Expanding for four families

WALDO, Wis. — Sometimes, children come back to the farm after working other jobs or having other careers. Sometimes though they never leave, as is the case with the Mullikins.

The desire to farm was strong in siblings, Cody, Jessica and Brett. From the time they were young, the third-generation trio wanted to follow in their parents’ footsteps and pursue careers on the farm.

Today, each one specializes in an area of their family’s dairy as they work alongside their parents, Dan and Shelly Mullikin. The farm is owned in partnership between the five Mullikins who milk 480 cows and farm 1,200 acres near Waldo.

“Our kids are very dedicated, and Shelly and I are very proud of them,” Dan said.

In August 2023, the family moved into new facilities while nearly tripling the size of their herd. The growth at Sunrise Acres of Waldo LLP was done to support the new generation.

“All three of our kids got married in a two-year timespan, so we went from one family to four families within two years,” Dan said. “We’re in it for the long haul, and this sets us up for the future.”

Jessica is the herd manager, Brett is in charge of tech and maintenance, Cody handles feeding and crops, Shelly takes care of calves and bookwork, and Dan oversees the entire operation. Cody and his wife, Katie, have a daughter, Evalynn, and also run a trucking business. Jessica is married to Dylan Heimerl, and Brett is married to Brittany. The Mullikins’ spouses do not work on the farm. Instead, the five family members are assisted by several part-time employees.

Incorporating technology to reduce labor and increase flexibility fueled a switch to robotic milking when building their new barn. Cows are milked by eight Lely A5 robots and average 2.7 milkings daily.

“The hours of labor hired here per day are a lot less now,” Brett said.

The barn contains four pens of 120 cows each with two robots per pen in a free-flow design. Robots are positioned in a row on either side of the feed alley in the center of the barn. First and second-lactation cows are on one side, and mature cows are on the other. A Lely Juno automatic feed pusher conducts regular feed push-ups.

The 460-stall, sand-bedded, tunnel-ventilated barn is 500- feet by 121- feet. Each pen features a sort pen which has simplified herd health checks, breeding and other cow work.

“The sort pens allow us to work with cows on an individual basis and not disrupt cows we don’t have to work with,” Jessica said.

As a result, the family now does weekly herd checks instead of every other week.

When designing the barn, sort pens were a big question mark the family said.

“It was a big cost and consumes a large area of the barn, but we’re so glad we didn’t cut that,” Dan said.

Every sort pen contains 10 stalls and 12 headlocks. The only headlocks in the barn are located within the sort pens. Cows eat at a feed rail throughout the rest of the building.

Previously, the Mullikins milked three times a day in a walkthrough, flat-barn, 10-stall parlor.

“Rather than upgrading facilities, it seemed easier to start from scratch on a green site,” Dan said.

The Mullikin family waited a long time to get the barn of their dreams.

“It took seven years of planning and design,” Dan said. “COVID happened in there, and we didn’t know if we could sell milk or not, so we put the brakes on the project. Then we struggled to get building materials.”

Dan’s dad, Virgil Mullikin, passed away January 2023 in the middle of the building process.

“I am sorry he never got to see it finished,” Dan said. “He was very progressive and always supportive of technology. At age 88, he would still come over to the farm and make sure they were building everything right.”

The Mullikins said they appreciate the robotic system’s activity monitoring feature which helps detect health issues and cows in heat.

“Cow health is a big benefit of the system,” Cody said. “We catch sickness sooner and also have better repro rates.”

To grow their herd, the Mullikins purchased 350 animals. 

“Increasing by that much is a lot to take on, and I’m not sure I would recommend doing that,” Dan said.

The Mullikins did two start-ups one month apart. The staggered starts were due to animal availability and waiting on one herd to arrive. It is another decision Dan does not recommend, but rather than rushing, the family felt it was more important to buy quality animals which they found through word of mouth.

Eighty people helped the family during startup on a three-shift rotation.

“We appreciate every one of those people,” Dan said. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Their dealer, Central Ag Supply Inc., supplied people to help with startup around the clock.

“Our dealer support during startup was phenomenal,” Dan said. “They stuck with us through everything.”

The Mullikins remain in growth mode as they continue to buy cows to maintain herd size. They will be adding replacements until September when their own heifers start calving in, pushing the herd to three times its original size.

The Mullikins’ breeding has shifted to focusing on teat placement and length.

“It’s udder, udder, udder for robots,” Dan said. “Before, we focused more on type.”

Growth of this extent has required putting up three times the amount of feed as before.

“Feeding is a big difference,”Brett said. “We chop a lot more corn now, but it’s hard to know how much extra feed you need.”

Having previously done a lot of cash cropping, the Mullikins did not need to grow much in acreage. They went from 500 acres of soybeans down to 120, replacing those acres with alfalfa. More manure to deal with is another factor.

“We used to be able to hose it all, but now we truck it to farther fields,” Dan said. “There are many things to consider with an expansion of this size.”

The farm’s calf population also swelled, going from 15 up to 60. The family bought more hutches and moved them to a new pad. They also got a bigger pasteurizer.

Through growth and grit, the Mullikins are achieving success in their family business.

“I have no regrets,” Dan said. “I would do robots again. This is a whole new system, and I can’t see going back to what we had before. There’s a learning curve, but it’s getting better every day.”

The Mullikins continue to embrace the future while filled with a passion for dairy farming.

“I love the industry and want to continue to see it grow,” Dan said. “Farmers and agriculture are so important to society, and I’m proud of what we do.”