Farming ‘everything wrong’ since high school

RUSHFORD, Minn. — First-generation dairy farmer Jon Peterson has done more than one unusual thing in his lifetime. The organic farmer bought his first farm as a junior in high school, and his first heifers started calving shortly after graduation.

Today, nearly 40 years later, Peterson is still dairy farming, line breeding his herd of 60 dairy cows, milking seasonally, skipping feed testing, forgoing feeding protein and not using commercial fertilizer.

“I like to say I do everything wrong as far as academia,” Peterson said.

Peterson farms alongside his wife, Lori, who works off the farm, their son, Taylor, their 13-year-old grandson, Lane, and two part-time employees. Their farm, HillVue, is nestled amid the bluffs near Rushford.

“I like the quiet and the alone part of (farming),” Peterson said. “It’s long hours and stuff, but you’re your own boss.”

In addition to dairy, the Petersons have 130 beef cow-calf pairs and 200 meat ewes, and they finish their dairy steers conventionally.

They own 800 acres between the two generations, plus rent an additional 270 acres for hay.

Peterson said one of his best decisions over the years was transitioning his herd to grazing in the early ‘90s. The milking herd gets 70 acres of pasture, some of which is hayed for the first crop. The cows move between the 4- to 5-acre paddocks every 2-3 days.

The herd is crossbred. Originally, Peterson had a Jersey herd, but over time, he began introducing Milking Shorthorns and transitioned away from Jerseys. The Petersons save back their best bull calves and line breed.

Introducing Milking Shorthorn has been conducive to another of the important changes: keeping the cows outside year-round. The herd is fed unrolled bales in the winter. For calving, there is a loafing shed.

“(Milking Shorthorn are) a lot more rugged and could handle that better (than Jerseys),” Peterson said.

The Petersons average about 65 pounds of milk per day during flush grass. Their components on grass are around 3.6% butterfat and 3.2% protein.

“I just take what I get,” Peterson said.

The Petersons raise 100% of their feed, with no outside add ins whatsoever. They put up around 2,300 round bales each year, split evenly between dry hay and baleage.

“Our summers are (spent) just pretty much haying,” Peterson said.

They raise corn on 40-50 acres. Dry ground corn is fed in their 48-stall barn, which they use as a flat parlor.

The Petersons’ choice to raise all their feed is part of why they do not feed test.

“What am I going to do?” Peterson said. “Buy something else if it isn’t good enough?”

The Petersons spread out their seasonal work. Their beef herd calves in the fall. They dry up their milking herd around Christmas and focus on shearing the sheep in January and lambing in February. By mid-March, the sheep have wrapped up lambing, and the dairy herd begins calving in.

The Petersons started calving their dairy herd seasonally after switching to grazing, and Peterson counts it among some of his best decisions made for the farm.

In the late ‘90s, the Petersons signed up to be on the Organic Valley milk truck, and they shipped organic milk for the first time in 2000.

“We always farmed really close to (organic),” Peterson said. “There wasn’t a big jump.”

Around 2014, they started selling their milk to Westby Cooperative Creamery.

Peterson did not grow up on a dairy farm. Peterson’s dad had sheep, which have been in the family for over 100 years. Peterson got his introduction to dairy farming in high school, milking for neighbors. As he considered farming, he decided that milking was the only way to make better, more consistent cash flow.

His dad co-signed a loan with him to buy the 80-acre farm next door in 1986 while Peterson was still in high school. Before graduating, Peterson started buying heifers. The farm he had bought did not have milking facilities, so he rented a 16-stall barn. Though Peterson started farming amid the ‘80s farming crisis, he does not regret the timing of his start.

“It was actually a lucky time,” Peterson said. “There were farms for sale. The interest rate was high. It was like 14.5% interest we paid, but the prices weren’t so crazy. … Your labor was worth something to work and pay down your note. I think it’s way harder now (because) the price of land has surpassed its productive capacity.”

In 1991, Peterson built the barn he milks in today on the abandoned building site of the farm he had bought in high school. The only building in the yard today that is original is the home.

He also bought a second herd of 28 cows to add to his 16. Today, their herd has increased further and they switch 12 cows for milking.

Over the years, the Petersons have bought more land, and Taylor lives at Peterson’s childhood home.

As far as a next generation for the Petersons, Taylor already farms alongside them and the Petersons said Lane is showing lots of interest in the farm.

The Peterson men work together daily to do the farm chores. That includes young Lane helping bring in cows and switching for milking. Peterson said Lane is intuitive about learning farm tasks.

“He watches, and then he picks it up,” he said.

Eventually, Peterson hopes to pass the farm on.

“(I would) like to ensure it can keep going somehow,” he said.