Heusinkveld Family Dairy – 150 Years and Still Going Strong.

When the Heusinkveld family farm began about 150 years ago, they had some pigs, chickens, and 15 cows. Over the years new generations took over and the farm grew. In 1970 Jeff and Steve Heusinkveld got their turn to run the farm. When they retired it was Jeff’s son Nate’s turn to run the family farm and begin to teach the next generation. And now he runs the farm with help from his son Lucas.

Before taking over the farm Nate went to Mankato State College for agri-business management. After getting his degree, he came back to the farm.

Dating since they were teenagers, in 2000 Nate married his childhood sweetheart, Misty. The couple moved to the farm to help run it. And 30 years later they are still happy on the farm.

Misty recalled, “I was excited to move with Nate to the farm!”

Misty works at Mettler Chiropractic a couple of days a week and is also the bookkeeper for the farm. When she is not busy working, she enjoys shopping.

When Nate is not busy on the farm, he likes to hunt and fish. He has also coached softball for 15-plus years.

Nate and Misty have two children. Their oldest, Lucas went to NICC Calmar, Iowa, and received a dairy science degree. Lucas works side by side with his dad to continue to make the family farm better. When he is not on the farm he enjoys softball, truck trailer racing, fishing and hunting.

Their daughter, Kensie will graduate this year and plans to become a medical social worker. Right now she works at a daycare. She will be attending SW State after graduation. When she is not busy with school, she helps on the farm.

Both Kensie and Lucas showed dairy cattle for 4-H.

Although Jeff has passed away, Nate’s mom Darla also lives on the farm, in her own house. Darla does her fair share for the family farm and takes care of the calf chores.

Heusinkveld Dairy has seven full-time employees and 450 cows that are milked three times a day seven days a week. In total, the farm has grown to 500 cows. The parlor is a double 12 parallel parlor, which means they milk 12 cows in each side. It takes roughly seven minutes to milk each cow. On average, one cow gives 93 pounds of milk per day, which equals 10.8 gallons a day. The milk is then picked up by Crowson Milk Trucking and is delivered to either Zumbrota, Minn., to be made into cheese or it is taken to Woodbury, Minn., to be bottled for stores.

In addition to also having 85 beef cows, another part of Heusinkveld Dairy is crops, with 350 acres of hay andw 550 acres of corn. Custom crop harvesting is also part of the work Nate and Lucas do. There is never a dull moment at the farm.

Nate said, “There are some difficulties in running a family farm, like price uncertainty, rent costs, and other rising costs.”

It is also difficult with quota systems, which is where a farm can only produce so much milk.

The future for Heusinkveld Dairy is what it has been for generations, and that is for the next generation to take over when it is time for Nate and Misty to retire.

Lucas said with a big smile “I am ready whenever they are.”

June will be a busy month for the Heusinkveld family. Kensie will graduate on June 1. And then the family will be getting ready for Dairy Night on the Farm on June 22.

Misty expressed “June is going to be a crazy but exciting month.”

Dairy Night on the Farm will be June 22 at Heusinkveld Dairy, 17526 County 5, Spring Valley, Minn.