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DAIRY ST R
September 26, 2020
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 22, No. 15
Big plans for a small farm
Leonards welcome daughter back into dairy business
Family is backbone of Brand Farms
By Jennifer Coyne & Mark Klaphake Staff Writers
WACONIA, Minn. – The past two years have gone by quickly for the Leonard family as Tim and Amy work closely with their daughter, Christine, in managing their dairy farm. “It’s really a joint venture at this time,” Amy said. “By working together, we can do chores faster so there’s more time for other projects around the farm and it’s easier to take time off.” The Leonards milk 50 cows in a tiestall barn on their Carver County dairy farm near Waconia. They also crop farm 200 acres of land and raise all of their replacement animals. In 2018, Tim and Amy were able to accommodate Christine’s return to the farm. “I always wanted to come back, but I didn’t really know where there was a place for me,” Christine said. “It’s a lot different working for your parents than working with your parents. It took us time to gure out how everything ts together.” The family collectively does chores, such as milking, feeding and caring for the livestock, and Tim oversees the eldwork. Amy also works as a part-time dietician. With Christine home, additional part-time help is only needed for eldwork. Currently, Christine receives a percentage of the farm’s milk check. In time, her intentions are to purchase the herd, then equipment and eventually land base. As Christine works with her parents and makes plans to farm on her own one day, those plans include developing the niche markets that surround the family dairy. Placed along Minnesota State Highway 5, the Leonards’ property is visible to all passing from Norwood Young America to Waconia. Not only do the Leonards have an opportunity to capitalize on agritourism, but Christine also wants to establish an on-farm cheese processing facility by 2030. For the time being, she creates artisan cheese platters with specialty cheeses from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. “The environment is there to nurture it,” said Christine of the farm’s ability to capture new markets. “I want to invest a little, get things going and then invest a little bit more. I have to make sure Turn to LEONARDS | Page 7
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
ChrisƟne and Tim Leonard talk about the day’s responsibiliƟes in their Ɵestall barn on the family’s farm near Waconia, Minnesota. ChrisƟne joined the farm full Ɵme in January 2018.
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Three generaƟons in the Brand family – (from leŌ) John, Richard and Aaron –work together on their farm near Farmington, Minnesota. In addiƟon to their 60-cow herd, the Brands also have an orchard, laying hens, chickens raised for meat, a sunower patch and an on-farm store.
Three generations work together on diversied operation By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
FARMINGTON, Minn. – Family is the backbone of Brand Farms. Three generations work together to do daily chores on the diversied operation that includes a 60-cow dairy, an apple orchard, a ock of laying hens, chickens raised for meat, a sunower patch for farm visitors and an on-farm store. Each family member has added value to the farm, building on what the previous one has already created on the farm near Farmington. “Thank goodness we all get along,” John Brand said. “We see each other all the time.” John is the middle generation at Brand Farms with a main focus on the dairy. His wife, Brenda, works full time off the farm but also helps with online marketing, the farm’s social media pages, and making caramel apples and apple pie to sell in the store.
Richard, the patriarch of the family at the age of 88, works on the farm most days to help where he is able – pushing in feed for the cows, scraping down grates in the dairy barn, riding the golf cart to check on elds or opening the lay-
ing hen barn’s door to let the chickens graze, among other jobs. He and his wife, Cece, were the ones to start the farm in its current location in 1959. Aaron, who returned in Turn to BRANDS | Page 5
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Aaron Brand stands in the sunower eld on his family’s farm near Farmington, Minnesota. Sunowers are the latest addiƟon to the diversied farm.