Margie Weiss Mixes High-Tech Farming With Old-Fashioned Fun

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Meet Margie Weiss

In this episode, my guest is Margie Weiss, a dairy and crop farmer on a centennial farm near Frankenmuth, Michigan. The Weisses were early adopters of milking robot technology, going directly to this system from their old stanchion barn, skipping over the usual transition of parlor milking.

One way their farm diversified to help cover the cost of the robot was to incorporate agritourism, including tours, baking classes, and a fun harvest experience that includes a corn maze. The company that plants their maze uses technology that automatically plants the shape of the maze. I visited the farm earlier this year and tagged along on a fourth-grade field trip with some local kids. 

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Transcript

Please note: This transcript has not been edited.

Lisa Foust Prater: Welcome to the 15 Minutes With a Farmer podcast. I’m your host, Lisa Foust Prater. Today, my guest is Margie Weiss, a dairy and crop farmer from Frankenmuth, Michigan. She and her family welcome visitors to their centennial farm with tours, baking classes, and a fun harvest experience that includes a corn maze.

In each episode, I have a quick 15-minute conversation with a farmer to hear their story and learn more about there experience, expertise, and life lessons.

Margie Weiss: Frankenmuth has been long billed as, you know, Michigan’s little Bavaria and the town itself gets about three million guests every year. And definitely, yeah, loving to share that German history, some German traditions. And our farm has in the last several, I would say decades, maybe now about 20 years really tried to embrace that as well. And we do welcome a lot of guests, usually close to probably 5,000 guests a year come out and see the history of our farm. And also we do a nice job or try to do a nice job tying our farm history in with Michigan’s history. 

Lisa Foust Prater: When I visited, I was there the same day as a fourth grade field trip. So I got to go on the field trip with the kids and it was so much fun. And I loved going through the dairy and seeing the robot work, you know, in action with a cow going in. Can you tell us that process of how that works? And I know you guys were one of the first ones in Michigan to adopt that system. So kind of, kind of explain that to us.

Margie Weiss: Yeah, we put in our Lely robot in June of 2011 is when we started milking with it. And we have just a single box. So it candles about 60 cows. And yeah, we were, I think the fifth or sixth farm in Michigan to choose to adopt that sort of new groundbreaking technology. It had kind of just come over to the United States a few years prior to that. And mom and dad went to a vacation to Switzerland and saw one that had been operating for a few years. And when they came back from that vacation, they said, yeah, we definitely need to, you know, make the jump. We went right from a stanchion barn to the robot, you know, without kind of taking the step at parlor milking. And so we have had that now for going on 13 or 14 years. And it’s really been a tremendous blessing for our farm, the cow welfare.

For us as the people monitoring the cows, it frees up our schedule because the cows have access to milk 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And for them, it’s just, they can go out and live their life, the cows, however they want.  

And then the data that I can get from it is tremendous as well. The data that the robot is giving us as far as cows’ health information and their milk quality information, financial decisions and things like that are all made much more simple because of the data that I’m getting from that machine. So it’s really been a tremendous addition to our farm in the last 10 or 15 years. That’s probably one of the best things we’ve done.

Lisa Foust Prater: And it’s such a great combination of progressive thinking while still maintaining ties to the past. I love that about your farm. Tell us a little bit about the house when you first drive in your driveway, there is the house that was the grandparents house and tell us about that house and what it is used for now and how your mom and friends are putting that house to use.

Margie Weiss: Yeah, so I guess a little bit. We have two farmhouses kind of on the property. And so we live in the main bigger farmhouse. And the second one was the grandparents house, the Altsitz in German. And that would have traditionally been where the retired generation moved. So my grandpa was there. And after he passed away, we kind of were looking at what to do. I was not married yet. I’m not married now. And so mom and dad didn’t need to move to there. So we were looking at what we could do with that building.

And one thing that, you know, mom’s always enjoyed doing is teaching. And she was, you know, kind of had this idea to use it as a space, a classroom area, sort of, know, sort of, so to speak. And so she, we renovated the first floor. We’ve taken out some of the walls to kind of open it up and make it into a classroom that can now accommodate 30 to 40 people. And she does a lot of things, baking related or cooking related and does a great job. So we kind of rebranded it as the Heritage House. And so we do a lot of recipes that might be traditional recipes or definitely things that tie in with Michigan agriculture. 

This fall, she’s doing cornbread classes there and has a lot of school groups coming out to kind of learn the history of corn and get to see how field corn, I mean, a lot of kids are familiar with sweet corn, but cornbread uses field corn. And so it allows us to kind of talk about the different types of corn and then see how those ingredients can be grown and produced and how they’re created or manufactured and then turn them into something that kids just love to eat. So we do the cornbread in the winter/spring. She’s got pretzels. So that had a ties again with the German side. Our family’s traditional German pretzel recipe for soft pretzels. And then she’s got like in the spring apples and different fruit tarts that she can make. And it’s just, yeah, it’s really been a great way to connect.

Everybody loves to eat and enjoy tasty treats. And so it’s a great way to bring people out and get them engaged and see how locally grown food, you know, can be turned into stuff that’s delicious. And it helps the kids make that connection between their plate and where it was produced. So we really enjoy doing that as well. Yeah.

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, the day I was there, the fourth graders made pretzels. And I am not joking, they were the best pretzels I have ever had. It was so much fun. And the kids were learning about flour. And she talked about how it’s a special kind of flour and how it’s milled right there in Frankenmuth. And the kids were learning and they didn’t even realize it while they were shaping their pretzels. And they were so excited and had so much fun. And she kept them engaged. And it was just such a fantastic experience. So speaking of corn, talk to us about the Frankenmuth corn maze at the farm.

Margie Weiss: Yeah, so the corn maze came about the same time that the robotic milker did. The original idea was that, you know, the robot was a significant investment and we were looking to kind of diversify income a little bit to help cover the cost of that project. And so we decided to kind of push more into the agritourism side and there was not really any corn mazes right in our immediate area, and being so close to Frankenmuth, we thought it would be an awesome opportunity again to create another way for people to come out and get outside and enjoy nature. And then also, you know, learn more about Michigan’s agriculture. Frankenmuth corn maze was launched in 2011. So we’re going on to our 14th fall this year. 

Each year we kind of do a different, it’s a different pattern every year that focuses on a different aspect of Michigan agriculture. This year we’re focused or our theme is Smitten with the mitten, Michigan grown, Michigan great. So we’ve got a lot of different, the base pattern itself is the state of Michigan. And then it’s inside of the state boundary is different things that are produced, steaks and pumpkins and apples and corn and just a whole milk, eggs, just all kinds of different stuff kind of in that pattern. And so it’s really cool. And we have our mini maze with educational signs about apple production in Michigan and different things.

And so we’ve really enjoyed that opportunity as a way, you know, people can come out and spend an afternoon and, you know, do the corn mazes. They have games in them and stuff. And then also at the same time, again, they’re learning while they’re having fun. And so for us, it’s kind of really tied everything together. And we have a hayride where, you know, you can jump on and go over and see the farm, see the robot, learn a little bit about dairy and all of that. And so, again, it’s just another awesome way that we’ve found to tie, you know, tourism and the people wanting to be outside in the fall and enjoying outdoor family time and stuff like that with a learning experience to help promote Michigan agriculture. And so it’s really taken off and done well for us. And we’ve shared our story with thousands of people at the maze as well. And it’s just been an awesome experience.

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s so great. You know, not only for folks who are visiting or who are from out of town, but even local folks who are from your rural community who didn’t grow up on a farm. You know, when I was there, your mom asked the kids in the classes who were on their field trip, how many of them lived on a farm? And you know, I think like two or three of them raised their hand and that was it, so for so many of those kids, almost all of them, they had never really seen a cow up close. And when we walked through and they got to see the dairy cows and they got to see the calves and they were just, they were so excited and they were like, “They’re so big,” when they saw the cows and, they were just so enthralled with the whole, the whole process and seeing, seeing the calves was just so wonderful. And there was a kitten in with one of the calves and they thought that was so, you know, adorable. And it was just such a great experience for them to see that, yeah, milk is coming out of this cow and it’s going through these tubes and it’s going into this tank and this is where it goes. And for them to see where their food comes from, because those kids just don’t get the chance to see that firsthand. It’s really important.

Margie Weiss: Yeah, definitely. I agree. And like you say, it’s our friends and neighbors, you know, two miles down the road who don’t have a farm experience, you know, in their, you know, recent generations of their family. It’s America as a whole is just getting further and further away from the farm and nothing wrong with that at all. But it’s also fun to be able to show people, you know, this is where your food comes from.

And at the same time, you know, give them the opportunity to see the cows up close and to see how we’re handling the cows and to see how it’s done and that, you know, maybe some of the negativity that they see online or see on the news is not always based in fact. And for sure, it’s not based in the majority of the farms. And, you know, a lot of people enjoy seeing that, you know, we really do care about our animals and, and that, you know, the food that you’re eating out of the grocery store is a wholesome product. It’s not, you know, hyper-processed, you know, filled with all kinds of additives product. The milk is milk. And to be able to kind of replace their maybe misguided fears with some real facts and to give them that tangible experience of how it’s done on a real farm is great to be able to, again, connect with people that way and provide some factual educational stuff that they can take back home and oftentimes share with their family and friends as well. They don’t just keep it to themselves. It becomes a cool fact that they can tell. And all of those people then can become ambassadors for us as well. And it’s cool to kind of be at the ground level of that and to share our story and share the, again, the Michigan agriculture story.

Lisa Foust Prater: I would imagine that this has become a tradition for a lot of people that they take the trek to Frankenmuth and go to the corn maze and just make a day of it.

Margie Weiss: Yeah, we have, it’s fun to sit in the ticket booth and as people come up and approach us and say, have you been here before? And there is quite a few who are, yeah, this is our fifth time, this is our sixth time. We’ve come every year since 2011, and it’s awesome to be a place that has value to where they want to return and to be a place that is a tradition for their family. And just again, to be a part of what they want to do in the fall. We do have so many people that are coming back over and over and over again. And since we change up the maze, it’s always a new experience for them as well. You’re going to get lost in the corn maze, but at the stations, you’re going to find different ag facts or whatever. It’s just such a great way to get out and make family memories and all of that. Just fun to be part of for sure.

Lisa Foust Prater: Absolutely. You know, I had never really given much thought to how a corn maze becomes a corn maze. I guess, I don’t know if I thought it was just a cornfield that is just cut to become a corn maze, but you have someone who is a professional corn maze planter who comes in and does this for you, right?

Margie Weiss: Yeah, so, and there’s probably one of those things, you know, where there’s 12 ways to go about getting it done. And, there are plenty of mazes that are planted and then, you know, either the owner will just drive through and cut out the maze or even if, you know, we used to hire a company that came and cut out the maze trails, with GPS, but, the company that we work with right now is, Maze Play from Idaho and they come or we, well, at the very beginning, we send them our ideas. So we send them our ideas, hey, this is what we want our focus to be this year. You know, what sort of ideas do you have? They will generate a maze idea, you know, the pattern. And then we kind of go back and forth. And once we settle on, yeah, this is a great design, let’s do that.

They can then come out around mid-June usually, and they have a planter that’s actually sophisticated enough that when they put that pattern into the GPS on their planter, the row shutoffs actually plant the seeds into the pattern right away. So they drive back and forth across the field similar to what any other farmer does, but the row units individually are turning on and off as needed so that as soon as the corn sprouts you can start to see that pattern emerge. And it obviously is a little more efficient with seed, you know, seed usage, cause you’re not tilling out stalks of corn. And then it also allows us to make such more intricate patterns because we don’t have to be able to, you know, drive and make all the corners with a tractor or something like that. And actually this year’s pattern, it’s, getting to the point where even a zero turn lawnmower struggles to make some of the corners. So, I mean, just it’s, it’s really become a sophisticated or intricate thing and like two and a half miles of trails jammed into five acres of a corn maze. So it’s, it is pretty cool.

Lisa Foust Prater: What an incredible use of technology. Like had no idea that that’s how that worked. I love that. That’s so cool. Well, I love what you guys are doing. I again, I had so much fun visiting and everyone was so welcoming. And it was just such a beautiful farm. And I just just enjoyed it so much. So I’m definitely going to come back. But Margie, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today and have a fantastic harvest and fall and have a a have a fun fall.

Margie Weiss: Thank you so much and thanks for letting me be part of your podcast.

Lisa Foust Prater: Thank you for listening. Open the October issue of Successful Farming to read more about Weiss Centennial Farm, or visit us online at agriculture.com for more interesting features and news for your farm. Join me next week for another episode of 15 Minutes With a Farmer.