Statz Bros. Dairy Farm Sun Prairie, Wis.

My brother, Rich, and I purchased the farm in 1966. Today, I, along with my son, Joe, and Joe’s sons, Zach and Austin, Rich and his sons, Troy and Wesley, operate Statz Bros. Dairy Farm.

We grow approximately 7,000 acres of corn and alfalfa, wheat and soybeans and raise all our own heifers. In addition to the dairy, we also have a custom combining business and a trucking operation.

We milk 2,600 Holsteins at three locations, three times a day with the help of about 60 employees.

We consider ourselves environmentalists and installed a manure digester in February 2009. We practice sustainability through anaerobic digestion and solids separation. Our manure solids are separated from the post digester effluent stream and later used as the primary source of animal bedding on the operation.

We are happy with our current operation as a family-run business. We plan to continue to operate the dairy in an orderly fashion to sustain the well-being of the environment and its immediate surroundings.

As challenging as it is, we consider the dairy industry a good place to be and are optimistic about its future, as most other industries revolve or hinge on it.