Guest Blog

As you drive the rolling hills of southwest Wisconsin along Highway 18 just east of Fennimore and glance to the south, you will notice a new building dotting the skyline.

When was the last time you or your spouse left the farm? Running into town for parts, drugs or groceries doesn’t count. When was the last time you physically removed yourself from the place and went somewhere with a purpose other than what I just mentioned?

The proliferation of plant-based milk on supermarket shelves today leads us to wonder, “Is there any hope for real milk? Is milk any different from milk alternatives, or will milk simply be replaced by manufactured beverages with laboratory-formulated ingredient lists?”

One of the things I’m known for in my family is my love of the Harry Potter book series. From the movies to the books, and even the books on CDs, I’m amazed at the brilliance that is J.K. Rowling, formerly a struggling single mother who had a vision of a boy with a scar on his forehead and turned it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise with fans clamoring for more, even more than a decade after the last book was published.

As a young farmer, I dreamed of raising super-excellent crops to feed our dairy cattle, especially since I had very limited acreage. A couple years after I started farming here, I had a dairy analyst in to mate my dairy cows. The man also did a little part-time farming on the side.

We all know dairy farmers are some of the smartest, most innovative and creative people in the world. Who else gets to do everything and be everyone? We get to be accountants, doctors, teachers, chefs … heck, some of us even have a bit of interest in robotics, microbiology, genetics, nutrigenomics and environmentalism.