sprinkle,” said Jorstad, who milks 120 cows a few miles south of Chetek, Wis. “I went inside to rest with my family.” While he was trying to spend time with family before heading out to do evening milking, Jorstad couldn’t help but watch the gradually worsening weather conditions from his picture window in the living room. The clouds grew progressively darker and darker, and not long before 4 p.m. the wind began to pick up. Kjell Jorstad “All of a sudden, I saw a whirling cloud Dairy Farmer of debris coming from the west through our valley,” Jorstad said. “What was happening took about three secTurn to JORSTAD | Page 5
BRITTANY OLSON/DAIRY STAR
Kjell Jorstad’s 50- by-150 foot hay shed was liŌed up and thrown into the woods by a tornado on July 27. Jorstad milks 120 cows near Chetek, Wis.