From Our Side of the Fence

Jared Capko

Swanville, Minnesota

Morrison County

410 Holstein and 3 Brown Swiss

What is your favorite brand of tractor and why? John Deere, because that is the brand we had while I was growing up. We seem to have good parts and service in the area, which is important during our busy seasons.

What annual maintenance do you do on your tractors? We change oil, fuel filters and hydraulic filters and inspect for any damage that occurred throughout the year.

Amongst your fleet of tractors, which is your favorite and why? The 8260r, because it is the newest and most reliable tractor we have. I enjoy using this tractor for planting. We also use this tractor on our grain cart during harvest.

What is your favorite chore to do with that tractor? Planting, it works great on our planter, I’ve had other tractors on our planter, but none handles it as well as the 8260r.

What is the most unique experience you have ever had with a tractor? I had taken our 8420 to the prom many years ago. My wife and I also drove the 8235r to and from our wedding ceremony.

Tell us about your farm. I farm with my dad, Jerry, uncle, Larry, and my wife, Renee, and our two little boys, JJ and AJ. We milk 410 cows three times a day in a double-9 herringbone parlor. We ship our milk to Land O’Lakes Inc. and it is processed in Melrose. We grow corn, soybeans and alfalfa on over 1,600 acres. We raise all our bull calves as steers on our steer facility roughly 5 miles from our dairy. We also raise our heifers there until they are about 10 months old in an old tie stall barn we just renovated this year. We have 90 cow/calf pairs of Red and Black Angus beef. Each year we keep replacement heifers and the bulls are raised as steers.

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Kevin (left) and Leo Hemmesch

Lake Henry, Minnesota

Stearns County

63 cows

What is your favorite brand of tractor and why? International. That’s what we have always had and works well for us.

What annual maintenance do you do on your tractors? We change oil, filters and antifreeze and whatever we can do ourselves. For major repairs, we take it to Greenwald Farm Center.

Amongst your fleet of tractors, which is your favorite and why? Our favorite is a 7110 Interna-tional. It is a good strong, hardworking tractor and we can always rely on it to get the job done. It has yet to have any major mechanical problems.

What is your favorite chore to do with that tractor? We use it for the heavy tillage, chopping and bagging on the bagger and use smaller tractors for the smaller jobs.

What is the most unique experience you have ever had with a tractor? For one of the boys’ wedding, they took the W4 international and used it for transporting the bridal party from Melrose to Freeport at the reception site as a hayride.

Tell us about your farm. Our farm is a century farm since 2005. We have 240 acres of corn, al-falfa, oats and meadow grass. We raise our own heifers for replacements and some steers. Bull calves go to the sales barn. We pasture our cows and heifers in the summer months. Kevin joined the operation in 2004 after high school graduation. Kevin and his wife, Jamie, have four kids. Leo’s wife is Mary Lou.

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Brandon Przybilla

Pierz, Minnesota

Morrison County

225 cows

What is your favorite brand of tractor and why? New Holland. Currently we have 13 of them. I grew up driving blue tractors, and they have always been a good reliable tractor.

What annual maintenance do you do on your tractors? Oil changes and general maintenance. We try to pressure wash and clean them as needed.

Amongst your fleet of tractors, which is your favorite and why? T8.320; it rides nice and has a spacious cab. We have had the current one for three years. Overall, we have five T8 tractors.

What is your favorite chore to do with that tractor? I enjoy most jobs with this tractor such as chopping hay, but I enjoy planting corn with it the most.

What is the most unique experience you have ever had with a tractor? When I was younger, I used to ride with my grandpa, Terry, chopping and he used to give me the control box for the chopper so I could run the spout on my own. A few years back we connected all 13 of our gravity boxes together and pulled them down the road as a “grain train.”

Tell us about your farm. I farm with my parents, Brian and Heidi. We milk 225 cows in two separate tiestall barns. We farm around 900 acres of corn and alfalfa.

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Matt Boese

Morristown, Minnesota

Rice County

60 cows

What is your favorite brand of tractor and why? That's a tough question, because we have all kinds of tractors on our farm. Every brand of tractor had its series that maybe wasn't the best, and every brand of tractors had a series that ran and ran and ran and was very good. When my grandpa moved to Morristown in the ‘70s, his favorite brand was Massey Ferguson. If it wasn't Massey, it didn't show up on the farm. But since then, we've had multiple John Deere tractors, Case IH tractors, Massey tractors, and we have a White tractor now, which is AGCO. I don't have a favorite brand of tractor. It's just whatever works and whatever is affordable, runs and does what you need it to do without too much trouble.

What annual maintenance do you do on your tractors? We change the oil, clean the air filter, keep the hydraulic and fuel filters changed, and make sure the fluids are all full and good, to prevent any breakdowns. You try to eliminate the most unexpected things, and with regular maintenance and keeping everything clean, you usually don't have the unexpected breakdowns.

Amongst your fleet of tractors, which is your favorite and why? My favorite tractor is the first tractor that I bought by myself and owned by myself. I bought a 275 Massey Ferguson. It has a 75-horse and has a nice transmission in it. You can reach the PTO from the ground and turn it on. It's an independent PTO, so you don't need to step on the clutch to turn it on. It's good for many jobs, from raking hay to grinding feed and feeding, to hauling manure and unloading silage and haylage wagons. It's heavy enough that it can pull wagons around and not have too much trouble. It's just an all-around handy yard tractor.

What is your favorite chore to do with that tractor? I like to unload silage with it in the fall. I like the smell of the fresh silage. We fill a bag of silage every year, and when you're going in the bag, you can start the PTO from the ground. Also, it's got a nice, big step on it, and it's easy to get up and on.

What is the most unique experience you have ever had with a tractor? We cut a lot of road ditch hay. I had a 5455 Massey Ferguson front wheel assist hooked to the disc mower. I was on a driveway going down into a ditch that I had cut for years. I knew there was a big cement culvert underneath this big driveway, and I thought I was straddling it, but apparently, I was a little bit off to the left. With the weight of the disc mower hanging off to the right, when I was slowly going down off the driveway, the front right wheel of the tractor fell off into the culvert wall. With front wheel assist, you don't have a lot of pivot in the front end. The right wheel went down, and it got to the stop on the left side, and just slowly, with the weight of the disc mower, I tipped the 5455 over on its side. It was pretty much slow motion. The only thing I wrecked was the right rear-view mirror, and the only thing hurt was my pride. I shut it off and crawled out the back window. The neighbors saw what was going on and actually brought a payloader over and helped us tip it up. We let the tractor sit for a while, let all the fluids get back where they were supposed to be and fired it up. It ran fine.

Tell us about your farm. I farm in partnership with my cousin, Tim Boese. For years, Tim and I owned the cows and our dads used to farm land. In 2023, they decided that that was enough. 2024 was the first year that Tim and I were responsible for all the rented ground, and we took over basically for the older generation. They still help out immensely. My dad does maintenance and a lot of stuff in the shop. Tim's dad rakes a lot of hay and helps move bales in the summer and fall when we get really busy. Tim’s kids are all getting older and helping more, too. In addition to the dairy, we also have a trucking business, and we have beef cow-calf pairs and steers. We sell our milk to Bongards.

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Liza Schlintz

Bangor, Wisconsin

La Crosse County

55 cows

What is your favorite brand of tractor and why? Massey Ferguson: it’s what I grew up with, and what my dad grew up with before me. They’re what I’m most comfortable driving.  My husband is a Ford man. When our son, Avery, wanted a tractor-themed birthday party at the age of 2, we split the cake right down the middle: half blue, half red. On his invitation, it read: Red paint or blue, he can’t decide. He doesn’t care, as long as he gets a ride.

What annual maintenance do you do on your tractors? I’ll be honest, this is my husband, AJ’s, department.  My role in this process is not to break them while I’m using them.

Amongst your fleet of tractors, which is your favorite and why? After getting married in 2009, my husband’s blue fleet of tractors was all I had access to. However, my favorite has always been my dad’s Massey Ferguson 294. It’s 4-wheel drive and sticks to our sidehills like it’s nobody’s business. It’s dependable and predictable. She’s had a rough life, but she’s earned her place on my dad’s farm, and now mine as well.

What is your favorite chore to do with that tractor? When growing up, I would have told you hauling round bales from the field was my favorite. We lived on a much flatter farm than I do now, and the front-end weight of the tractor was great. Plus the seat was much nicer than the Massey 275 that was the alternative. Today, however, I’d say that raking hay would be my favorite. The foot throttle makes shifting a breeze, and when you’re in steep hills like we are, it helps to keep a nice pace while navigating small fields. It’s small enough to turn decently sharp, and the new seat we put on it helps me feel safer with a seatbelt to keep me in the seat where I belong. My next project will be a rollover protective structure, but that’ll have to get in line behind all the other projects.

What is the most unique experience you have ever had with a tractor? My dad, Steve, purchased this Massey 294 from a farm liquidation auction in March of 1990. They also purchased a blower and a baler. At that time, it had 890 hours on it and we put it to work on the rented farm in Holmen, moving shortly after to Sparta. For years, it pulled a total mixed ration mixer, sat outside and was asked to do all sorts of side work. It was always dependable and started without grief. In 2018, my dad sold his cows, followed shortly after by the equipment. It broke my heart to let it go, but knowing the amount of work it needed at that time, the stars didn’t align. My husband and I were focused on other projects, and fixing up another tired tractor wasn’t something we had time to tackle. I watched it sell online and never forgave myself. I’d find myself scrolling Facebook Marketplace looking for it, but I never came across it. Fast forward to the fall of 2022, and I was sitting in a meeting and mentioned I was a farmer’s daughter to someone I knew farmed. I knew very little about his operation. Lo and behold, the tractor was sitting in his brother’s shed about 25 miles from where I grew up. I couldn’t help but cry when he sent me photos to confirm, and the letters appearing on the rear rim - “NO” confirmed it was ours. My brother Adam, just learning how to write, put that word on every piece of farm equipment he could find with a livestock paint stick — and to my dad’s chagrin, they never wore off. The new owners had made some much-needed repairs, and I said that if he was ever to sell it, to call me first. Less than three months later, we brought it home. My kids are learning to drive on it, and my dad took everyone for a ride on Easter Sunday.  We’re now up to 12,110 hours. I’ve been finding excuses to get outside and use it at every possible opportunity. My husband, who bleeds Ford Blue when injured, has even come around to having a little Massey red in his life. I guess I’ll share, as long as he keeps fixing her up for me.

Tell us about your farm. AJ, our two children, and I live on our century-old dairy farm in La Crosse County.  We milk between 50-70 cows, depending on the season, and are focused on modernizing and building efficiencies without hiring outside labor. I work off the farm full time and enjoy posting about the farm on social media. Follow us on Facebook under The Schlintz Family Dairy.

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Stan Meinnert

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

Sheboygan County

120 cows

What is your favorite brand of tractor and why? Case IH. That is what my father-in-law had, and he had really good luck with them, so we just stayed with that brand.

What annual maintenance do you do on your tractors? I am very fortunate that my son used to work at an implement dealership, so we do most all our own maintenance. Once in a great while we have to take something in, but we do 70-75% of it ourselves. This includes some major maintenance, such as overhauling a motor and rebuilding transmissions. We also change tires as needed. Changing oil and fluids, greasing, and checking things over are maintenance items that we do annually. If you take your car to a shop, there’s a 30- or 40-point checklist they do — we do that same kind of checklist with our tractors. It’s all about the bottom line in this industry, and the more you can do without going somewhere, the better off you are.

Amongst your fleet of tractors, which is your favorite and why? The Case IH Maxxum 125. It’s an all-around handy, good, usable tractor. We use it to merge hay, rake hay, haul wagons, unload and plant. It’s just a convenient, easy-to-operate tractor. I bought it brand new in 2014.

What is your favorite chore to do with that tractor?  Probably planting or spraying because it has a GPS unit in it, which makes it so much easier to be consistent.

What is the most unique experience you have ever had with a tractor? With the GPS unit, you can go from one end of the field to the other without having to touch the steering wheel. That’s an amazing thing. It follows you down the whole length of the field. If there is a curve, the GPS unit picks that curve up and you don’t have to touch that steering wheel while driving through the field.

Tell us about your farm. I farm with my wife, Sharleen, and our son, Scott. Sharleen helps with chores in the morning and then works a full-time job off the farm. We also have a couple of part-time milkers. We house our cows in a freestall barn and milk twice a day in a step-up double-6 parlor. We ship our milk to Cascade Cheese, which is a small, local mozzarella and provolone cheese plant. We farm about 450 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa and do a little custom heifer raising for other farms.

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Charlie Wegner

Marshfield, Wisconsin

Marathon County

50 cows

What is your favorite brand of tractor and why? Farmall/International/Case IH — the red ones. I grew up with them, and they have always proven reliable.

What annual maintenance do you do on your tractors? I change oil and grease components, check air filters and look for worn moving parts.

Amongst your fleet of tractors, which is your favorite and why? That is a tough call on which tractor is exactly my favorite. The Farmall 560 diesel has been a staple in my life since I was born. I remember when I was a kid, driving the 560 for baling hay while my dad piled bales on the flat rack wagons.

What is your favorite chore to do with that tractor? The 560 is getting small for a lot of jobs, but my favorite thing is hauling loads of feed from the field to the silo.

What is the most unique experience you have ever had with a tractor? I would say the most unique thing I experienced was buying an older articulated tractor to farm with and driving it for the first time. That was a learning experience. They turn on a dime, I found that out real quick, leaving the driveway from the seller and nearly putting it in a ditch.

Tell us about your farm. I farm with my wife and three kiddos, ages 2, 4 and 7, on my parents' farm. We are still renting with hopes to purchase some land and buildings soon. We have 50 head of dairy cows, mostly Red & White Holsteins, with some black and white as well. My wife does the A.I. breeding and has integrated other breeds such as Lineback, Milking Shorthorn and Ayrshire, and even a few Brown Swiss. We raise our own crops, corn and hay, and all of our replacements. We have nearly 100 total head on our farm. We graze all our cows through the summer months, and I feel the health of our cows is greater because of that.

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Becky Byrne

Neillsville, Wisconsin

Clark County

110 cows

What is your favorite brand of tractor and why? John Deere has become my favorite. When I married my husband, that was the brand he had.

What annual maintenance do you do on your tractors? My husband and son do all the routine maintenance.

Amongst your fleet of tractors, which is your favorite and why? The John Deere 7710 is my favorite. I mainly do all the chopping and use this tractor for hay and corn. The tractor is comfortable and easy to operate.

What is your favorite chore to do with that tractor? I do tillage and chopping with this tractor. I chop all the hay, so that is my favorite chore.

What is the most unique experience you have ever had with a tractor? Chopping corn when I was seven months pregnant, using an International Harvester 1086 with no air conditioning.

Tell us about your farm. We milk 110 cows and farm around 400 acres, using mainly all family labor. My husband, Terry, son, Michael, and I farm full time. Two of our daughters have off the farm jobs but will help on the farm and in the fields when they can.

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Marvin Bartz

Shawano, Wisconsin

Shawano County

80 Cows

What is your favorite brand of tractor and why? My favorite has been Deutz for years. They are kind of unusual or unique, but the people that have them swear by them. They are good on fuel, have tons of power, are low maintenance and they just go forever. And they are German, so the decals are foreign – ein for on and aus for off — which is kind of fun. More recently, I am falling for Kubotas, though.

What annual maintenance do you do on your tractors? Really we just change engine oil annually. Cleaning up after the end of the season is also required.

Amongst your fleet of tractors, which is your favorite and why? My favorite right now is the Kubota M6040SU loader tractor, our first Kubota to replace a Case IH. It is very handy, comfortable, easy to operate and control, with plenty of power and starts no matter how cold it is outside. We also have a Farmall 560 that is like a classic and is fun to use.

What is your favorite chore to do with that tractor? Scraping and cleaning barn are my favorites with the Kubota. It is so easy to maneuver and shift compared to the previous tractor. It makes the job much easier and faster. Also, it is great for hauling wagons because it handles and pulls so well.

What is the most unique experience you have ever had with a tractor? I was riding on the hitch of a loader tractor while my uncle was driving. We were moving round bales off the field. We were cruising to go get the next one. He "adjusted" the loader to prepare to spear the next bale (while on the move). It went down fast and speared into the dirt. We stopped really, really fast.

Tell us about your farm. Our farm is a family-operated dairy farm. My grandparents have passed, but my parents are still on the farm and Dad helps. My wife, Sharin, and I live at the second location where heifers are raised. Three of our five children still live at home while the two oldest have moved out but are nearby and help regularly on the farm. Our kids are the fourth generation on the farm. We milk about 80 cows in a parlor built in the late 1950s by my dad, grandfather and great-grandfather. We crop about 250 acres and have some wooded land, also. The family is sticking pretty close together and helping with the needs of the family farm. We all pitch in wherever there's a need and keep things working.