City girl meets farm

SLEEPY EYE, Minn. — A high school summer job at a dairy farm has impacted the career path of Lauren Steffl. After choosing to work at a dairy farm more than an hour away from where she grew up in Prior Lake, Steffl now is pursuing a college education in agriculture.

“I absolutely love the farm,” Steffl said. “The first time I milked a cow was May 11, 2019, and little did I know that would completely reroute my entire career and my entire life.”

Not only has Steffl been working for John Rosenhammer of Sleepy Eye since 2019, but she has also changed her major in college from early childhood education to ag business and a minor in dairy science at South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota.

While Steffl is from Prior Lake, her dad, Tim, used to have a dairy farm near Sleepy Eye. He knew Rosenhammer and connected him with his daughter. The two worked out a way for Steffl to be employed at the farm for a summer and then beyond.

“(Rosenhammer) was a little hesitant (to hire me) just because I didn’t have that ag background… but he gave it a try,” Steffl said. “I still work for John today.”

Rosenhammer farms with his brother, Greg, and they milk 220 cows in a double-12 parallel parlor. Steffl journeyed to Rosenhammer’s farm as often as she could when she lived in Prior Lake and continues now while going to college. When she is on the farm, her duties include milking, feeding calves, feeding heifers and now, in the summer, training new employees.

“When I first started milking, I remember thinking, ‘Wow I’m milking cows and this is the milk that people will be drinking, how cool is that,’” Steffl said. “Ever since then, I wanted to just continue to do a deep dive in the industry and that’s how I got involved in so many things.”

As Steffl’s responsibilities on the farm grew, so did her interest.

“I started out just having one role: milking,” Steffl said. “I progressively got introduced to more things on the farm and eventually got introduced to everything on the farm, even assisting in breeding cows.”

Since Steffl took a liking to the farm, Rosenhammer encouraged her to run for Brown County dairy princess. She was crowned Brown County dairy ambassador for one year and ever since 2021, Steffl has been crowned a Brown County dairy princess.

“That really got me stepping in the front door to all the opportunities the industry has to offer,” Steffl said. “I really like to go to classroom visits. I like to make butter with the kids so they can see how easy it is to make butter with fresh milk and then they’re able to try it. That’s such a cool experience for them.”

From there, Steffl got involved with her campus dairy club, which led her to being involved in dairy judging and dairy challenge.

“That’s where my passion for the industry really took off,” Steffl said. “I was never in 4-H or FFA, so that was my first time ever doing that and I really enjoyed it.”

Dairy challenge especially peaked Steffl’s interest she said. Steffl went on to compete at competitions in New York, Florida, California and across the Midwest.

“Ever since then, I’ve completely taken off with the dairy industry,” Steffl said. “Now I am a dairy challenge teacher assistant and assistant coach for the team.”

Through her college dairy club events and trips, Steffl has been able to see dairy farms across the country and abroad.

“I’ve been introduced to so many different dairy farms,” Steffl said. “It’s so neat to see how farms differ from the Midwest. It was a cool opportunity to see how dairy farmers treat their cows and everything farmers do to care for their cattle.”

Last summer, in addition to helping Rosenhammer on the farm, Steffl interned at Associated Milk Producers Inc. in New Ulm.

“I actually loved it there because I got to use both my ag business side and my dairy side and it was a full circle moment,” Steffl said.

This summer, Steffl will be interning with AMPI again and in the future intends to work full time for a dairy cooperative or another dairy business.

“May 11 completely changed my life and now I’m so involved in the industry,” Steffl said. “I absolutely love the dairy industry.”