Small for the Long Haul

After Darren Eichelkraut graduated from high school 20 years ago, he left his family’s fifth-generation dairy farm near Paoli, Wisconsin, to work in construction. Later, he worked in a hardware store. “But once I started thinking about raising a family, I realized I wanted to do that back on the farm,” he said. 

While keeping his town job, Eichelkraut also began working for his parents, Junior and Jean Eichelkraut, on their 52-cow Breezy View Dairy. Taking over the dairy became his dream, but he saw that something needed to change for him to earn a full-time living from the dairy while also transitioning into ownership. 

Expansion — with its increases in new facilities, expenses, and debt — seemed out of the question. Adding value was the alternative. Transitioning to organic milk to add value seemed a viable option. 

Now, 20 years later, Darren Eichelkraut said, “It’s worked beautifully.” Eichelkraut and his wife, Nicole, own all the cattle and equipment debt-free and are purchasing half the farm’s 280 acres from his parents while leasing the rest of the land. The farm’s 52-cow former stanchion barn has been remodeled to accommodate 52 cows in tie stalls, which give the cattle more freedom.

Nicole quit her off-farm job, and the couple now work together on the dairy, where they share the parenting of their children: Aria, 8, and Merik, 6. “Because of the way we have structured our lives and our dairy, we have more flexibility to be involved with [our kids],” Darren Eichelkraut said. 

Any thoughts of expansion? None. “I have no desire to get any larger than the size we currently are,” he said.

All the Feed We Need 

In fact, staying a small-scale producer frees Eichelkraut up to manage every aspect of the farm and its production system, creating efficiencies at multiple levels. While the steady, strong price they earn for the organic milk they sell to Westby Cooperative Creamery is a key factor in their financial stability, so is the farm’s feed-production system.

“One reason the farm’s economics are favorable, even though the dairy is relatively small, is because we can supply all the feed that we need,” Eichelkraut said. Grazing accounts for a large share of the livestock’s feed, supplemented by low-input grain and farm-grown hay.

“Eighty percent of the land grows perennial forage,” he said. “I grow a 50-50 blend of alfalfa and grass because it provides flexibility in production. Some weather conditions favor alfalfa growth, and some favor grass growth. I rotate the perennials with our grain crops of corn, oats, and triticale.”

Except for drought years, heifers and lactating cows rotationally graze forage fields throughout the growing season. In October, after hay is harvested from some fields and forage has regrown, Eichelkraut grazes hayfields as late into the season as weather permits. “It’s more cost effective for the cows to harvest the regrowth rather than for me to harvest it with machinery,” he said.

Besides grazing, another low-cost feeding practice is Eichelkraut’s production and inclusion in the ration of triticale, along with dry corn and high-moisture corn. He started growing triticale seven years ago and has found it to be a hardy crop that adapts well to direct seeding in fall into corn stover, and it competes well with weeds throughout the following growing season. He saves and cleans his own seed to further reduce costs.

“According to my research, triticale is relatively high in protein and is well balanced in amino acids,” he said. “And the cows love it.”

He feeds rolled triticale primarily to lactating cows in summer. “Besides grass, cows get 12 pounds per head per day of rolled triticale along with 4 pounds per head per day of hay,” Eichelkraut said. 

The year-round average milk production for the herd is 55–60 pounds per cow per day. “But milk production is the last thing I look at when selecting replacement heifers for the herd,” he said. “I look at health, longevity, and how well an animal fits into our system.”

He also considers milk components, because they influence the price he receives for milk. The herd’s butterfat average runs from 4%–4.7%, and milk protein ranges from 3.1%–3.4%. 

For several years, Eichelkraut has experimented with crossing Jerseys and dual-purpose breeds with the Holsteins that formerly made up the herd. Jerseys and Norwegian Reds have had a favorable influence on the herd. More recently, Eichelkraut has added the Normande breed to his crossing strategy, which is designed to create a three-way cross that thrives in his system.

“While they may produce less than our straight Holsteins, crossbreds tend to hold their condition better than Holsteins in our colder environment,” Eichelkraut said. “And they handle changes in feed a little better than our straight Holsteins.”

Keeping his operation small, he said, results in the opportunity to manage all the complexities of his multifaceted operation in ways that enhance production efficiencies. “I have the benefit of being involved in every aspect of my operation, and I am free to make my own decisions,” he noted. “Because I’m a small-scale producer, I have the opportunity to understand my system as a whole.”

A Staged Transition 

Before Eichelkraut took over the management of his family’s dairy, in 2016, he worked for his parents on the farm, earning a full-time wage. During this period, he began building equity by purchasing heifers and any new equipment the farm needed. 

He paid for the purchases with wages, as well as with a loan from a local bank. The bank note helped him begin building a credit history. 

After the purchases of replacement heifers and equipment were paid in full, he used borrowed funds to buy his parents’ remaining cows. Then, after assuming management of the dairy, he began paying wages to his parents, who continued working on the farm. 

In 2022, Eichelkraut and his wife bought half the land and the farmstead from his parents. They used a land contract, a formal document agreed to by buyers and sellers and crafted by a lawyer. “It’s a legal promissory note just between my folks and us,” he said. “We set up our own payment schedule with an interest rate lower than we would have had to pay if we had gotten a bank loan.”

All through the transition process, he said communication between all parties was key. 

“We laid everything on the table,” he said. “We asked questions of each other, such as, ‘If I take over the farm, what are my responsibilities?’ We set expectations of each other, so that we could avoid potential conflicts.

“Over the years, it helped a lot that my parents let me experiment with different things while I was still under their wing,” he added. “My parents did everything they could to ensure that I had a good start.”