Making the season livelier

DALTON, Minn. — Christmas has always been a special time of year for Jerry Juven and his wife, Sarah.

One of their newer holiday traditions has been to bring in two Jersey calves to their community’s Christmas display, Dalton Christmas Fest.

“We do it because we know the young families really enjoy it,” Juven said.

The Juvens have a few Jersey cows and youngstock that were from Sarah’s family farm for their own personal use. In addition to their own animals, the Juvens custom raise heifers for Brookside Dairy at their farm near Dalton. They also raise corn, soybeans and alfalfa for their animals.

The Lake Region Pioneer Threshermen’s Association owns a plot of land near the town of Dalton, where they put on their annual threshing show every September. For the past seven years, volunteers from the community have put up Christmas light displays at the grounds for guests to have a drive-through Christmas light experience.

“Groups like the Dalton 4-H, volunteer firefighters, FFA, youth groups and even some families can choose to put up a display at the grounds,” Juven said. “On the weekends they have extra stuff going on, such as wagon rides, hot chocolate and Santa comes.”

The lights in the display are turned on from 5-10 p.m. each day from Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s Day. For the past three years, the Juvens have brought in two Jersey calves to be part of the community display.

“The first year we just had a calf there on the weekends,” Juven said. “Since then, we have had two calves there the whole time. The calves have it just as good in town as they would at home. They are in well-bedded calf hutches; we bring in whole milk twice a day and they seem to really like the attention.”

The Jersey calves on display this year were both born Oct. 28 and are named Sugar and Spice.

“They aren’t twins but just happen to be born on the same day,” Juven said. “We could have brought in weaned calves, then we wouldn’t have to bring in milk every day, but I knew families would enjoy the young calves. It is our little gift to the community.”

Juven said it is not a lot of work to care for the calves since they only live a few miles from the grounds and go to Dalton almost every day for errands or church already.

“We wanted to add something living to the display, to make it more than just decorations with lights,” Juven said.

The Juvens both grew up on dairy farms, and although they have held jobs in town, they knew they wanted to stay connected to the dairy industry.

“It was always my goal to farm full time and after 20 years of teaching high school agriculture, I transitioned to be on the farm full time,” Juven said.

Juven purchased their farm in 1990, after taking the ag teacher position at Fergus Falls High School, and has been raising heifers for Brookside Dairy for the past 28 years.

The Juvens are also active in their community and church throughout the year by helping with Sunday school, their parish Christmas party and Christmas Eve service.

“I have always thought Christmas was special and Jesus is the reason for the season,” Juven said. “It might sound silly but I have always enjoyed chores on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.”

Sarah said Christmas is her favorite time of the year.

“We love spending time with family and friends,” she said. “We get to celebrate our Savior, Jesus Christ, and what is better than that?”