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Wisconsin family one of America’s Outstanding Young Farmers

Sam and Jenn Zimmerman

A Wisconsin family has been named one of America’s Outstanding Young Farmers.  Sam and Jenn Zimmerman operate On-Q Holsteins near Ringle, in central Wisconsin.

Sam Zimmerman tells Brownfield he spent more than three years in a temporary grant-funded University of Wisconsin Extension position, where he learned a lot before convincing Jenn it was time to go back to milking cows.  And, he says that Extension experience coupled with Jenn’s agribusiness consulting experience helped make taking over his parent’s farm in 2010 work.  “We now are milking about 190 registered Holsteins and we rotationally graze, but the Holstein cows are housed in sand-bedded free stalls with a manure pit system and all of our replacement heifers at this point now are being grazed.”

Zimmerman says technology is inevitable and sees technology like robots giving the cows more consistency in the future.  He also hopes to improve the operation.  “Hopefully, (we will) not necessarily grow much bigger at all at this point but maybe diversify and probably look on the other side of the milk check and how can we make our product worth more or more valuable to other people, so we’re not always selling a commodity.”

The 2018 National Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) held their annual Awards Congress this past weekend in Sacramento, California.

Three other national winners were:  Robby and Stephanie Bevis from Arkansas, Ian and Val Plagge from Iowa, and Nick and Sunny Cummings from Ohio.

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