Merry-Water Farms: Pride in stewardship

Merry-Water Farms started when Thomas Ledger bought a parcel of land in 1850 in Linn Township 2 miles south of Geneva Lake. Through the years, ownership has transferred from family member to family member.

The sixth generation, Ken and Keith York along with cousin John Tueting, are the current owners, with members of the seventh generation working and transitioning to ownership on the farm.

The farm has steadily increased in size, from 200 cows in the early 1990s to 1,599 cows today. A 400-stall barn was built in 1993, a double-16 parallel parlor and 400-stall barn in 2000, a 300-stall transition barn in 2007 and a 500-stall tunnel vent addition to the transition barn in 2016.

DBA: What are you most proud of on your farm?

Merry-Water: We take pride in the steps we take to ensure high-quality dairy products, whether it is milk or dairy beef. We are Food Armor certified as well as past Dairy Beef Quality Award winners. Owners, managers and employees obtain continuing education to implement best practices to provide for the highest quality of life for our cows and safest environment for our employees. We take pride in producing high-quality dairy products for Wisconsin, the United States and the world.

DBA: What sustainable practices are you using on the farm and what benefits have you seen?

Merry-Water: As a family farm, sustainability and animal stewardship are a major focus. We need to make sure the next generation has a better farm than when we started working it. We realize that we need to be profitable, protect the environment and adhere to our social responsibility of improving all aspects of farming.

We strictly adhere to our nutrient management plan. Using GPS mapping, crops are fertilized with the proper amounts of manure to ensure that we grow our crops efficiently. The use of cover crops on all our land helps prevent runoff into our watersheds. Recycling of our water, sand and nutrients saves inputs that are used on the farm and lowers our carbon footprint. Animal welfare is addressed in numerous ways. The judicious use of antimicrobials is emphasized in our Food Armour Certification, of which our veterinarian client-patient relationship is a key component. Continual training for all employees and proper facility design are also important to keeping our cows comfortable and healthy.

DBA: What advice would you offer young farmers?

Merry-Water: The best advice we can give to young farmers is threefold: learn from your failures, protect the integrity of your data so you know how and why you failed, and do your best until you know how to be better. Then do better.