If you have driven south of Brooklyn recently, you might have noted the construction equipment working in a field at the junction of state highways 59 and 104.

If you slowed down, you would have noted that the field and its armada of earth moving equipment and trucks are just west of a series of free-stall dairy barns and a sign denoting Larson Acres Dairy.

Yes, the landscape is being remade at this family dairy farm in order to accommodate a new state-of-the-art, cross-ventilated dairy barn where -- if all goes well -- its 1,400 Holstein residents will be passing through a double 20 Boumatic milking parlor in April or May.

In addition to the new free-stall barn and milking parlor, there will be four nursery barns for young calves, a barn for two- to five-month-old calves and facilities for manure handling and feed storage.

When all is said and done, the owners will have invested some $12 million (or more) and will have doubled their dairy operation in terms of cows and milk production.

Who is willing to spend that kind of money during a national recession and during the worst year of dairy producer milk prices in decades?

It’s a family that has farmed this land since 1957 and farmed nearby in the same rural town of Magnolia for 40 years before that.

Ed and Johanna Larson began farming with 80 acres of land and six cows nearly 90 years ago. Their son Don and his wife Virginia took over in 1957, bought the current farm and grew the herd to some 100 cows -- a very large herd for its day.

Sons Ed, Donald and Mike ultimately took over the operation and 11 years ago expanded the dairy herd to the current 1,400 cows and the farm to 4,000 acres.

They also grew their families, and today there are 11 Larsons (in six families) directly involved in the nationally known dairy that is doubling in size.

Unlike many successful businesses that seek to guard their manufacturing and product secrets, Larson Acres Dairy has always had an open door policy. The dairy has hosted many thousands of visitors -- among them UW-Madison College of Agriculture classes, hordes of visitors during World Dairy Expo, international visitors from most everywhere, and of course dairy farmers from across the U.S. seeking information for their own dairy expansion plans.

“We are expanding our family farm in order to ensure the long-term success of our business for future generations,” says general manager Mike Larson. “It’s part of our long-term farm plan that goes back three to four years.”

“Yes, the economy sucks,” Larson continues. “But we did a decent job of milk marketing and didn’t see the extreme low prices that many faced. And we own lots of land, and our finances are in good shape.”

Larson also points out that building costs are at a low not seen for a long time as farm building has slowed to a near stop during the past year of low milk prices.

The actual construction of new dairy buildings might be the simplest part of a dairy expansion as many others who have expanded their dairies have found out.

Any large planned dairy expansion has to meet or exceed the highest environmental standards. This means working with local zoning committees, town and county boards and state agencies of several kinds with the Department of Natural Resources, a constant companion.

And sometimes the rules change along the way, Larson says. He points to a costly new water seepage strip of land with a concrete head gate that came into the picture late in the planning.

Then there is the Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan that details all animal production activities aimed at maintaining water quality and preventing any pollution. Larson Acres Dairy will operate as a zero discharge facility with no wastewater going into surface waters or wetlands.

Larson Acres has used sand for bedding cows for some years because its cows find it comfortable, Larson says. The new facility will have its own sand separator to recycle the sand, with all wastewater going through a water treatment system with the liquid returned to the soil through an irrigation system.

Larson Acres Dairy is a far cry from the small farm many of us grew up on, and not everyone favors the idea of dairies with a thousand cows. The fact is there were always “big” farms: There were 50-cow dairies when the state average was 20 cows. Today, Wisconsin’s 13,965 dairy farms average 91 cows.

Will the addition of another 1,400 milk cows affect Rock County? Hopefully yes, as the number of dairy herds and cows have been on a downward slope for decades.

In 1979 Rock County had 548 dairy farms with 27,600 cows. By 1989 the dairy herds had dropped to 378 with 22,100 cows, and recent data show 129 dairy herds with only 12,400 cows.

In addition to the new dairy facility, Larson Acres Dairy has been doing some other things to update the family business. These include a new office that is an expansion of the original farm house; a new website (http://www.larsonacres.com/); and increased use of outside professionals specializing in herd health, milk quality and technology.

The family is also going through a transition in its management team.

Longtime general manager Ed Larson is slowing down a bit and will serve as co-general manager -- with his brother Mike (formerly dairy manager) taking over as general manager. Brother Don Larson is feed manager; Jamie Larson (Ed’s son) is crop and feed manager with his wife Amy the compensation and benefits specialist; Sandy Larson (Ed’s daughter) is business relations manager; and Jim Trustem is dairy manager.

Of the 34 employees, 11 are family members.

The Larson family credo centers on producing high-quality milk and doing what’s right for the families in their community, their animals and the environment. Those are pretty high-sounding aspirations, but the nearly 90 years of successful dairy farming based on “family” is proof that it works.

John F. Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison-based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 608-222-0624 or e-mail him at jfodairy@chorus.net.

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