Real Stories from Real Minnesota Farm Families

By Wanda Patsche

A book that shares the real farm stories from featured Minnesota farm families. Learn what kind of farm they live on, what their daily farm life is like, what is important to them and what they want you to know about them and their farm. Each featured farmer shares personal pictures of their farm. There are 25 diversified farmers who share their farming stories. Read about Minnesota Hmong farmers, a cosmetics manufacturer using farm products, organic, sheep, pigs, cattle, dairy, goats, Christmas trees, apple orchards, wineries, and crop farms.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wanda Patsche
• Release date: Jun 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370053278

Wanda Patsche

Wanda is a farm partner in CW Pork, Inc. with her husband, Chuck. Together, they raise pigs, corn and soybeans in southern Minnesota. Wanda shares her passion and time with a number of ag organizations. She is a current member of the Minnesota Pork Board, a past participant of MARL (Minnesota Ag Rural Leadership), a volunteer for CommonGround, Martin County Corn and Soybean board, Farm Bureau’s Speak for Yourself, National Pork Board’s Operation Mainstreet and a Women in Ag AgStar blogger. Their family was name the 2012 Pork Farm Family of the Year and Wanda was recognized as the Minnesota Pork Promoter of the Year in 2015 and Minnesota Farm Family of the Year in 2016. In addition, she takes her passion for ag a step further by using social media to reach out to consumers across the U.S. and the world. She blogs at Minnesota Farm Living where her primary objective is to help bridge the “where does my food come from” disconnect between consumers and agriculture.

Book preview

Real Stories

Real Minnesota Farm Families

Wanda Patsche, author

Copyright 2017 Wanda Patsche

Published by Wanda Patsche at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

About the Author

Chapter One - Jeff and Chandrel Pagel

Chapter Two - Tom and Nancy Rhy

Chapter Three - Corey Hanson

Chapter Four - Laura Kieser

Chapter Five - Travis and Jeanine Fowler

Chapter Six - Paulette Legred

Chapter Seven - Tiffanie Tripp

Chapter Eight - Andrew and Chelsa Goldberg

Chapter Nine - Janet Bremer

Chapter Ten - Jared Luhmann

Chapter Eleven - David and Mary Mohn

Chapter Twelve - Thomas and Janae Olson

Chapter Thirteen - Craig Fischer

Chapter Fourteen - Kroll Family Farm

Chapter Fifteen - Dylan Thisius

Chapter Sixteen - Wayne and Abbie Samerow

Chapter Seventeen - Steve and Jodi Ohlsen Read

Chapter Eighteen - Luke Daninger

Chapter Nineteen - Jason and Jennifer Kirchner/Stonegate Orchard

Chapter Twenty - Tony Kornder

Chapter Twenty-One - Rachael Korman

Chapter Twenty-Two - Glacial Ridge Winery

Chapter Twenty-Three - Doug and Lois Hoffbauer

Chapter Twenty-Four - The Ammann Family

Chapter Twenty-Five - Pakou Hang

Connect with Wanda Patsche

Chapter One

Jeff and Chandrel Pagel

The Pagels live in southeast Minnesota and are a third generation family farm. They also use cover crops on their cropland.

Tell me a little about your farm and/or business?

We currently have a dairy herd of 70 Holstein cows as well as 75 crossbred beef cows.

How long have you farmed or been in business?

3 Generations

Jeff and Chandra Pagel

Tell me a little about what you grow/raise/produce or service provided.

Our dairy herd consists primarily of Holsteins. We milk our cows 2x per day. Replacement heifer calves are kept and raised on the farm. Our bull calves are sold as feeders. We also have a small cow/calf beef herd made up of 75 crossbred beef cows. Beef calves are raised and sold each year as feeders. We raise multiple crops for feed such as: alfalfa, sorghum, rye grass, and corn.

Where do you sell or provide services to? Who is your end consumer?

Our milk is sold to Land O’Lakes and we grow peas for freezing and canning, which are sold to Seneca Foods. Our corn, and soybeans are used primarily for animal feed on the farm.

Replacement heifers

What makes your farm/business unique or special? What are you proud of?

Jeff: We live on a 3rd generation family farm. In 2014 we built a new manure pit to aid in manure management and give us virtually zero runoff on the farm. With the added manure storage, it allows us to spread manure when it is needed on appropriate fields.

What is one interesting fact about your farm/crops/livestock/business you would like to share.

Jeff: We use cover crops to improve soil health and prevent erosion while at the same time still producing feed for the livestock. This allows us to get more out of the land while improving soil health and quality. For example, after we chop corn for silage we seed in winter rye to get cover for winter. In the spring, we are then able to harvest the rye for feed.

What is a most embarrassing moment you have had on the farm?

Chandra: A couple winters ago, I was carrying a five-gallon pail of milk out to the calf shed to feed our bucket calves. Our neighbor was walking behind me. All of a sudden, I slid on a patch of ice and landed on my backside, the milk went everywhere and the neighbor boy saw the whole thing happen!

Jeff: I would say anytime I get anything stuck, especially getting the tractor stuck in the field because you have to go find someone to help you out.

Beef herd

What do you love most about farming/business?

Chandra: I really love being able to connect with the animals. To me, there is still nothing more exciting than watching or assisting with the birth of a new calf.

Jeff: I enjoy taking care of the animals on a day to day basis and watching them grow from calves to milk cows.

What is one thing you wish consumers knew about what you do or your farm/business?

Chandra: How hard we work to make sure our animals are safe, fed, and healthy each day. Before marrying into the farm life, I didn’t know much about farming at all. I will be honest in saying that I didn’t really have a clue on what being a farmer entailed before meeting Jeff. I was disconnected from where my food really came from and didn’t really understand all the hard work that is put in day in and day out in order to produce safe and healthy products for our family and consumers. Now that I have had some experience under my belt, I am able to share more with people that don’t have any farm exposure. It allows them an insider perspective on farming and ranching as well as getting information straight from the source rather than the Internet.

Jeff: I wish people would take more time to ask more questions and become more informed about where their food comes from using reliable sources. Many farmers are willing to share information