Meyer Family

Tom and Angie Meyer have been through some hard times, milking 125 Holsteins in the same barn Tom’s grandfather built. Sometimes really hard times.

“He just keeps saying, ‘If you can just give me six more months,’” Angie says with a little laugh. “That was 25 years ago. He just keeps saying that. But, when you love something like we love dairying, it’s easier to do that.”

Like many dairymen’s wives, Angie keeps a job in town to provide her family with insurance and other benefits of a steady, 9-to-5 job. But her heart’s at the dairy, too, and she says she couldn’t imagine a better place to have raised their four kids.

“My gosh,” she says, “our kids have the best work ethic. They just know what hard work is. When someone looks at their résumé and it says they were raised and worked on a dairy farm, they know they’re responsible people who work hard,” she adds.

Though the kids are now in college or about to be, they all come back and help on evenings and weekends. Recently, their oldest son told them he’d like to join the operation full time.

“My husband, myself, my kids ... we're not keeping up with the Joneses or anything,” Angie says. “I don't really want to say that we live simple, but my kids didn't ever really want for anything. They didn't ask for much, but again, my kids were outside and busy and running all over the place.”