Wisconsin farmer shares story of starting their dairy

“We knew what we wanted. We wanted to milk about 100 cows, we wanted to have registered Holsteins and we wanted to be able to run the business as a business, but run it by ourselves. We wanted to be big enough that we could have employees, that we could get involved in the things our kids are involved in, but manage it without employees,” she said. While working on an area farm, the couple began building up their own herd, making an agreement with the farmer that allowed them to keep the cows on his farm.“We signed an agreement with the farmer we were working with where we paid for the cows, the semen and any embryo transfer work we were doing,” Edelburg said. “We were able to get the bull calves and the heifer calves, selling the bull calves as wet calves and raising the heifers. The farmer paid for the feed and got the milk. It was an excellent way for them to get extra cows and extra milk and we were able to start gaining equity and cows.They bought their farm, Front Page Holsteins, in the spring of 2008, which included a 120-stall free-stall barn, 38 acres and a small parlor they are still using today. They also bought out the farm’s registered Holsteins and used a land contract to allow them to secure land for feed. Today they have about 122 cows, 160 heifers and youngstock and run about 400 acres of corn and alfalfa, 320 of which are rented.Edelburg said one of the biggest challenges they faced getting started was financing. At the time they bought the farm, their equity was about 7 percent. She said most commercial lenders wouldn’t look at providing a loan for equity less than 40 percent, although she said it varies depending on the institution. They turned to the Farm Service Agency.