Download Black, White and Shades of Brown

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September 7, 2016
Contact: Noreen Rueckert, 608.328.1838, [email protected]
BLACK, WHITE AND SHADES OF BROWN
Holstein vs. Brown Swiss – breeding some friendly competition between the co-chairs of this year’s Cheese Days Cow
Milking Contest.
(Monroe, WI) When it comes to making decisions at the Mayer Homestead Farm on County Highway N west of Monroe,
the answers aren’t always in black and white. Kelsi Mayer, co-chair of this year’s Cheese Days Cow Milking Contest,
loves Holstein cows. Her co-chair and husband, Jeremy, is partial to Brown Swiss. So when the two met up a number of
years ago and started planning for their future together in life and in the dairy industry, they knew they had to be ready
to compromise – with black, white, and shades of brown.
Kelsi, the daughter of Jeff and Kate Hendrickson, was raised on a registered Holstein farm near Belleville. Growing up she
was active in 4-H, FFA, and Junior Holsteins, and has been showing cattle since age four. She graduated from UW
Madison with a double major in Dairy Science and Life Sciences Communication.
Jeremy, the son of Steve and Lonna Mayer, is a native of Monroe with a family heritage including dairy farming,
cheesemaking, and Swiss roots. His great grandpa Ambrose Mayer started out making cheese at the Benkert factory.
He returned to Switzerland and came back with a wife, and the couple eventually bought their own cheese factory.
Their son Alois (known as Allie) started out helping to make Limburger, but didn’t like being stuck inside all day.
Ambrose told him to go across the road and work on the farm–and he did. Allie went on to raise four boys on that farm
(including Jeremy’s dad Steve) and hauled the milk from his herd to his dad Ambrose’s cheese factory. After selling the
factory, Ambrose worked at Chalet Cheese Co-op and Allie began shipping milk there.
While attending UW Madison’s Farm and Industry Short Course, Jeremy had a professor who declared that a farmer
wouldn’t be able to survive, financially, on milking 50 cows alone. From that point on, it was Jeremy’s goal to find a
niche. He started off with a herd of Brown Swiss with the goal of having all be registered Swiss.
Ice cream and a particularly memorable car are part of the story that brought Jeremy and Kelsi together. They got
acquainted through their involvement with 4-H Junior Leaders. “We’d have meetings at the same time the adult leaders
did, and we’d always try to get done sooner so we could go for ice cream at Dairy Queen while the adults finished their
meeting,” said Kelsi. But her mom was reluctant to let her go along, because she wasn’t quite sure about Jeremy, who
was always running around in his “souped up” 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442.
As time went on, Kelsi didn’t really care what kind of car Jeremy drove, but she was concerned about his choice of dairy
breed. When she told him she wouldn’t go on a date “until he had some real cows,” Jeremy knew what he had to do.
He stopped in at the farm operated by Randy and Pam Wyss, where he had worked, and told Randy he needed to buy
five registered Holsteins. On one of Jeremy and Kelsi’s early dates, they went cow shopping.
Jeremy and Kelsi married in 2010, and soon after began buying the farm where they now live – a farm that has been in
Jeremy’s family since 1955. It was the site of the first Cheese Days Dairy Farm tours in 1992, and just two weeks later
the cows were sold. The barn had sat idle until 2002 when Jeremy started his herd. The farm is located just down the
road from Chalet Cheese Co-op and milk from Jeremy and Kelsi’s herd of Holsteins and Brown Swiss is used to produce
the famously aromatic Limburger cheese. Kelsi admits “the Swiss have grown on me” but says Holsteins will always be
her first love because they are responsible for fueling her passion for the dairy industry.
The couple’s interest in agricultural education led them to follow in the footsteps of Randy and Pam Wyss as organizers
of the wildly popular Cow Milking Contest at the Cheese Days Festival. What makes a dairy cow a good participant in
the contest? Most importantly they must be broke to lead. In addition, cows are creatures of habit – generally happiest
in their customary surroundings, so it also helps if they are comfortable in new settings and around people. As the pair
plans the contest, they try to get representatives from each of the local dairy breeds in the county. “Holsteins and
Brown Swiss are easy to find, and some Jerseys,” says Kelsi, who notes that this year’s contest will also include Red and
White Holsteins and Milking Shorthorns.
Both Jeremy and Kelsi have various other connections to the Cheese Days Festival. Kelsi’s sister Breinne served as 2014
ambassador. As a youngster, Kelsi helped out in the Junior Holstein food stand and was in the Cow Milking Contest as a
4-H member. In addition to spending Saturday afternoon running this year’s contest, you’ll also see the couple walking
with the group of Brown Swiss in The Swiss Colony Cheese Days Parade on Sunday. Both like the social aspects of the
festival, (“but we don’t stay out as late as we used to”) and enjoy being in the parade with some of their herd.
As a young couple in farming, they face many financial and emotional challenges. They point out that it’s not a like a
nine to five job because you never leave your work behind. “Sometimes it’s hard to compartmentalize the different
issues that come up,” says Jeremy, who points out that it can be difficult to not let problems with animals and
equipment spill over into their life as a couple.
Kelsi also works off the farm at Filament Marketing in Madison. But even if she’s heading off the farm to work, she
always helps out with morning chores before she goes. Weekends, the pair teams up to get things done faster. Because
if they get done sooner, there might be time for date night or a quick run to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.
Photo:
Divinity, a five year old registered Brown Swiss from the Jeremy and Kelsi Mayer Farm – was recently named Grand
Champion Brown Swiss at the Green County Fair. Meet Jeremy, Kelsi and Divinity at the Cow Milking Contest on
Saturday of the Cheese Days Festival – which will be held on September 16-18 in downtown Monroe, Wisconsin. Visit
cheesedays.com for a complete schedule of events.
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