A day in the life of the Crosby family

RANDALL, Minn. — Each day three generations of the Rausch and Crosby family step foot into the barn for chores.

Ann Crosby, her two sons, Cody and Chase, and her dad, Tom Rausch, milk 60 cows at the family farm, Oak Grove Dairy, near Randall.

“It’s pretty cool that we get to see and work with Mom and Grandpa every day,” Cody said. “They teach me a lot of things.”

In the summer, Cody gets up each morning at 6 to help Ann milk the cows. Once the cows are milked, Cody mixes feed in the total mixed ration wagon and feeds the cattle at the outdoor feedlot. Rausch pushes up feed throughout the day. Ann lets the lactating cows go outside, since they spend most of their time on pasture. The mother and son duo work together to feed youngstock and then make their way in for breakfast.

“When it’s this hot, we only do the chores we have to,” Ann said.

After breakfast July 29, Ann, who is co-chair of the Todd County American Dairy Association dairy princess program, went to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle Public School to chaperone a dairy princess visit to elementary students who are part of the summer school program.

Rausch was a member of the Todd County ADA for many years, and although Ann has taken his place on the board, he still volunteers to pull the dairy princess float in the parades across the county each summer.

While Ann was in town, the boys worked on their string of five lawn mowers. Their line-up includes a John Deere 420, 400, and 317 as well as two Cub Cadets.

“I want to do lawn mower pulls with my Cub Cadet,” Chase said. “They are basically mini tractors.”

The brothers hook up different attachments to the lawn mower depending on the task at hand. They have a disc, a plow, a grading blade, a snow blower, a tiller, two back blades and mower decks. They use them around the yard and in the big family garden, which includes a large pumpkin patch that their dad, Jason, uses to grow and sell pumpkins at farmers markets.

“I like tinkering with them,” Chase said. “Our one helper had a bunch of them and he got me hooked.”

After Cody and Chase made a couple of adjustments on the lawn mowers, they helped Rausch load up a tire that needed to be brought to town to be repaired.

In addition to helping on the family farm, Cody and Chase are also both active in FFA. They participate in the poultry evaluation Career Development Event just like their mom and grandpa did.

When Ann got home, the family had lunch and took a rest from the heat before making their way back outside for afternoon chores.

At 5:15 p.m., Chase and Cody went to the pasture and outdoor feedlot to bring the milk cows into the barn. Once all the cows were in their stalls, the boys fed grain to the cows while Ann got the milker units ready to go. Ann and Cody milked the cows, while Chase fed milk from the tank to the calves.

“We switched to using milk from the tank during COVID and I will never go back to feeding milk replacer again,” Ann said. “Healthwise, those calves did so well, and now as cows in the barn they are doing so well in the herd.”

Rausch swept up mangers while his family milked. Once all the cows were milked, Cody and Chase let the cows back outside for the night.

Ann said even in the hot weather she is glad to be a dairy farmer.

“I knew I wanted to dairy farm ever since I was a kid,” Ann said. “Cows have always been my thing. I like raising calves and seeing them calve and come into the barn.”

Ann came back to the farm the day after she graduated from high school in 2006 to farm alongside her dad as the second generation on the farm. Cody, who will be in 11th grade this fall at Browerville Public Schools, said he is interested in being the third generation on the farm that has been in the family since 1981.

“It is just fun for me,” Cody said. “I like the freedom of being able to do whatever you want to do. It’s a good opportunity to live on a farm; it’s a good life.”

Chase agreed.

“I like living on the farm,” Chase said. “My favorite part of living on a farm is getting our own fresh milk and not having to buy it from a store.”