Finding a way to farm

Gochnauers create diverse income streams

BY AMY KYLLO | STAFF WRITER

WEST CONCORD –

Capping the end of Main Street in West Concord stands a barn. The building is not a relic of past industry but is the hub of a very active dairy farm – all within city limits.

Megan Gochnauer and her husband, Jacob, own Gochnauer Farms where they focus on dairy farming but also have feeder cattle, feeder pigs, sheep, meat goats, chickens, ducks, pea fowl, rabbits, a potbellied pig, dogs, horses, cats and a chinchilla.

In addition, they have an on-farm store, a cattle trucking business, a moveable, rentable petting zoo and, soon, a rentable event space. The Gochnauers began selling meat in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Six months pregnant, in March 2020, Gochnauer lost her job at the Central Livestock Association where she was managing the restaurant. By the time lockdowns had lifted enough for Gochnauer to return to work, she had a 3-month-old baby and decided that it did not make sense to return.

Realizing the unemployment money was not feasible to live on, the Gochnauers began the process of getting licensed to sell their beef.

“Everything has come along out of necessity,” Gochnauer said. “It always hits a point like, ‘OK, well, do we figure something out, or do we get out?’ And it’s always been a figure it out so far.”

The Gochnauers sell their meat through the farm store, and they make deliveries as well. Gochnauer plans deliveries along her and Jacob’s cattle trucking routes, and her mother, who lives in Shoreview, does deliveries in the metro area.

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The self-serve farm store is the Gochnauers’ most recent business. The store, which is on the end of their barn opening toward Main Street, has two stand up freezers and a fridge freezer combo holding their beef, pork and lamb. They also sell items under their cottage food license such as pretzels, dried soup mixes and frozen broth.

They collaborate with friends and community members to sell other items in the store such as duck eggs, honey, embroidered towels and freeze-dried candy. The jewelry and accessories they have available for purchase come from a wholesaler.

Gochnauer said the community has been supportive of their family. The person who sells duck eggs at their store refuses payment from her and instead asks her to put the money into her children’s savings accounts.

The Gochnauers milk about 25 cows. In

2018, they began renting their current farm, and in 2019, they brought the cows to the farm.

The Gochnauers have always done long-term cow boarding on their farm in addition to caring for the other animals they own.

On Thanksgiving Day in 2021, the Gochnauers came to a breaking point while in the barn. “We were both bawling through chores that night,” Gochnauer said. “We have this many cows, we have this hard of chores, we are losing thousands of dollars on the farm every month because we aren’t shipping the milk.”