Learning how the show goes on

STRATFORD, Wis. — The Redetzke family believes that if you appreciate something, you should play a part in its success. This conviction has led them to open up their Marathon County dairy farm as the host for the 2026 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days.

“We have always enjoyed going to the show, and if no one is willing to host, there is no show,” Matt Redetzke said.

Matt owns Redetzkes’ No Joke Dairy with his wife, Brittany, and brother, Sam. The Redetzkes milk 210 Jersey cows, using their old dairy barn as a flat parlor. They are the fifth generation of their family to operate the Stratford area farm that has been in their family since 1911.

“We figured if we did a breakfast, we could do this,” Sam said. “It’s only a couple of more days and a few more people. Hosting something like this, sharing our farm in this way, it’s a big dream for us.”

The farm’s name came from the decision Matt and Sam made to re-enter the dairy industry in 2015, after their father had sold the herd in 2011.

Matt had left the farm in 2006 to work as a traveling stainless steel welder, certain the family dairy farm held little appeal for him. Sam had similar thoughts, although he was only 15 when the cows left.

“When the cows were sold, I told my dad it was the best day of my life, because I was never milking another cow,” Sam said.

Matt admitted he was the first to begin thinking life with cows was better than life without.

“I was getting sick of being gone, on the road, all the time,” Matt said. “It was great, right out of high school — you get to travel, see the country, all your expenses are paid. I’d encourage any kid to go do it for a while.”

However, as the novelty of the travel wore off, Matt began to think about the future.

“Dad had been crop farming and that seemed fun,” Matt said. “In 2012, we rented our first land. Corn was crazy that year; we sold it for $7 a bushel and couldn’t figure out why everyone didn’t want to farm.”

The desire to turn farming into a full-time occupation continued for Matt. He began purchasing calves, and convinced Sam to join him in the return to dairy farming.

“We told our dad what our plan was, and his response was, ‘You’re joking,’” Matt said. “We told him we weren’t joking, and that is how we came up with No Joke Dairy.”

Initially the brothers began with plans to stay small, milking around 80 cows, but soon realized supporting two families would require more cows.

“By the time we started milking cows in 2015, milk had already gone down from the short-lived highs of 2014,” Matt said. “I think it was 2019 before we even hit $18 milk, and then things got goofy in 2020. We did some contracting of milk; we have made money on $17 milk contracts and lost money on $22 milk contracts in 2022. It’s hard to balance it.”

Growing when they can, the Redetzkes have kept future improvements in mind at each phase. Robots have been a part of their long-term goals since early on.

“The original plan was to have robots in five years,” Matt said. “Well, that five years was last year, and we’re still milking in the parlor.”

When they began expanding towards the 200-cow benchmark, the Redetzkes built a bigger manure pit and made allowances for a future building site at the same time.

“There’s water out there; it’s set up but can go in any direction,” Matt said. “We just need a little bit of breathing room to see how the markets continue.”

Hosting the state’s largest agricultural show has given the Redetzkes a newfound appreciation for the event they have historically enjoyed attending.

“We’ve learned so much about what goes into the show,” Brittany said. “It gives you a whole new outlook on the number of volunteer hours that go into planning and hosting the show. We’re grateful that we have so many uniquely talented people who have stepped up to help with planning.”

As hosts, the Redetzkes were tasked with finding and creating their own host committee that would work together to plan the particulars of the show, under the guidance of the statewide committee.

“I’ve learned more about things like traffic flow and patterns and parking than I had ever thought I would know,” Matt said. “All the way around, you develop a new respect for all the agencies in your community that you know are there just doing their thing, but you don’t see what it is they do.”

The Redetzkes are satisfied that the show’s effects on their overall crop yields, feed inventories headed into the fall, and long-term effects on overall soil health will be manageable.

“We’ll get our first crop off before they start staking out the tent city,” Matt said. “We will be able to get second crop off the parking areas before the show. We’ll have some compaction to deal with afterwards, for sure, but we’ll deep-rip everything once the show is done and just start back over, and get a cover crop in this fall.”

The Redetzkes plan to make use of the tillage work they will need to do to restore their fields after the show, with plans to install drainage tile.

As the show approaches, the Redetzkes’ anticipation for hosting is growing.

“It’ll be the first time we’ve ever been able to attend all three days of the show, taking everything in,” Matt said. “We have always felt like we have learned something to bring back home from every show we’ve gone to. That’s a big piece of it for us. To know we are an integral part of helping that education take place, giving other producers that opportunity to see and learn something new, that’s kind of a humbling thought. This show plays an important role in Wisconsin agriculture.”