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Tornado puts successful twist on farm business model

The winds of change have helped a Wisconsin farm family build a strong business model… literally.

Edward Smith, his son, and young grandson operate Prairie Dairy Inc. The farm has been in the family more than 120 years, but the F5 tornadoes that struck Oakfield, Wisconsin in 1996 destroyed their dairy.  The following year, Smith began a custom dairy heifer raising business instead of rebuilding his own herd. “When I got started, I made a lot of phone calls around to all of the farmers I knew in the area that were a little bit larger and needed some possible help, so I ended up with about three clients on the start.”

But now, the Smiths have several clients and about 1700 heifers, and the last 29 years have been a success. “A lot of people told me after the tornado I’d made lemonade out of lemons because a lot of the buildings were destroyed.” Now, “Business is good right now. We’ve got to turn people away because we’ve got so many heifers coming in.”

Smith spoke to Brownfield during the WPS Farm Show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

AUDIO: Edward Smith discusses how his family farm shifted from milking cows to custom raising heifers with Brownfield’s Larry Lee.