Carrying on solo as the sixth generation

OOSTBURG, Wis. — When Scott Hesselink was in his early 20s, it appeared he was destined for a career in mechanics. He went to school for auto-body repair and favored working in a body shop over being a dairy farmer.

“I love cars and motorcycles and had an interest in other things,” Scott said.

However, he was back to the farm in a full-time manner by the time he was 25. Scott joined his dad, Mark, and his two brothers when his father offered him an opportunity to come home. Now, Scott is the sixth generation running Quonset Farms with his wife, Lisa.

“Scott was the least likely one to take over the farm,” Mark said.

The Hesselinks milk 1,075 cows three times a day in a double-15 parallel parlor and farm about 1,500 acres near Oostburg. The family also buys crops off the field from several neighbors. Heifers are sent to a custom raiser when they are a couple of days old and return home pregnant.

“Our first goal is producing the highest quality milk we can,” Lisa said. “Our parlor manager works hard to ensure that. Caring for our animals, our employees and our land is a priority.”

Quonset Farms is backed by nearly 180 years of history. When Scott’s ancestors arrived from the Netherlands in 1847, they purchased 40 acres where the current farm sits and another 40 acres to the west. The original deeds, signed by Presidents James Polk and Zachary Taylor, hang on the farm’s office wall.

The farm was named for the Quonset barn Scott’s grandpa bought after the farm’s original barn burnt down in 1941.

“It was World War II, and my grandpa could only get a Quonset barn at the time,” Scott said. “It has a round roof. My grandpa thought if he gave the farm a name like that, no matter who owned it, the name would stay.”

The Hesselinks use the Quonset barn to this day as a hospital barn. The Quonset roof has since been replaced with a regular truss roof and the barn remodeled and repurposed many times to fit the family’s needs. It originally contained 20 stanchions.

“I can remember milking up to 120 cows in this barn,” Scott said.

The Hesselinks moved to freestall housing in the early 1970s and built their first parlor in 1980 — a Trigon herringbone. In 2005, they gutted the parlor and put in new equipment to make the farm’s current double-15.

Today, Scott is the only brother farming after losing his brother and business partner, Ben Hesselink, to cancer May 23, 2022. Ben was 48.

“It’s amazing how some dates stick out in your head,” Scott said. “October 3, 2020, was the last day that Ben really did anything physical on the farm. We had started hauling manure, and he tried driving the truck for a couple of days, but he was in so much pain, he had to stop. He hadn’t been diagnosed yet. He had been complaining about back pain all summer. He had back pain before, but this was different.”

A blood test revealed Ben had multiple myeloma — a blood cancer that develops in plasma cells in the bone marrow. As he took over the work Ben had been doing, Scott’s role on the farm shifted from working primarily in the farm’s shop as head of maintenance doing repairs to managing crops and spending time in the office.

“We have a lot of really good employees who helped us through,” Lisa said.

Scott also had to take on more of a management role on the farm. Lisa shares this role with Scott, spending much of her time in the office. The pair has become the key decision-makers at Quonset Farms, which is now a three-way partnership consisting of Ben’s trust, Scott, and Mark, who is 83 and continues to help on the farm.

The family has known its share of hardship. Scott also lost a sister in 2006 from multiple sclerosis.

“I’ve lost two children already,” Mark said. “But it’s OK. I know where they are, and they gave me four beautiful grandchildren.” 

Ben left behind twin sons, Garret and Wyatt, who are now 13 years old.

“Ben would have liked to see his boys take over the farm, but he knew how many hours it takes to run a farm and that there are easier ways to make a living,” Scott said. “He didn’t want to push them into farming.”

The brothers started farming together in 1994 after Ben spent 3.5 years serving in the U.S. Army. In the late 90s, the brothers became partners in the operation with their dad and an older brother who was  later removed from the partnership.

Scott said he and Ben were close, and that the two brothers, along with Lisa, did everything together.

The Hesselinks built their third freestall barn in 2015 and grew the herd to its current size. Expansion was driven by a need to support four families Scott said.

“My brothers wanted to expand more than I did,” he said. “I wanted to stay the same size and farm with no debt.”

In 2021, the Hesselinks’ faithful herd manager of 47 years retired, leaving another hole in the team.

“It was really challenging between the combination of Ben getting sick, losing him and finding a new herd manager,” Scott said. “The past four years were pretty challenging.”

The Hesselinks have 24 full-time and seven part-time or seasonal employees, including many long-term people that Scott said have become like family.

“Those are the people who keep us going,” Lisa said. “We have dedicated, high-skilled employees. We focus on how we treat people and try to make this a good place to work. That’s important to us.”

Lisa said they use a lot of technology on the farm, especially in the parlors, in their feeding program, and for monitoring cow health.

“Over the past several years on the cow end of it, we started implementing new technologies and seeing the benefits of those,” Scott said. “It has become easier to manage herd health.”

Improvements in cow health, milk production, and feed efficiency are where the Hesselinks are seeing the biggest gains. By implementing smaXtec boluses for cow monitoring, sick cows are brought to their attention before showing physical symptoms.

“Cows are healthier for it,” Lisa said. “When it comes to calving, we know well in advance and are ready.”

The Hesselinks bed their cows with a paper byproduct.

“Cows love it,” Scott said. “It’s soft, like cotton, and cows are comfortable. If we wouldn’t use it for bedding, all that paper would be going to landfills.”

Like the longstanding Quonset barn the farm is named after, Quonset Farms is a picture of longevity. Despite adversity, the Hesselinks endure and are continually making updates as they press on into the future.

“It seems we’re always doing little things to improve,” Scott said. “We constantly try to do better.”