Cows, community, curiosity

KENYON, Minn. — For the first time, the Lexvold family will host Goodhue County’s Breakfast on the Farm June 5 at Bombay Dairy near Kenyon. The event will feature a name-the-calf contest, petting zoo, bounce house, farm bingo with prizes, a walk-through freestall barn tour with information about cow nutrition, and a sand pit where children can search for cowbells. Guests will also be able to meet Princess Kay of the Milky Way and the Goodhue County dairy princesses.

Admission and breakfast are free. Food and festivities will run from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.

To prepare for the event, routine maintenance like mowing and weeding has been done along with several improvements, said Donna Lexvold, who operates the farm with her husband, Wayne.

“We replaced the windows in the parlor so that it would be easier for people to watch the milking,” Donna said.

That improvement had been on the radar for a while.

“We have been talking about replacing them for years, and this gave us a good reason,” he said. “We milk three times a day, 24 hours a day, so it’s not easy for people to go into the parlor, but they can look through the windows and see it happen.”

Today, the Lexvolds milk 700 cows in a turner-style SenseHub Dairy double-14 parlor that was renovated in 2014. The Lexvolds buy all their feed, raise their own heifers and work with the University of Minnesota to raise calves until they are six months old.

In 1982, Wayne and Donna decided to move to the Kenyon area to begin farming on their own. At their newly purchased site, they began milking 70 cows.

In 1995, Richard Nystuen and Mark Wehe approached them with the idea of a partnership. They named the newly formed dairy business Bombay Dairy. The four partners built the dairy facilities from scratch on a new site in the Kenyon area.

“There’s a small town up here, a little town called Bombay,” Wayne said. “That’s a landmark and why we are Bombay Dairy.”

In 2014, the Lexvolds bought out their partners. The dairy grew into a family operation, owned by Donna and Wayne along with their sons, Mitchel and Nathan. The family also employs 11 full-time employees.

“We value our employees and wouldn’t be able to do this without them,” Wayne said.

The Lexvolds said that, when the Goodhue County American Dairy Association recently presented them with the opportunity to host this year’s breakfast on the farm, they happily agreed.

“It was kind of always in the back of my mind when I went to other ones that it would be kind of fun to do,” Wayne said.

While this is the family’s first time hosting breakfast on the farm themselves, other members of their extended family have hosted in the past.

“This is also the first time in many years that the breakfast on the farm is on this side of (Goodhue County),” Donna said.

The family has long enjoyed attending farming events around the area. Donna said she especially enjoys bringing her grandchildren because there are many fun activities for young kids. Wayne said the event gives farmers a chance to learn from one another.

“It is always nice to see whatever somebody else is doing, what’s working and what’s a problem,” Wayne said. “You always talk to them out and about, but it’s nice to get on the farms and see what they are doing.”

The Lexvolds received help preparing for their event from other family members, including their daughter, Shelia Burfeind, and her husband, Peter, whose family has hosted breakfast on the farm previously.

Above all, the Lexvolds hope the event helps educate the public about dairy farming and animal care.

“Sometimes there are people who have wrong perspectives about how animals are treated,” Donna said. “If you get people here, at least they can see that (the animals) are cared for.”

The Lexvolds hope visitors leave with a better understanding of how dairies provide for communities.

“It’s amazing how many people grew up right here and still don’t really know where milk comes from,” Wayne said.