Orange City Area Health System

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Orange City Walk-In Clinic: 712.707.6070 • Hospital/ER: 712.737.4984 Orange City Clinic: 712.737.2000 • Hospers Clinic: 712.752.8800 Mill Creek Family Practice: 712.448.2000 • ocHealthSystem.org

Children standing in front: Huxley, Zylex, Rainalynn, Miles, Logan, Saylor, Lilly, and Sophia. Middle and back: Chelsea, Justin, Keira, Kelton, Art, Rosie, Brian, Mona, Doug, Paige, Jason, Jovie, Leah, and Kyle.

A DELICIOUS COMBINATION OF TRADITION AND INNOVATION AT STENSLAND DAIRY

by Bob Fitch

When the Stensland dairy was revived in 2003, little did anyone know that the family name would become a wellknown commercial brand in northwest Iowa and the Sioux Falls area less than 15 years later.

Tobias Stensland homesteaded west of Larchwood in 1905. His son, Arthur, married Rosie in 1952 and began a dairy operation with 12 cows. Their sons grew up milking and working on the farm. Eventually, oldest son Doug joined his father in the operation. Art and Doug retired the dairy operation in 1989. But, in 2003, Art’s 17-year-old grandsons, Justin and Jason, restarted the dairy from scratch as a means to earn money for college.

Chelsea and Justin Stensland with their children, front: Rainalynn and Huxley, back: Keira, Kelton, and Huxley (in Justin’s arms).

Doug and his wife Mona helped the boys acquire the funds needed and, with the knowledge from their father and grandfather, they began putting hours in before and after school, milking twice a day with the help of their younger brother, Kyle.

The dairy slowly grew. “The two boys were milking 200 cows 10 hours a day,” Doug said. “They’ve been in trenches. But the time came when they wanted to eliminate labor and add efficiencies. When they brought robots in to do the milking, that reduced their outside labor needs immensely.”

The robots are a product of the Netherlands-based van der Lely family corporation, whose U.S. corporate office is in Pella, Iowa. The “Lely Astronaut” robot milker is designed to provide greater flexibility, enhanced efficiency and a better work-life balance while at the same time allowing cows to follow their own rhythm.

Cows are enticed into one of the three robot milkers by a sweet molasses pellet. If it’s their time to be milked, they’ll get the molasses treat. Not their time? Then no pellet. A cow is milked one to five times per day, and the average daily yield per cow varies from 40 to 130 pounds of milk. The average time for milking is seven minutes.

In addition to tracking the production of individual cows, the robot also monitors for butterfat content and any abnormalities in the milk, plus can detect if there are mastitis

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Paige and Jason Stensland with their children: Logan (in Paige’s arms), Miles, Saylor and Jovie.

problems. Data collected from a digital chip in the collar of the cows identifies each cow and relays weight, temperature, activity, and rumination.

Once the conversion to the robot milkers was successful, Justin and Jason found themselves with extra time. “But they really like to stay busy and be challenged,” Doug said. “They were faced with the decision of possibly adding more cows. They came to us with the idea of not growing the herd size, but instead becoming more vertically integrated. They just didn’t want to get into the game of getting bigger and bigger and bigger. They talked to both their brother and sister, and Mona and me, and talked us into a committing to the idea of adding an on-farm creamery.”

The creamery idea was a seed planted by Doug and Mona’s past dreams of processing their own milk. In earlier days, the family would visit other dairies which included on-farm creameries. But the idea never seemed quite viable as Doug and Mona aged. But the idea took root with Justin and Jason. Doug said, “When they approached Mona and me, we said ‘we’re with you!’”

They broke ground on the creamery in 2015 and sales of milk, cheese and ice cream commenced in 2016. In addition to selling Stensland-branded products through a number of independent retailers and area restaurateurs, they’ve opened three stores in Sioux Falls plus provide service at Falls Park and the Midco Aquatic Center.

What makes Stensland stand apart and make a dent in the crowded ice cream, cheese and milk market? Doug said, “One thing we do different … other companies always try to make their products as cheaply as possible. Our whole philosophy is we’re going to make the best-tasting product. In our ice cream, we use the highest cream level possible. We always choose the high-end, quality ingredients. We don’t look at price first – we decide on the best taste and best quality first.

“All the recipes have been developed by Mona, Justin and Leah. For example, we use real mint in our mint chocolate chip ice cream. It really makes it special. We use homemade butter brickle in our butter brickle ice cream,” he said. The focus on quality carries through into their cheese and milk products. They also get creative with seasonal flavors of milk products. Their root beer flavored milk tastes like a root beer float. They will soon expand sales of Stensland-branded frozen pizzas. Not only will Stensland cheese be used on the pizza, but so will beef products from their cows.

Doug worked breeding dairy cattle for Select Sires for a number of years. Stensland’s dairy operation and creamery now benefits from that expertise. The farm’s focus is not just on the number of pounds of milk produced by each cow, but also on cow health, hardiness, longevity, quality of beef produced, and a milk product high in protein and butterfat. The family crosses Holstein cattle with Fleckvieh and Montbéliarde cattle, two breeds popular in Europe. “We think it’s important to keep our egos in check and have an open mind. There’s something to learn from everyone. Our cows may not quite have the production of a pure Holstein, but they have other advantages that make it all add up,” he said.

As the Stensland operation has undergone a rapid transformation in the past several years, the roles of family members have evolved as well. Mona still focuses on innovation in ice cream flavors, but also oversees the commercial kitchen where the new pizza line is being developed. Doug oversees

Doug and Mona’s daughter, Leah Moller, with her daughters, Sophia and Lilly.

Brian (Doug’s brother), Rosie, Art, Mona, Doug and Kyle Stensland.

breeding with help from youngest son Kyle, while Kyle is in charge of crop operations with assistance from Doug. Daughter Leah is involved in retail operations and marketing. Daughter-in-law Paige processes orders from stores. Both Leah and Paige work on social media outreach. Daughter-in-law Chelsea is in charge of outside ordering, tours and grant-writing.

The innovating twins continue to transform themselves. “Justin and Jason love to sell. They’ve moved from the dairy to the plant to being out selling. They want to get to the point where they’re spending most of their time selling. They’re good with people,” Doug said.

The next generation is already making its mark on the operation – three of Doug and Mona’s 11 grandchildren are involved. Sixteen-year-old Kelton works in the creamery, the dairy, and the retail operation in Sioux Falls. Thirteen-year-olds Jovie and Keira help Mona in the bakery and also spend time in the plant.

In addition to the nine family members involved in daily operations, there are an additional 15 employees in the dairy and creamery. A work force of several dozen part-timers staff the retail outlets in Sioux Falls. Doug said one of the core principles in the operation is to treat employees right. “We can’t do anything without good employees,” he said.

Like most businesses and farm operations, the year 2020 threw a little hitch in their giddyup. “There was about a week there when Covid came in … it was hard to get anybody here to think positively. We lost 60 percent of our business overnight with restaurants shutting down. It took a few days, but we just decided to keep hammering away. The kids are good at figuring things out,” Doug said.