Routine comfort

Dux century farm stands strong

BY JAN LEFEBVRE STAFF WRITER

STEWARTVILLE – Willie Dux has milked cows all of his life on his farm near Stewartville.

“I knew before we married, that Willie would be milking cows, it’s his passion,” said

Kathy Dux, Willie’s wife. “Still to this day, he really loves to milk and work with cows, and he’s 66 years old.”

Willie and Kathy raised four children on their farm – Ginesa, Yolanda, Clara and Kenny. Kathy said the farm was a good place to raise kids to have values and a good work ethic.

Today, Willie milks 30 cows in a stanchion barn – Holsteins, Brown Swiss and a few Jerseys –one by one, twice each day. Kathy has been working off-farm as a pre-school teacher since 1985, and she takes care of the calves each morning and evening. She also helps in other ways, especially during the summer, but she doesn’t milk cows. That’s Willie’s job.

“I love milking,” he said.

“It’s the same from day to day and something to do. I like the routine.”

The farm has been a solace and a focus for the couple through the years. They’ve owned the farm since 2000, but it has been in the family more than a century.

“(The farm) brought the gift of hard work,” Kathy said. “Our kids saw the dedication and work it takes to make this all run. They had their own chores and commitments, and they were in extracurricular activities and had homework to do.”

Willie agreed.

“I appreciate the work ethic and getting to work together with family,” he said. Kathy said that Willie especially demonstrated a love of hard work.

“Back then, when we would bale hay, Willie would handle each bale to put on the wagon,” Kathy said. “I would drive tractor and unload, and he would then stack

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for 54 Years

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each bale in the haymow. So, he would handle every bale twice every summer, however many thousand bales we did. After a long day of this, unloading seven wagons or so in a day, he’d say, ‘Ah, didn’t that feel good.’”

Kathy and Willie now enjoy watching their four grandchildren experience the farm.

“The grandkids love coming here,” Kathy said.

“When Kenny and Willie get the cows in, the kids stand and watch every cow come in like they are watching TV.”

Their son, Kenny, lives and works off-farm, but he hopes to take over the farm someday and helps when he can.

Changes Willie and Kathy made to the farm throughout their stewardship have turned out well. They still grow crops, but they also turned some acreage to pasture 34 years ago and began grazing their cows.

“Cows are prairie dwellers, not cave dwellers,” Willie said. “Rotational grazing is also a good way to reduce labor. It’s cheap feed, too.”

The Duxes have 25 beef cows as well and raise their youngstock before selling them.

When Kenny was a teenager, they added sheep to the farm. A sheep association was giving away groups of four ewes to encourage families to raise a flock. Kenny wanted to try it, and the Duxes took on the project.

Today they have 10 ewes and sell lambs for meat. Although Kenny has given the okay to sell them, Willie has grown attached to them.

“Willie says he likes to keep them around because they are entertaining,” Kathy said. “Plus, there is getting to be more of a demand for lamb meat, and they also clean up well and eat (in pasture) what the other animals don’t eat.”

Kenny does the sheering, and they sell the wool, but it doesn’t bring much profit.

“If you hire someone to sheer your sheep, that equals pretty much what you get for the wool,”

Kathy said. “It’s a breakeven deal.”

The Duxes built a new shed in 2014 for feeding silage. It is on a hill next to the stanchion barn and a contrast to the old, original barn the family said they don’t have the heart to tear down.

“We don’t use that barn anymore,” Kathy said. “It’s cracking and looks like it’s going to fall down.”

But, Kathy said, it’s a part of the farm’s history.

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When someone says they “grew up on a farm,” what do you envision? I envision a little tousle-headed, blonde three-yearold sitting in a 1990’s-era, blue Ford F-250 pickup being babysat by a Statler Brother’s gospel cassette while her family fenced pastures. I envision sisters doing rock guitar in the barn when they were supposed to be feeding calves, or a new mom milking cows with a baby in a front pack. I envision braiding dandelion chains while guarding a pasture gate against escaping cows or sitting against a wagon tire, eating sandwiches. Maybe I envision it all this way because those examples are my stories.

by Amy Kyllo

the farm, and I credit the strong relationships that I have with them to those hours spent together. My parents also homeschooled my siblings and me, which allowed us to spend even more time together. Thankfully, all the quality time was a good thing, and I love my three sisters and Dad and Mom dearly, but I also know how to push all their buttons. We sold our cows in 2020, but I’ll always be grateful for the amazing way I grew up.

connect with you as you share a speech.

I am excited by this opportunity at Country Acres South to get back to my rural roots and continue to be an advocate for the rural community. I believe that rural life is more than just a place you live; it is a lifestyle and identity. I have come to realize that no matter where I go, or what I do, it will define me. I bring that identity with me, whether it’s a love for outdoor walks, a quart of milk as my favorite road trip snack or some cowspot shoes to complete my look.

University of Northwestern – St. Paul in December. I’ve also had different communications and marketing internships during my college years, including at The Salvation Army, Five16 Film Festival, 98.5 KTIS and the City of Edina.

As I begin with Country Acres South, I’m thrilled to be a part of sharing the stories of rural living that no one else is telling. I hope you’ve been able to envision a little of the story of my life because I am so excited to start telling the story of yours.

I grew up on my family’s dairy farm located near Byron, Minnesota. Our farm is a beautiful 400 acres of rolling hills, woods and a river. The hills and river make farming a challenge but the views unbeatable. My family and I worked together every day on

The rural community means a lot to me. I was a county dairy princess for Olmsted County for two years and in 2019 had the enormous privilege of being crowned the 66th Princess Kay of the Milky Way to serve as a goodwill ambassador for the Minnesota dairy industry. It was an experience that deepened my respect, love and gratefulness for the work that farmers do every day. It’s crazy rewarding to teach little kids about dairy farms and dairy foods, make a successful social media post or feel the audience

Beyond my rural identity, in my free time I always love laughing at a good comedy video or meme on social media or YouTube. I’m a big people person, so investing time in friends and family is a huge priority. I also am a proud auntie to two nieces and one nephew, who are (in my unbiased opinion) some of the cutest little munchkins in the world. I enjoy books, movies, hosting, the Minnesota Twins and cooking in payment for cheerful admiration of what culinary skills I have. I graduated with a degree in public relations from the

The barn was used for milking until 1984. Then, Land O’Lakes made the decision to no longer pick up cans of milk. Farms working with Land O’ Lakes, including the Dux farm, were required to change to bulk tanks. The old barn was not able to be upgraded, so a shed was instead converted into a 30-stanchion barn tha allowed room for a new milking system and bulk tank. The couple married in 1983 and moved to the farm in 1989.

Willie, who returned home to milk every morning and evening during college, and then on the weekends when he continued school further away, still milks in that converted barn today.

It is a routine performed by Dux men going back four generations to August Dux, Willie’s great-great step grandfather who gave the family its last name. He also launched its farming legacy in the fall of 1919 when he and his wife, Wilhelmenia, bought the farm site. His stepson, Emil Dux, moved there to farm with them, bringing his pregnant wife, Agatha, and their toddler son, Gordon, who later became Willie Dux’s father.

Perhaps the routine of milking and the daily demands of farming helped August and Emil through their

Tom Heffernan

l t b Willi grief when tragedy struck a few months later in January of 1920 in the form of the Spanish Flu. Wilhelmenia, Agatha and the baby girl Agatha had just delivered all perished in the pandemic. August, Emil and one-year-old Gordon survived. The two men and little boy carried on, keeping the farm running. Emil never remarried. When August died in 1929, Emil inherited the farm. When Gordon was in college, Emil became too ill to work due to a heart condition, and Gordon came home at the age of 19 to take over the farm.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the U.S. in 2020, it was shortly after the Dux farm celebrated its centennial and exactly 100 years since the Spanish Flu arrived on the farm. Kathy said she couldn’t help but compare the two.

“People predicted (the coronavirus) pandemic would be over fast, but I didn’t think so,” Kathy said. “I knew that it couldn’t be that different from the pandemic a hun- dred years ago. They said back then how it started in the big cities and slowly worked its way to the rural communities. The Spanish Flu began in 1918, but three of Willie’s family passed away from it in January of 1920. I just knew that (the coronavirus pandemic) would be a long haul.”

She was right. However, this time the Dux family fared well. In fact, they and the farm are thriving. Kathy said the changes have been good, but one inevitable change down the road will be bittersweet.

None of Willie and Kathy’s children want to milk cows. When the farm is passed on to Kenny, it will be a crop and beef farm, but not a dairy farm.

Willie knows the time will come, but in the meantime, he continues to milk cows.

“We get to see the circle of life on the farm, from pulling a calf to handling old cows,” Willie said. “No two days are alike.”

Family provides farm learning experience, fun

BY GRACE JEURISSEN | STAFF WRITER

HAYFIELD – A big red barn, sheds and a variety of farm animals dot the landscape of the Scanlan family’s farm near Hayfield. Once their barn doors open, school buses line up with eager students ready to get, for some, their first glimpse at a life in the wide-open countryside.

Between April and October, Brian and Brenna Scanlan and their three children, Wesley, Paisley and Conley, operate Red Barn Learning Farm. As people have become further removed from agriculture over the years, the family said they’re hoping to bridge the gap between producers and consumers by providing hands-on learning experiences on their very own 8-acre farm.

“Family farms have become far and few between; we thought there was a need for a place to learn about agriculture,” Brenna said. “Our farm introduces people to agriculture on a smaller scale that is easy to navigate.”

Brian agreed.

“There is demand for something like this,” he said. “Schools and families really enjoy coming here. Some come back every year.”

Red Barn Learning Farm started in 2012 as a way for the Scanlans to give back to the surrounding communities as a family. They do birthday parties, school tours and Farm Camp, and they offer open visiting times on Fridays. They also offer a mobile zoo.

Every member of the family is involved in the farm. The kids help clean pens, set up for visiting times, and serve as Farm Camp counselors. Brian and Brenna take care of daily farm operations, do paperwork, and organize trips for schools and groups.

The farm provides a variety of friendly farm animals including mini donkeys, llamas, a mini cow, ponies, pygmy goats, poultry, rabbits, guinea pigs and pot belly pigs.

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They hope that, by introducing their visitors to a fun farm experience, those visitors can learn something, become inspired and maybe someday consider a career in agriculture.

Brenna said she connects with people who are experiencing agriculture for the first time on her family’s farm. She grew up in Rochester, not knowing much about life in the country or farms. She said she was always intrigued by farms but never had the chance to visit one when she was young.

“I see these kids walk up to our animals and pet them, and their eyes light up,” she said. “They spark excitement and make a lasting impact that opens up conversation.”

For Brian, their learning farm is a bit different in comparison to the farm he grew up on, which was a traditional hog, beef and crop farm. Being on the farm is part of his everyday life, but he said their farm in particular adds a different sense of fulfillment when they make a lasting memory for the groups that visit.

“We have a lot games and activities for kids to do while they are here,” he said. “Growing up on a farm, I sometimes think I maybe took advantage of the games we played, thinking it was part of everyday life.”

When the Scanlans fi started their venture, they came across a few challenges. The first challenge was getting their name out there. Then, there was road construction the same year they opened their barn doors to the public, making it difficult for people to get to the farm.

The first few years were the hardest, but once the word got out, their schedules soon filled up. Now, the family can make a living off the farm.

“Originally, we were only open in the fall, but after the positive feedback we thought, ‘Why not stay open for longer and expand some of the activities we provide?’ Brian said. “Now we run from April to October.”

Now that the farm is a decade old, they are hoping to expand their parking area and build an additional shed where they can host birthday parties and events without having to worry about the weather. In addition to another outbuilding, they hope to someday have a variety of vendors supplying food and other products for people to enjoy while spending time at the farm.

The Scanlans are excit- ed to offer a quality learning experience for people once again this year, and Brenna said they hope they can reach new audiences and bring them to the farm for family fun.

SMITTY’S MARINE

“We are agriculture too,” Brenna said. “I like to say that maybe we are the missing link to showing people what farms are and what they are capable of.”