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Wirtjes heeded the call to launch dairying career Monday, June 1, 2009
Agri News staff writer
FOREST CITY, Iowa -- Greg Wirtjes had a curiosity about dairy farming even as a child helping on his uncle's farm. He'd look in the barn where the cows used to be and read magazines about dairy farmers.
"I got my real love for farming from when I'd stay on my uncle's farm and help him," said Wirtjes, who grew up in Forest City.
In high school he helped farmers bale hay and with field work.
When Wirtjes was 19 and a college freshman, he was injured when a friend accidentally shot him in the face with a 9 milli-meter gun.
"Through that I become pretty serious about my relationship with God," Wirtjes said.
When he graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in agronomy, he knew he wanted to work with young people in some way, and attended Denver Seminary where he received a master of divinity degree with an emphasis in youth.
While at divinity school, he and his wife, Kristi, also from Forest City, received a call that Kristi's father, Harvey Johnson, a dairy farmer, was dying of cancer. While home, Wirtjes' home church, First Baptist, offered him a youth pastor position.
As he was starting his new job as a youth pastor, Kristi's mother, Mary Lou, asked if he would farm part of the family's land. She owned all the land except for 160 acres, which they had rented for many years. The land owner agreed that the parcel would stay with the family, but only if someone from the Johnson family farmed it.
"I told her I really didn't know how," Wirtjes said. "She said she wanted me to do it, there was no one else. I told her I'd try."
Wirtjes called friend Dan Yegge from Buffalo Center and asked for help.
Yegge instructed him on planting, cultivating and spraying.
"I was able to get the crop harvested that fall," Wirtjes said. "Dan helped me tremendously. He always said that if I wanted to start farming he'd help in any way he could."
In the next few years, Wirtjes farmed more ground until he was farming full time. Today he runs 1,100 acres.
"Starting out and having to buy machinery was tough, and I knew we needed some other form of income," Wirtjes said.
A friend, Dave Nedved, has a 150-cow organic dairy farm about five miles away.
"I asked him if I could work for him to see if it would be something I would like," Wirtjes said. "He's been a great help and mentor in dairying."
After working for Nedved, Wirtjes told Kristi he wanted to start a dairy operation.
"At first she said, 'no way,' but then she said that if it was what the Lord wanted, it was what she wanted, and we started making plans," Wirtjes said.
He knew that with the stall size in his father-in-law's barn, he would have to milk Jerseys. After advertising in a farm publication that he was a young farmer looking for open or bred Jersey heifers, Jim Michaels, a farmer from Pelican Rapids, Minn., contacted him. They formed a friendship, and Wirtjes bought eight Jerseys from Michaels and 10 from his neighbor. A month later, he bought three more Jerseys at a sale in Iowa. Meanwhile, Wirtjes transitioned the cows and 100 acres to organic production.
"Everyone kept asking me what I was doing," Wirtjes said with a grin. "Jumping into dairying was unheard of, especially for someone who had no idea what they were doing."
He got the cows, fixed up the barn, got used equipment and "with a lot of help," started milking.
"I sold my first organic milk in June 2007 to Organic Valley, and I was so glad," he said. "Organic Valley treats us great. They subsidize the trucking, and they offer a vet who is on call at all times."
With a small herd, Wirtjes knew he'd have to go organic or he'd never make it. Because Nedved sells to Organic Valley, Wirtjes was able to get their milk on the truck.
"If you have the desire, and the Lord's in it, you can do anything," Wirtjes said.
Wirtjes milks 21 Jerseys, which is what the barn holds. He hopes to double the herd at some point.
Lewd Bruns work for Wirtjes.
"Lew is excellent, and he really likes working with the cows," Wirtjes said.
Kristi and Greg have four daughters -- Abigail, 7, Anna, 5, Elise, 3 and Allison, 16 months. Abigail is in 4-H Clover Kids and works with a Jersey calf. She and Anna feed bottle calves. The girls care for chicks, and they gather eggs and feed the chickens.
"We feel blessed that we can raise the girls on the farm," Wirtjes said.
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