Dairy, hunting go hand in hand

BLAIR, Wis. — In November, people all over Wisconsin make a wardrobe change. The neon jacket is easy to spot and invokes memories of deer hunting season in people from all walks of life.

At Hardie-Quall Family Farm near Blair, the traditions of hunting and farming have been passed across generations. Dairy farmers Andy Quall and Claudia Hardie-Quall are now hunting, farming and making chili with the next generation.

The family has been milking 35 cows in a tiestall barn since 2018. The couple took over after Hardie-Quall’s parents retired from the farm,
which has been in the family for nearly 100 years. In 2006, the farm was transitioned to organic, and in 2022 it was transitioned to grass-fed organic.

“We took over the farm because we knew we wanted the kids to grow up there,” Hardie-Quall said. “We both thought that raising our kids on the farm would provide a childhood where they could learn so much and we could work together. We enjoyed our experiences on the farm and wanted to pass that along to our boys.”

Along with farming, Quall has hunted since he was 4. He spent time with his dad and uncle in the woods and remembers the excitement that came with this time of year.

“I always looked forward to being out in the woods,” Quall said. “That’s something I wanted to pass on. I can tell now that it’s taken hold with my oldest with how eager he is when we get our orange out.”

The farm provides hunting ground for other members of Quall’s family as well. Their hunting was fruitful, as Quall’s 14-year-old niece took down a deer before making it to the stand.

“We were walking out to our spots and we saw a buck perk up,” Quall said.
“My niece saw it and fired and we had our first deer before we were really ready to go. That’s the second time she’s gotten a deer here at our place.”

The tradition at Hardie-Quall Family Farms is that after a morning of hunting, a hot bowl of chili awaits the hunters.

“Every year Andy and I get up early and start to get the chili ready,” Hardie-Quall said. “It’s a recipe that was Andy’s aunt’s that was passed down to me. My sister will come up on opening weekend and she and I will handle milking cows so Andy can head to the woods with his family.”

After the opening weekend traditions, Quall uses the rest of the deer hunting season to instill those traditions with his boys, 4-year-old Cedric and 18-month-old Jamesen. From the time the boys were 6 months old, Quall would get them geared up in orange and take them to the woods during hunting season.

“I never have a plan that we’ll get something, a lot of times we’ll just sit,” Quall said. “But I try to make it fun for them. We build it up, they get out their orange and it creates some excitement. If they see a squirrel, or a leaf moves and catches their eye, they get excited and it’s pretty awesome.”

To enhance their excitement, Quall has made placing and reviewing trail cameras a family event.

“The three of us go out and set up the cameras,” Quall said. “We’ll go out and get the camera chips and we have a chip reader in the house that we’ll look at the deer and wildlife and that really helps build it up.”

Quall said he wants continue the family traditions of farming and deer hunting.

“That’s why we’re still dairy farming,” he said.” Quality time on the farm and in the woods is important to us. Growing up on the farm helps them understand how life works. There are ups and downs, life and death, and this helps create a better understanding of all that.”