MONROE - When it comes to making decisions at the Mayer Homestead Farm on County N west of Monroe, the answers aren't always in black and white.
Kelsi Mayer, co-chair of this year's Cheese Days Cow Milking Contest, loves Holstein cows. Her co-chair and husband, Jeremy, is partial to Brown Swiss. So when the two met a number of years ago and started planning for their future together in life and in the dairy industry, they knew they had to be ready to compromise - with black, white, and shades of brown.
Kelsi, the daughter of Jeff and Kate Hendrickson, was raised on a registered Holstein farm near Belleville. Growing up she was active in 4-H, FFA, and Junior Holsteins, and has been showing cattle since age 4. She graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double major in Dairy Science and Life Sciences Communication.
Jeremy, the son of Steve and Lonna Mayer, is a native of Monroe with a family heritage including dairy farming, cheesemaking, and Swiss roots. His great-grandfather Ambrose Mayer started out making cheese at the Benkert factory. Ambrose returned to Switzerland and came back with a wife, and the couple eventually bought their own cheese factory. Their son Alois, known as Allie, started out helping to make Limburger, but didn't like being stuck inside all day. Ambrose told him to go across the road and work on the farm - and he did. Allie went on to raise four boys on that farm, including Jeremy's dad Steve, and hauled the milk from his herd to his dad Ambrose's cheese factory. After selling the factory, Ambrose worked at Chalet Cheese Co-op and Allie began shipping milk there.
While attending UW-Madison's Farm and Industry Short Course, Jeremy had a professor who declared that a farmer wouldn't be able to survive, financially, on milking 50 cows alone. From that point on, it was Jeremy's goal to find a niche. He started off with a herd of Brown Swiss with the goal of having all be registered Swiss.
Ice cream and a particularly memorable car are part of the story that brought Jeremy and Kelsi together. They got acquainted through their involvement with 4-H Junior Leaders.
"We'd have meetings at the same time the adult leaders did, and we'd always try to get done sooner so we could go for ice cream at Dairy Queen while the adults finished their meeting," Kelsi said. But her mom was reluctant to let her go along, because she wasn't quite sure about Jeremy, who was always running around in his "souped up" 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442.
As time went on, Kelsi didn't really care what kind of car Jeremy drove, but she was concerned about his choice of dairy breed. When she told him she wouldn't go on a date "until he had some real cows," Jeremy knew what he had to do. He stopped in at the farm operated by Randy and Pam Wyss, where he had worked, and told Randy he needed to buy five registered Holsteins. On one of Jeremy and Kelsi's early dates, they went cow shopping.
Jeremy and Kelsi married in 2010, and soon after began buying the farm where they now live - a farm that has been in Jeremy's family since 1955. It was the site of the first Cheese Days Dairy Farm tours in 1992, and just two weeks later the cows were sold. The barn had sat idle until 2002 when Jeremy started his herd. The farm is located just down the road from Chalet Cheese Co-op and milk from Jeremy and Kelsi's herd of Holsteins and Brown Swiss is used to produce Limburger. Kelsi said "the Swiss have grown on me" but Holsteins will always be her first love because they are responsible for fueling her passion for the dairy industry.
The couple's interest in agricultural education led them to follow in the footsteps of Randy and Pam Wyss as organizers of the popular Cow Milking Contest at the Cheese Days Festival.
What makes a dairy cow a good participant in the contest? Most importantly they must be broke to lead. In addition, cows are creatures of habit - generally happiest in their customary surroundings, so it also helps if they are comfortable in new settings and around people. As the pair plans the contest, they try to get representatives from each of the local dairy breeds in the county. "Holsteins and Brown Swiss are easy to find, and some Jerseys," says Kelsi, who notes that this year's contest will also include Red and White Holsteins and Milking Shorthorns.
Both Jeremy and Kelsi have various other connections to the Cheese Days Festival. Kelsi's sister Breinne served as 2014 ambassador. As a youngster, Kelsi helped out in the Junior Holstein food stand and was in the Cow Milking Contest as a 4-H member. In addition to spending Saturday afternoon running this year's contest, the couple will walk with the group of Brown Swiss in The Swiss Colony Cheese Days Parade on Sunday.
As a young couple in farming, they face many financial and emotional challenges. They point out that it's not a like a 9-to-5 job because they can never leave their work behind.
"Sometimes it's hard to compartmentalize the different issues that come up," said Jeremy.
Kelsi also works off the farm at Filament Marketing in Madison. But even if she's heading off the farm to work, she always helps out with morning chores before she goes. Weekends, the pair teams up to get things done faster -because if they get done sooner, there might be time for date night or a quick run to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.
Kelsi Mayer, co-chair of this year's Cheese Days Cow Milking Contest, loves Holstein cows. Her co-chair and husband, Jeremy, is partial to Brown Swiss. So when the two met a number of years ago and started planning for their future together in life and in the dairy industry, they knew they had to be ready to compromise - with black, white, and shades of brown.
Kelsi, the daughter of Jeff and Kate Hendrickson, was raised on a registered Holstein farm near Belleville. Growing up she was active in 4-H, FFA, and Junior Holsteins, and has been showing cattle since age 4. She graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double major in Dairy Science and Life Sciences Communication.
Jeremy, the son of Steve and Lonna Mayer, is a native of Monroe with a family heritage including dairy farming, cheesemaking, and Swiss roots. His great-grandfather Ambrose Mayer started out making cheese at the Benkert factory. Ambrose returned to Switzerland and came back with a wife, and the couple eventually bought their own cheese factory. Their son Alois, known as Allie, started out helping to make Limburger, but didn't like being stuck inside all day. Ambrose told him to go across the road and work on the farm - and he did. Allie went on to raise four boys on that farm, including Jeremy's dad Steve, and hauled the milk from his herd to his dad Ambrose's cheese factory. After selling the factory, Ambrose worked at Chalet Cheese Co-op and Allie began shipping milk there.
While attending UW-Madison's Farm and Industry Short Course, Jeremy had a professor who declared that a farmer wouldn't be able to survive, financially, on milking 50 cows alone. From that point on, it was Jeremy's goal to find a niche. He started off with a herd of Brown Swiss with the goal of having all be registered Swiss.
Ice cream and a particularly memorable car are part of the story that brought Jeremy and Kelsi together. They got acquainted through their involvement with 4-H Junior Leaders.
"We'd have meetings at the same time the adult leaders did, and we'd always try to get done sooner so we could go for ice cream at Dairy Queen while the adults finished their meeting," Kelsi said. But her mom was reluctant to let her go along, because she wasn't quite sure about Jeremy, who was always running around in his "souped up" 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442.
As time went on, Kelsi didn't really care what kind of car Jeremy drove, but she was concerned about his choice of dairy breed. When she told him she wouldn't go on a date "until he had some real cows," Jeremy knew what he had to do. He stopped in at the farm operated by Randy and Pam Wyss, where he had worked, and told Randy he needed to buy five registered Holsteins. On one of Jeremy and Kelsi's early dates, they went cow shopping.
Jeremy and Kelsi married in 2010, and soon after began buying the farm where they now live - a farm that has been in Jeremy's family since 1955. It was the site of the first Cheese Days Dairy Farm tours in 1992, and just two weeks later the cows were sold. The barn had sat idle until 2002 when Jeremy started his herd. The farm is located just down the road from Chalet Cheese Co-op and milk from Jeremy and Kelsi's herd of Holsteins and Brown Swiss is used to produce Limburger. Kelsi said "the Swiss have grown on me" but Holsteins will always be her first love because they are responsible for fueling her passion for the dairy industry.
The couple's interest in agricultural education led them to follow in the footsteps of Randy and Pam Wyss as organizers of the popular Cow Milking Contest at the Cheese Days Festival.
What makes a dairy cow a good participant in the contest? Most importantly they must be broke to lead. In addition, cows are creatures of habit - generally happiest in their customary surroundings, so it also helps if they are comfortable in new settings and around people. As the pair plans the contest, they try to get representatives from each of the local dairy breeds in the county. "Holsteins and Brown Swiss are easy to find, and some Jerseys," says Kelsi, who notes that this year's contest will also include Red and White Holsteins and Milking Shorthorns.
Both Jeremy and Kelsi have various other connections to the Cheese Days Festival. Kelsi's sister Breinne served as 2014 ambassador. As a youngster, Kelsi helped out in the Junior Holstein food stand and was in the Cow Milking Contest as a 4-H member. In addition to spending Saturday afternoon running this year's contest, the couple will walk with the group of Brown Swiss in The Swiss Colony Cheese Days Parade on Sunday.
As a young couple in farming, they face many financial and emotional challenges. They point out that it's not a like a 9-to-5 job because they can never leave their work behind.
"Sometimes it's hard to compartmentalize the different issues that come up," said Jeremy.
Kelsi also works off the farm at Filament Marketing in Madison. But even if she's heading off the farm to work, she always helps out with morning chores before she goes. Weekends, the pair teams up to get things done faster -because if they get done sooner, there might be time for date night or a quick run to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.