Meeting Our Needs: Dairy Breakfasts — Eggs and Pancakes and Sausage – Oh Yeah!

Beverly Pestel, Columnist

---

…and don’t forget the milk, yogurt, and cheese! Dairy Breakfast time in Wisconsin is right around the corner, check the dates, set your alarm, make sure your GPS is working, and get your “fat pants” out.  Good times, and good food are coming.

I grew up in rural northern Wisconsin surrounded by dairy farms.  Within a mile either direction were two of the larger dairy farms in the area, and stopping in on any random day was not out of the ordinary. It didn’t matter what time of day or what time of year you wandered over, they were always busy. There were always animals around, cows, of course, probably chickens, and certainly a dog or two to greet you – and always a collection of barn cats. 

Then there was always an array of machinery parked close by and filling the machine shed. The farms I visited were always well-kept – but it’s a farm, not a restaurant or dining hall. Here is what I don’t get. Who in the world would volunteer to do all the incredible work required to turn that working farm into a dining hall, make sure all the animals were out of harm’s way, and clear a huge parking area for only a one-day event?  Especially when you just have to tear it all down, get everything put away, put all your working equipment back in place, and immediately get back to work. Who in the world would do that? A Wisconsin dairy farmer! 

Speaking of farmers, there are two smiling faces that stay in my memory.  Uncle Peck (all my relatives had nicknames), was a wiry little guy with a face that was all grin. He and his son ran a dairy farm that was considered large at the time, about 40 Guernseys.  I never saw Uncle Peck in anything but his barn clothes smelling of a combination of manure and fresh hay. He was always on his way from one chore to another. Yet, he was a joyous man, full of kindness.

Don was a neighbor. You couldn’t drive by his place without seeing him out tending the cows, mending fence, or working on an old piece of equipment that he was determined to get another year of use out of. Don was still dairy farming when most of the rest of the dairy farmers in the valley had sold their cows and moved on to other pursuits. But regardless of what Don was doing, when you drove by, you always got that big smile and a wave of the index finger – the Richland County salute.

Dairy farmers are special people – well, all farmers are special people – and celebrating the needs they meet in our communities is a special thing to do. I can’t imagine a world without milk and cheese – lots of it. But neither can I imagine a world without the work ethic, the sense of humanity toward people and animals, the dedication to the stewardship of the land, and the commitment to their communities that farmers bring to our lives. 

Dairy farmers meet the needs of Wisconsinites in multiple ways and it goes back for generations. Sadly, we have lost many of these family farms in the last decades, and it is hard to measure the effect this loss has had on our rural communities. For those who have managed to hang on, show them some love this season by attending these breakfasts – and don’t forget to smother those pancakes with butter. And, oh, add a generous amount of that fabulous Wisconsin maple syrup if available – it is liquid gold.

Dates of some of our local breakfasts:  the Iowa County Dairy Breakfast is June 3, Lafayette County Dairy Breakfast is June 10, Sauk County Dairy Breakfast is June 10, and Richland County Dairy Breakfast is June 11. When you get there, thank all those volunteers flipping pancakes, dishing up eggs and sausage, handing out milk, and clearing tables. None of this could happen without these volunteers.

Check out all the events at National Dairy Month – Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin (wisconsindairy.org) or 2023 Wisconsin Dairy Breakfasts (agupdate.com) Not all events may be listed, so check your local news sources for dates and addresses so you don’t miss any events in your area – or use this as excuse to tour the whole state and eat yourself right out of your “fat pants.”

---

If you go

---

---