Shane and Jennifer Sauer own Sauer Dairy LLC in Waterloo, Wisconsin and they just won the Outstanding Young Farmer Award at the 67th Annual OYF weekend in Neenah. Shane mentioned that the best part of the competition is having the opportunity to meet other young farmers from different sides of agriculture. “That’s one of the best things about the weekend is that comradery between all of the couples that are there and learning their stories as well,” Shane said.
Sauer Dairy LLC is home to 150 registered Holstein cows and is also the place where Shane grew up and he’s now the third generation on the property. Jennifer also grew up surrounded by agriculture on her parent’s dairy farm not too far away from Waterloo.
The couple took over the LLC from Shane’s parents in 2012 and haven’t stopped trying to keep the farm a success ever since, but over the years they’ve encountered some struggles. “We’ve had our ups and downs. Low milk prices did not help. We have been through different co-ops where we’ve struggled in losing our milk, but through all of that, we’ve learned a lot of lessons,” Jennifer said.
She mentioned that they someday hope to be able to pass the farm down to their son and daughter who are currently 11 and 8-years-old. They’re happy the kids show an interest in agriculture and are active members of the farm. “In the future we look forward to watching our children, possibly, if they would like to take over the farm. That is our goal,” Jennifer explained.
The two also have another goal of being more invested in the technology side of agriculture. For example, at the dairy, they’ve been using ai24 ear tags for the past six years. Think of them almost as a Fitbit for cows. “That detects their rumination, that detects heat detection, it’s a very good tool that we have invested in,” Jennifer explained that they’ve seen great results from using the tags, “It has increased our conception rate in our cows, and it has been a pretty good success for us.”
Jennifer brought up the fact that with all of the good and bad things that happen on the farm, she’s thankful they have such good people in their corner. “Like anything, it took a whole community to get us to where we are at today,” she said they’re very lucky, “We’re pretty fortunate to have family and friends that brought this together for us, and it truly takes a whole team of workers.”
All in all, Shane wanted to thank the committee of people behind the award. “I’d just like to add again, what a great experience it was and how hard those people work on that committee to put that program together. They really do a great job and really give us big shoes to fill,” Shane said.
Once again, congratulations to the Outstanding Young Farmer Award winners, Shane and Jennifer Sauer of Sauer Dairy LLC in Waterloo, WI.
You can listen to the full interview here!
