Life on the Euerle farm

Three generations share unique experiences

BY CHRISTINE BEHNEN | STAFF WRITER

LITCHFIELD – When Vaughn and Joan Euerle had their youngest baby, they never could have imagined how relentlessly active and joyously ambitious she would be, or that 2020 and 2021 would see Anna as an FFA state offi cer, graduate from school during a pandemic, become Princess Kay of the Milky Way, and have incredible show experiences with her show cows. Having raised their family of Melissa, Alex, Emily and Anna on the farm, they may have imagined the possibility they would welcome new grandchildren, which certainly happened over these past two years and more.

Vaughn, Joan and Anna, and Vaughn’s mother, Dorothy, gathered on their farm by Litchfi eld in early December to share stories, laugh, and express their gratitude for the lives they live.

The family life on their farm began in 1964 when Dorothy and William Euerle moved to the farm they had purchased. Along with William’s brother, they received some attention when they constructed an innovative free stall milking parlor in 1970. Instead of stanchions, this novel design utilized slatted fl oors and allowed the cows to be herded systematically in for milking, and then let out again. A clever system directed manure from pits below, through special doors and into a lagoon. People traveled from all over to see it, and the University of Minnesota would regularly visit to study its functioning.

“After we had fi rst started fi lling the lagoon outside, they would come out in their little boat and check the depths from time to time,” Dorothy said. “It was sloped, so the rain would help fi ll it up, too. We irrigated our fi elds with the effl uent that we pumped out twice a year.”

Dorothy’s own father had been a dairy farmer and used stanchions. She happily remembered what it was like as a child when her father was milking cows.

“My dad only had about 10-12 cows,” Dorothy recalled. “He’d squirt milk at us, and we’d naturally try to catch it with our mouths, which you don’t have time to do nowadays, because you don’t have that setup.”

Generations later, Anna has grown up on this same dairy farm, expanding the learning that is her heritage. She’s been very active in acquiring additional experience with some very different dairy farms. In addition to helping out at home, last summer she interned at the 600-cow Ru-be Dairy by Grove City. She took care of the calves, and also the fresh cow and newborn calf protocols.

“I’d never worked with a herd size that large before,” Anna described. “I got to learn a lot from my boss and her family … You could give her a four-digit number of any cow, and she could tell you a personality trait or a physical trait about that cow. I’m glad I have those experiences.”

Anna also became involved fi ve years ago in another very unique farm, Corstar Farm, and started leasing and co-owning some animals with Cory and Kristen Salzl. This farm gave her experience with showing in

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE BEHNEN

Vaughn (from left), Joan, Anna and Dorothy Euerle gather Dec. 10 to talk about life on their farm near Litchfi eld.

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