A farm to call home

BELLINGHAM, Minn. — Matt Rewitzer is living proof that dreams do come true. As of Oct. 1, 2024, Rewitzer is milking cows at his own dairy farm.

“I’ve tried many different ways to get here,” Rewitzer said. “Whenever I did anything, my thought process was, ‘How is this going to get me closer to dairy farming?’ That was always the goal — to dairy farm.”

Last year, Rewitzer purchased a dairy farm complete with 130 cows, a double-6 parlor and freestall barn from Kor Mulder near Bellingham. The farm features headlocks in the freestall barn and the heifer shed and a 10-acre pasture next to the freestall barn so the milk cows can go outside.

“I like how efficient this place is,” Rewitzer said. “There are lots of headlocks, so it is easy to catch the cows or heifers for pregnancy checking and breeding. I really like the pasture by the freestall barn. The cows will stay outside until I go get them for milking.”

The farm site is 35 acres and feed is purchased.

“Kor already had agreements with neighbors to get feed so we will continue doing that,” Rewitzer said. “This way I have more time for the cattle and the kids.”

Rewitzer grew up on his parents’ dairy farm near Eagle Bend. However, they sold their herd in 2007. After graduating from Ridgewater College, Rewitzer worked for other farmers in the area. He and his wife, Skyla, eventually bought his grandparents’ farm hoping to turn that into a dairy.

“My grandparents’ farm had an old barn, which could have been remodeled to a parlor, but we had a barn fire that set us back,” Rewitzer said.

The farm site also had a machine shed that he said had housed all his grandpa’s machinery years ago, but would not come close to housing the machinery he needed.

“We would have to remodel that to even make it work for a heifer shed,” Rewitzer said. “The cost of building keeps going up between concrete, steel, lumber and labor.”

Rewitzer decided he would have to buy a different farm and started looking online while working for other dairy farmers. Most of the farms he found online were either too far away or too big and out of his budget.

After scouring the internet, Rewitzer saw a 130-cow dairy with a parlor for sale by Bellingham, but it had been posted more than 10 years ago. Rewitzer assumed it had been sold after all this time and was never taken off the website.

“Eventually, I called on this farm and sure enough it was still for sale,” Rewitzer said.

Early last year, Rewitzer looked at the farm and immediately liked what he saw. A little while later he came back a second time with his dad and a third time with his wife.

“When I came to look at it with my wife and she saw the house, she agreed,” Rewitzer said. “She knew it was my dream to have my own dairy farm.”

The Rewitzers decided to purchase the farm in the summer. In August, they looked at schools for their kids: Jazlyn, Maverick and Harvey. The school they chose started in August and wanted their kids to start their new school at the beginning of the year so they figured out a way to live on the farm before the sale was finalized.

They borrowed a camper from Rewitzer’s parents so Skyla and the kids could live at the farm while they finalized the paperwork with Mulder and finished the moving process.

“We set (the camper) up the day before school started and Skyla stayed there with the kids while I went back and forth moving stuff,” Rewitzer said. “I came as much as I could, but I was still working.”

Mulder, originally from the Netherlands, immigrated to farm in the U.S. After more than 20 years of trying to obtain permanent residency, Mulder was not able to meet the criteria to stay, so decided to sell his farm.

The Rewitzers, Mulder and their loan officer all agreed that on Oct. 1, 2024, the farm would belong to the Rewitzers. For the week leading up to Oct. 1, Rewitzer milked evenings and Mulder milked mornings to make for a smooth transition.

“For me, (the transition) couldn’t have gone any better,” Rewitzer said. “We really appreciate how much Kor helped us out by letting us set up the camper and using his house to get running water. Even after we took over, he would still come by and help us out.”

Rewitzer said it feels good to have accomplished his dream.

“I like all of it, being with the cattle, mixing feed, breeding the cows, raising up the calves and seeing my kids out here with me,” Rewitzer said.