We conclude our June Dairy Month farm stops by visiting the Krohlow Farm, owned and operated by Marlene and Craig Krohlow. Though Craig grew up on a farm, Marlene did not, but it didn’t take much to convince her in marrying a farmer.
“We had adjoining churches, which had the same pastor, Emmanuel Lutheran of Cicero and Our Savior in Lessor,” Craig reflected. “[I didn’t have to convince her] real hard.”
“Love is blind,” Marlene laughed.
Marlene is a former Farm Woman of the Year here at the Radio Station. Craig grew up on the farm next door to the one the Krohlow’s currently own and with the help of his father he purchased it from his uncle Edgar.
“We have about 320 acres of crops,” Craig explained. “My brother lives next door and he’s a cash cropper and I don’t even know how many acres he has, 500 or 600. I help him some and he helps us.”
The Krohlow’s have 38 stalls for milking cows and about 40 young stock. They do most of the work on the farm themselves with only minimal help.
“[We do] feeding, breeding, milking and taking care of the young stock, scraping the yard. Every other day for the most part we ship to what’s called Red Barn Dairies, it’s a little outfit started by our vet that I call semi-organic. They’re into the specialty cheeses and such, so we’re held to a little higher standard per say than a normal farm.”
With farms expanding and running large mega-dairy operations, the Krohlow’s believe having a modest sized farm is what makes their unique.
“As farms get bigger, I think what makes ours unique is that our cows still have a name, they don’t have a number,” Craig said of the farm. “They get to go outside and lay down on the hill, on the grass, on the dirt yet and bask in the sunshine a little bit if they want to. I think that’s what makes us unique in this day and age.”