“5th generation, 117-year family farm. A dairyman’s kind of cows and heifers. We know there’s a lot of cows on the market, there’s not a lot of cows like THIS on the market.”-Rocky, Premier Livestock
If you didn’t know this already, I grew up on my family’s dairy farm in Wisconsin. This past week, my parents had a retirement sale for their herd. I’ve felt a lot of things over the past few weeks leading up to the dairy sale. So many mixed emotions, I don’t even know where to start.
But at the sale, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude…
I’m so grateful to have been raised a dairy farmer’s daughter. I’m grateful for all the lessons I learned. But most importantly, I’m grateful I got to experience this lifestyle with my family.
What I’ll never forget about the last day we had the cows is how my entire family came together. It’s been years since my sister and I have been on the farm daily, but we all grew up on it, and it will always be a big part of us. We all hung out together in the parlor for the last milking, loaded the cows, went up to the auction, and sat together as we watched each and every cow and heifer sell.
I feel very emotional about all of it, but I’m mostly proud to have been part of something so incredible.
My dad sent me this last night, “Thank all your social media people for the kind comments and well wishes. The theme in many of the comments and messages I’ve received in the last week centers around something like it’s your life’s work. Yah there is some truth to that, but more importantly, my life’s work and passion is my family. I still have that and am so blessed to have had you all there for support!”
This may be an end to the dairy era on our family’s farm, but we have each other, and we’ll always have that.
