U of M Extension Names Benton County Farm Family of the Year

(KNSI) – Benton County’s 2021 Farm Family of the Year was announced at the fair. Emslander Farms was announced as the winner on Wednesday night.

The Emslander farm was purchased 50 years ago by Dave and Rosie Emslander and would have nine children.

They began their farm with a couple of sows and sold feeder pigs at the market until 1973, when they decided to start milking cows. They started with ten and slowly increased their herd to 30 cows. In 1980, the Emslanders doubled their barn.

All the kids helped on the farm when they were young. The Emslanders sold their milk cows when their youngest child, David, left to work construction in 2000. Dave and Rosie still raised some steers, beef cows, and row crops.

In 2014, David decided he missed farm life and how it brings a family together, so he and his wife, Lisa, decided farming would be an excellent way to raise their family and purchased the farm.

David and Lisa started by buying bottle calves and raising them to finish. Currently, the couple buys steers at 400 pounds and finishes them.

David and Lisa have three children: Shayla, Ethan, and Megan. Along with some outside, part-time help, the Emslanders run the farm together.

According to the University of Minnesota Extension, the family teams up with Extension and their local NRCS to improve water quality and soil conservation by experimenting with different management practices and cover crops.

Stearns County’s Farm Family of the Year went to the Glen and Sadie Frericks, and in Sherburne County, the honor went to Mertz Family Farm.

___