Prairie Dairy Inc

“You better keep that farm going!” Jason Smith remembers what his Grandpa said on the day he died. Those words come to mind when he looks at their farm. A farming operation that has been in his family for 5 generations now and will be 120 years old this year. Jason is determined to keep it going.

The Smith’s farming legacy had been challenged in 1996 when an F5 tornado ripped through Oakfield, Wisconsin and wiped out their entire 160 milk cow operation. Jason was around 5 years old at the time and had already determined what he wanted to do when he grew up. He told his father that he wanted to farm. Seeing the persistence in his son, his father believed in him and built the operation back up. It would become a custom heifer raising facility.

Jason and his dad, Ed Smith, operate their Heifer Raising Facility along with their partners, Nathan and Dustin Kollmann as Prairie Dairy, Inc. The men all agree that it has been great being able to work closely with family and friends. They really like being involved in agriculture. Each of them has specific tasks that they specialize in on the farm that really complements the work of the others. “There is a lot of satisfaction in what we do,” Jason said. “We all have farming in our blood.”

They mentioned that they have availability for some heifers right now. These farmers prefer the barns to be full and the activity to stay busy on the farm, but find things to do in their free-time. Ed enjoys spending time with his kids and grandkids. He is a member of the Lions organization and was the Town of Oakfield Chairman for 13 years. Ed and Jason are both FFA Alumni members and Jason is an Oakfield Conservation Club Director. Jason enjoys spending time with his family and hunting. Nathan is on the School Board at St. Lukes, enjoys spending time with his wife & four kids and has a passion for fixing things. His brother, Dustin, enjoys car shows and working on cars and trucks. He is also an active member of his church, helping out when needed.

Thank you to Ed, Jason, Dustin and Nathan for taking time to share some of their story for this week’s Farmer Friday. Building back from complete devastation to creating a successful operation could be the inspiration others who are facing challenges needed to hear. Best wishes to all of you and your families as you do your best to ‘keep that farm going’!

#FarmerFriday ...post #90. To show our appreciation to our producer members Country Visions Cooperative will be giving a snapshot look of our customers and their operations in this feature each Friday