A day in the life of the Kellers

BELLECHESTER, Minn. — Dozens of tables, over 100 chairs and many family and friends filled the yard at Ted Keller’s dairy farm May 31.

The Keller family hosted a graduation party for Danny, the youngest of nine children at their home and had more than 250 people come to celebrate this accomplishment. Danny graduated from Lincoln High School in Lake City this spring.

“I tried to greet and talk to as many people as I could, but when you get this many people in your yard, it’s hard to talk to everyone,” Ted said. “Some people have come to every single one of our graduation parties. I had never seen so many cars in our yard.”

The Kellers milk 225 cows  in a double-16 parlor  near Bellechester. Ted and two of his sons, Jeremy and Zack, are full time on the farm. Danny helps on the farm outside of school and has just started working full time as a plumber for Harkins Plumbing and Heating.

“Dad is the one who taught me my work ethic along with how to drive a tractor and (do) other farm work,” Danny said.

Danny’s oldest sister, Samantha Dowden, was the main coordinator for the event since their mother, Lora, died in 2023.

“This is our ninth grad party, so I have a pretty good idea of what works well and what doesn’t,” Dowden said. “It was bittersweet because this is the only one that our mom wasn’t around for. We kept up the tradition of having the grad party on the farm, because it was Mom who wanted to have them on the farm versus renting a hall.”

Sunday morning, the day of the party, Ted, Zack, Jeremy and Danny got up at their usual 4:30 a.m. to start morning chores. While Ted and Jeremy milked, Danny pushed cows up and Zack fed the calves.

“I wanted to make sure everything (with chores) went well,” Ted said. “(I) didn’t want any cows getting out or anything breaking down so we could (not) get to church and back for the party.”

By 7 a.m. the Kellers were done in the parlor, and then they started on feeding the cows. Since the animals are fed in J-bunks, the Kellers do not need to push up feed throughout the day.

“We are very efficient,” Ted said. “It is nice that I didn’t have to do any chores for 10 hours.”

Dowden and a family friend from church showed up at 8 a.m. to start setting up for the party and cooking the food. The Kellers left for church and as soon as they got home, everyone turned their focus to preparing for the graduation party, which started at 11 a.m. Slow cookers, roasters, extension cords, trays of bars, decorations, pictures and food soon filled the garage, and tables and chairs were set up under a large tent outside.

While his family and friends set up near the house, Ted worked on putting the finishing touches around the yard by filling in low spots in the gravel and moving equipment to make room for parking.

“Some years we had cars parked half (a) mile down the road, but this year we made sure we had enough space for everybody to park in the yard,” Ted said.

The Kellers served pulled pork, hamburgers, roasted red potatoes, salad, watermelon and an assortment of desserts, including soft serve from an ice cream machine, and beverages. Dowden, her sister, Allison Hoff,  and aunt and uncle, Tim and Tena Linse helped replenish the food throughout the event.

“We had two roasters going and the oven and we could barely keep up,” Dowden said. “Towards the end I was able to visit with some people, but at one point we had 20 people in line for food and we had a double-sided line.”

Danny said he was grateful for everyone who helped out with the food and pictures.

“I got to see everyone else have their grad party, (and) now it was my turn,” he said. “It was great to see so many come out just to say congratulations to me.”

Dowden also said it was nice to see so many come to their farm.

“One of our teachers said these grad parties are such a testament to how our parents raised us,” Dowden said. “This grad party, with it being the last one … gathering the pictures and seeing Danny when he was little and, now, I have little ones of my own, it was a full circle moment.”

The party lasted until 3 p.m. and Dowden and other members of the Keller family stuck around until 6 to clean up.

“When we put the last table in the garage, I stopped to have some ice cream and it hit me that this is the last party like this that we will have,” Ted said. “(The party) really wasn’t stressful at all.”

While the party was done, the farm work was not.

Ted, Zack, Jeremy and a family friend, Eli Custer,  went to the barn for chores, and Danny drove a tractor and baler out to a field since rain was moving in. Danny baled 20 bales and brought them all to the yard before the rain arrived.

“The hay was dry enough so we didn’t have to wrap it,” Ted said. “We fed them up right away to the heifers.”

After chores, Ted got the total mixer wagon ready to go for the next day before making his way to the house at 9:30 p.m.

“I really do enjoy farming,” Ted said. “I thank God that I can get out of bed every day and do what I do.”