Starting over at home

LAKE MILLS, Wis. — In January 2023, milk swooshed through the pipeline once again at Krull Farms. After the barn sat empty for four years, Carley and Zach Tolzman brought cows back to the farm where Carley grew up.

“It’s very rewarding to have cows back in there, especially homebred cows that we’re proud of and having success with,” Carley said. “It’s our hobby to breed show cattle.”

The Tolzmans milk 20 cows and farm 255 acres near Lake Mills. They also share the farm with their newborn son, Bo.

“We want to raise our family on the farm and let our children have the same experiences we had growing up,” Carley said.

Carley is the fourth generation at Krull Farms, which is nearing century farm status. The farm is owned by Carley’s mom, Cindy Krull. 

“When my parents were farming here, and my dad was still alive, everything seemed like it was going so well,” Carley said. “Then we had a lull for a few years, and now we’re starting over.”

Carley said the opportunity to return home was made possible by her mom.

“She easily could have sold everything and taken an easier route after my dad passed, but my parents agreed that no matter what, they would do everything they could to keep the farm going until I (the youngest) was 30,” Carley said. 

This enabled Carley to work in the industry and gain experience before deciding if she wanted to come back to the farm.

“My mom kept everything going to make this possible for us, and words will never describe how grateful we are for that,” Carley said.  

Carley and Zach have full-time jobs off the farm and receive help from Cindy; Carley’s sister, Cassy Krull; and a high school girl.

“Even though it’s only 20 cows, the days can be long when you have full-time jobs,” Carley said. “But, it seems like every six months we have a success that reminds us that it’s all worth it.”

The Krull family was milking about 40 cows when they stopped in 2019.

“It was very hard to process the idea of not milking cows here every day,” Carley said. “It was very emotional for us. We wanted to keep certain cow families and had hard decisions to make.”

They kept 10 cows and took them to a friend’s farm in Watertown — Travis and Holly Smith of Smith-Crest Holsteins.

“They helped us out greatly, enabling us to keep breeding and developing our herd,” Carley said.

After graduating from college in 2020, Carley and Zach returned home.

“It really sucked not having cows in the barn,” Carley said. “We could see the facilities starting to wear down and look old.”

She and Zach began working on projects around the farm without the intention of filling the barn again. However, by the end of 2022, the Tolzmans realized they needed to make a decision.

“Travis and Holly had our cows going on four years, and we couldn’t expect them to milk them forever,” Carley said. “We knew we wanted to raise our family here, so we decided to give it a try. We definitely didn’t think we’d ever ship milk again.”

The Tolzmans spent a lot of time cleaning and bringing everything up to par for inspections, which included making updates to milking equipment like the bulk tank cooling system. Power washing and painting were also on the to-do list as they restored the farm to its former splendor.

“We wanted to make everything look nice again,” Carley said. “It was kind of a slow transition back. We started calving in what we had in January of 2023 and got married that May. By July, we officially brought everything home.”

In the beginning, the Tolzmans fed the milk to bull calves and bought beef calves to feed as well. On Aug. 16, 2024, they shipped their first load of milk to the National Farmers Organization while milking 13 cows.

“It’s been a lot better shipping milk versus feeding 40-50 calves,” Carley said. “With having full-time jobs, calf chores were very overwhelming on top of milk cow chores. It’s been a blessing to be able to ship milk.”

Carley said a challenge they faced was learning how to make good feed. The Tolzmans grow their own crops, raising corn, soybeans, hay, rye and triticale. Building up feed inventory was something they had to do before bringing cows home.

“Making quality forages is a big priority for us,” Zach said. “We learned a lot about that. It takes patience.”

Zach did not grow up on a farm but has been involved in the dairy industry since he was a kid and got into showing as a teenager.

“We called a lot of people and asked a lot of questions, especially the first year,” Carley said. “We’re learning a lot and implementing things we learned in college. Every year gets better.”

The Tolzmans continue to make improvements to the farm and are nearing completion of a barn remodeling project. They are putting the barn cleaner back in and tearing out half the stalls to make room for two more box stalls. The upgrade means that Zach will no longer have to pitch manure twice a day by hand into a wheelbarrow.

The Tolzmans are transforming the 45-stall barn into a 21-stall barn that contains three box stalls. This will allow them to work with their show cows and heifers in a more ideal environment, Carley said. The couple has plans to add two more box stalls in the future.

“We want to take it to the next level with showing and have our cows in the best condition,” she said.

The Tolzmans’ herd is primarily homebred and contains every breed except Guernsey. The Tolzmans also board several animals. Carley said they are excited about recent classification scores, including an eighth-generation Excellent Jersey that went EX-94 this spring. They also have Holsteins scored EX-93, EX-92 and EX-91. All of their 2-year-olds are scored Very Good.

“We strive for big, strong, powerful cows that can milk and look pretty,” Carley said.

Krull Broker Elegance EX-96 was the cow that put Carley’s parents on the map. With three descendants of Elegance currently in the herd, the Tolzmans want to continue breeding on this line and bring red genetics into the family. They are also experimenting with historic genetics.

“We have a lot of old embryos in our tank that we’re starting to put in, and we have a heifer right now that goes back to Elegance,” Carley said. “That embryo had to have been made the summer after my dad passed, which is coming on 15 years.”

Sired by Aftershock, the calf is a potential 12th-generation homebred Excellent.

The Tolzmans also received 11 Brown Swiss embryos as a wedding present from Cindy.

“My parents did a lot of flush work during the Elegance time and sold many embryos overseas,” Carley said. “We want to get back into that. We’re marketing some of our genetics now and want to keep building upon that.”

With the birth of Bo, the Tolzmans have their eyes on the next generation.

“We want to have fun raising our family on the farm,” Carley said. “We also want to keep improving our breeding and facilities as much as we can while keeping up to date with industry trends.”