Friend, business partner gone too soon

HAZEL GREEN, Wis. — In January, Nick Hilby lost his business partner and lifelong friend, Brandon Martin, to brain cancer. It was Martin who had given Hilby the opportunity to farm. 

“Brandon and his dad were always open to trying to help anybody get some sort of start,” Hilby said.

Hilby always knew he wanted to farm, but without a family operation to take over, it did not seem like a real possibility. That changed when he met Martin. Meeting while helping out at Hilby’s uncle’s farm, the two boys would later work together at Martin’s family farm, Martin Dairy Farms.

Today, Martin Dairy Farms milks up to 220 Holsteins in a tiestall barn and farms 260 owned acres, along with several hundred additional rented acres.

 Taking Martin up on an invitation to help on his family’s farm, Hilby eventually bought a few cows and started showing them locally, growing his passion for dairy farming as he became more involved with the farm.

During his senior year of high school, Hilby learned Martin’s father had been diagnosed with cancer. Hilby graduated a semester early and worked on the farm full time that spring, figuring he would attend college later. That never happened.

“Brandon’s dad’s health kept declining, and by August, he had passed away,” Hilby said. “I bet you by March, I probably told myself I wasn’t going to college.”

 Martin’s dad’s health situation sparked a conversation between Martin and Hilby. Martin, knowing he did not want to farm alone, asked Hilby if he would ever consider becoming his business partner. Without hesitation, Hilby knew he wanted to be a part of the farm.

From 2011 to 2021, Hilby dedicated himself to becoming more than just an employee. Hilby brought skills that complemented Martin’s. Martin was the cow guy, and his dad was always more focused on crops. In 2021, Hilby officially became a partner of the farm.

Hilby was not afraid to try new things.

“I was still in high school (and I) must have gone to some meeting and seen something about a pasteurizer for waste milk and(Martin) wasn’t really sold on it,” Hilby said. “I told him, ‘Well, if you don’t want to buy it, I will and we’ll try it, and if it doesn’t work then I’m out of the money and you’re not.’ It turned out to be a good thing.”

The two worked side by side, making decisions together every day. Their bond grew from friendship into family after Hilby married Martin’s cousin, and the pair became co-owners of the farm.

“What made us good business partners — a lot of people referred us to as the married couple because we could argue, but not hate each other — (was that) somebody would have an idea and we’d argue it out until we came to a mutual agreement,” Hilby said. “We made a lot of good decisions that way.”

But in August 2023, things changed.

“We were finishing up chores and (Martin) said he was starting to get a headache again,” Hilby said.

Hilby said Martin had been putting off going to the eye doctor.

“I had a gut feeling that it wasn’t an eye doctor problem,” he said.

That day, Hilby dropped Martin off at a doctor’s appointment in Platteville. Soon after, he got a call that Martin’s blood pressure was high and there was a concern about a possible clot.

“They did the scan and they found a tumor,” Hilby said. “(Martin) called me (saying), ‘They found something that isn’t good.’”

By that evening, the two were in Madison, knowing surgery was going to happen.

“The Madison hospital said as soon as they got a bed that evening, they would be taking Brandon by ambulance to get things figured out,” Hilby said.

Surgeries, radiation and chemo followed as Martin was treated for glioblastoma grade 4 tumor cancer, a type of brain cancer.  

When the two first found out he was sick, Hilby said Martin kept thinking about the future of the farm.

“He must have had a gut instinct because he was telling me to call the lawyer,” Hilby said. “(He felt) we needed to make sure all our paperwork’s good and that this was kind of preparing for the worst outcome of all of this.’ I told him, ‘Let’s see what they have to say and get through the treatments.’”

When Martin’s father had passed away, the turnover of assets had gone less smoothly, so Martin knew he wanted to easily transition the farm to Hilby. Martin died at the age of 42.

There was also a community of people helping with other logistics, including a former employee, Pyzer Pearce, who had left working at the farm to work in construction. 

“He had told Brandon that if something ever happened to one of us two, he would come back,” Hilby said.

Pearce did. What began as a week-long vacation turned into a more permanent return. Pearce is now working toward becoming a partner in the farm. Pearce and another full-time employee, Willy Houtakker, continue to help Hilby carry on Martin’s legacy. 

For Hilby, Martin’s memory lives on in the way he built community, gave others a chance and led with compassion.

Even before Hilby married Martin’s cousin, he said they were giving him an opportunity most people give their kids.

“I want to have that same outlook, to give others the same opportunity that Brandon gave me,” he said.

Hilby hopes farmers will consider possibilities like this to keep their legacy alive, welcoming others to the farm and giving them a chance to become part of the agricultural community.