Wolfe Family Farm hosts 30th annual Buffalo County Dairy Breakfast
by Beth Kraft
The annual Buffalo County Dairy Breakfast celebrated 30 years of successful events on Saturday, June 27, at the Justin and Jennifer Wolfe Family Farm near Waumandee.
A sizeable crowd turned out for the breakfast and other activities, including farm tours via horse-drawn wagon, shell corn pile and entertainment by Ron Pronschinske.
Attendance at this year’s breakfast dropped a bit from the 1,600 people who flocked to the 2014 event near Durand. Perhaps the decline was due in part to the picture-perfect weather the breakfast enjoyed this year as the day dawned sunny with seasonable temperatures, possibly drawing many farmers into their fields and families to other outdoor activities.
Whatever their reasons, those who stayed away missed out on a huge breakfast of Ellsworth batter-fried cheese curds, pancakes, sausage, cheese and milk.
Yogurt made a first-time appearance at the breakfast under the Westby label, to which the Wolfes send their certified organic milk. Special ice cream was also provided by Badgerland Financial this year, scooped up by company reps throughout Saturday morning’s event, made by the Sassy Cow Creamery in Columbus.
Jennifer Wolfe says her family was happy to host this year’s event—the breakfast’s first on a certified organic farm.
“We always like going to them and we decided it would be fun [to host this year’s breakfast],” she said.
It’s actually the second time the Buffalo County Dairy Breakfast has been held at the property.
Former farm owners Bob and Lorraine Schmidtknecht hosted the second-ever event in 1987 when the farm was known as Gar-Ville Farm.
The Wolfe family bought the 200-acre farm in 2003 and have since made some significant changes.
A glance at the farm’s timeline illustrates that the family has tackled a major project almost every year since taking over 12 years ago.
Improvements have included a new dairy barn in 2005, razing the old dairy barn in 2006, a calf addition to the dairy barn in 2007, building a new house for the family in 2008, removing the old house in 2009, building a small harvester for high-moisture corn and adding a new machine shed in 2010, and additions to the barn and free-stall barn in 2011 and 2012. An old cattle shed and pig barn were razed in 2012 and 2014, respectively, and a heifer shed was also built last year to round out the renovations to the farm.
Jennifer says having the whole family involved in dairy farming is a system that has worked well for everyone.
Justin’s parents, Allan and Carol, run a certified organic dairy farm near Arcadia, and he and his three siblings have taken a page out of their book.
Justin’s brothers, Joshua and Joel, and sister, Jessica, and their families all run certified organic dairies, too, producing for Organic Valley Co-op.
Members of the Wolfe family do their own milking at their respective farms, but they all share machinery and labor for field work, which helps keep costs down. “We can all do it together,” says Jennifer of her favorite aspect of operating a dairy farm. “Everybody can be involved.”
