When Steve Schleis was growing up his family was involved in agriculture and it has always been what he wanted to do. “I worked in construction part-time for 10 years,” Steve said, “but it wasn’t like working on the farm.” He knew his passion was with farming and taking care of the animals. The mainstay of the operation is dairy, ¾ of the herd is Milking Flechvieh a breed that is native to Germany, but they also do a small amount of cash crop and raise some hogs on their farm. Steve’s favorite part of his job is mixing the feed for the herd every morning. With so many mouths depending on them, he feels so accomplished when they finish feeding.

Schleis Farms, LLC is in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. Steve and his wife, Denise, along with his brother, Marvin, and his wife, Julie, represent the 3rd generation of their family farm. Denise does some book work for the operation, but Denise and Julie both work off the farm, too. Steve and Denise’s son, Ryan, represents the next generation that is getting involved in the operation. Ryan works on the farm full-time and his wife, Tasha, works there quite a bit, too. They have 3 young children; Cadence (the oldest who at 6 years old gets to spend some time on the farm), Killian, and Ainsley. Steve and Denise’s son, Tyler, is a mechanic. Tyler and his wife, Leilanni, have 2 kids; Madison and Xander. Marvin and Julie’s daughter, Taylor, is still in High School and spends some of her free time on the farm with the animals. Working with your family can be difficult at times when it comes to business, but Steve said that there is much more joy in it. He added, “you just have to be careful not to take each other for granted.”

Steve has been a State Director for Equity Livestock for 10 years. He just got back from an event in New Orleans for them. He has been on the Tisch Mills Volunteer Fire Department for 35 years. He is a member of the FFA Alumni in Kewaunee, a longstanding member of our Cooperative and a member of Peninsula Pride. As a member of the Government Affairs Committee NCFC, he travels to Washington to communicate with legislators on behalf of the farmers. Add a little hunting and fishing, along with a bowling league to his community involvement and it looks like Steve is probably pretty busy most of the time. One thing that he makes sure fits into his plan is his annual week-long fishing trip.

Thank you to Steve for being our Farmer Friday this week. We wish our best to you and your operation for continued success as you involve the next generation and keep the family tradition going!

Farmer Friday...post #59. 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