Board of Directors
Officers
Shelly DePestel
Shelly is in partnership at Daley Farm of Lewiston LLP with her dad (Mike), uncle (Steve) and 4 brothers, Mark, Brian, Neil and Ben. They currently milk 1,425 cows, with all replacements also being home-raised. They also have 3,500 acres which consists of corn, alfalfa and pasture.
Garrett Luthens
Garrett wakes up every morning to his wife Melissa, and children Annabelle and Micah. His favorite time of the day is having breakfast with his family, and then taking a walk around the farm to check on the cattle, visit some of the crew and monitor for changes from the previous day.
Sadie Frericks
My husband, Glen, and I have three children: Dan (13), Monika (11), and Daphne (7). Together we milk 100 cows on our first generation, hybrid dairy farm. We also tend 200 acres of pasture and cropland.
Rick Smith
Rick is a fourth generation dairy farmer, in partnership with his two brothers Randy and Joe. They milk 240 holsteins, raise 95 head of steers, and custom finish 3,500 hogs a year. On the crop side they raise corn, alfalfa, and soybeans on 600 acres of land.Rick and Tracy have three children, Derick, Mckinzie, and Jonah.
Directors
Aaron Vogt
Aaron has been farming full time with his family for 15 years. He is married to Nikki, and they have three children; Pyper (10), Afton (7), and Abe (5). The Vogt family farms in a partnership including Aaron, his brother Ethan, and father, Ken. They have one full-time and four part-time employees, and raise corn and alfalfa on 350 acres.
Anthony Anderson
My wife Sherry and I bought management rights to this dairy in June 2015 from Bruce Stone. Bruce helped with financing so he could slow down and retire while also helping a young person get involved. At Minnesota Milk Expo in 2013, we began talking with the connection of our field representative, and the rest is history. We milk 470 cows and run 1,000 acres near Henning, with three kids.
Elliot Epple
Elliot is the dairy herd manager at Czech’s Roadside Acres. He has worked there since 2009 and enjoys working with people. He hopes to continue moving animal agriculture forward by combining his on-farm experience with positive policy advocacy, especially for dairy.