Uplevel Dairy Podcast

For nearly 150 years, Four Cubs Farms in Grantsburg, Wisconsin, has been built on a simple principle: people matter.In this episode of the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, Peggy Coffeen sits down with Gary and Cris Peterson, their son Ben Peterson, and Dairy Manager Nathan Brandt to explore the leadership, culture, communication, and innovation that transformed a small family dairy into a thriving 1,000-cow operation.From succession planning and employee engagement to genomic testing, feed efficiency, and building trust across generations, this conversation offers valuable lessons for dairy producers looking to create resilient businesses that can thrive well into the future.Whether you're navigating farm transition, building a team, or looking for ways to strengthen your operation's culture, this episode delivers practical insights from a farm that has successfully blended family values with modern dairy management.This episode is sponsored by Compeer Financial. Compeer Financial is a member-owned Farm Credit cooperative serving and supporting agriculture and rural America. Their dairy team brings world-class expertise and tailored solutions to support dairy producers’ financial goals and lending needs.02:00 – Growing from 60 cows to 1,000 cows03:00 – Roles and responsibilities within the farm team05:00 – Cris Peterson's journey from city girl to dairy advocate09:00 – Leadership transition and bringing in outside talent10:00 – Nathan Brandt's path into dairy and Four Cubs Farms13:00 – Building a team with complementary strengths14:00 – Innovation through feed systems and grain storage16:00 – Genetics, genomic testing, and future herd growth20:00 – Nutrition strategies for today's high-performing dairy cows24:00 – The role of culture in farm success27:00 – Trust, communication, and employee retention30:00 – Creating clarity, consistency, and rhythm across the operation32:00 – Succession planning, growth, and preparing for the future

Shelby Jacquier Washburn, is a fourth-generation dairy farmer and managing partner at Laurel Brook Farm in East Canaan, Connecticut, describes returning from an equine business program during COVID to help manage a 1,500-cow herd and 1,800 acres each of corn and hay/haylage while raising all young stock.In today's conversation, she explains how accepting a 200-tag Nedap trial led to whole-herd collars (Nedap Now) that detect health issues 12–24 hours earlier via rumination, eating time, and milk deviations, informing earlier treatment and culling decisions, identifying lameness, and paying back about half the system cost in a year through reduced hospital time. Data prompted diet changes for fresh cows, improved heats and overall cow brightness, new transition protocols (moving pre-fresh cows two days before due date) that boosted colostrum supply, and heat-stress monitoring that revealed the parlor as a hotspot, leading to added evaporative cooling, fans, and water.This episode is part of the High-Performance Mindset Series powered by Nedap. Nedap is future-proofing dairy farming with smart technologies in activity monitoring, cow locating, milk metering, sort gates, and AI-powered camera systems. Nedap is improving life on the farm by putting the right cow in the right place at the right time, every time.00:47 Meet Shelby Jacquier Washburn01:14 From Horses to Dairy03:41 Collars Across the Herd05:03 The 200 Tag Leap07:11 Fresh Cow Insights09:08 Diet Tweaks Big Wins11:18 Transition Monitoring Shift12:20 Colostrum Turnaround14:32 Heat Stress Hotspots16:48 What's Next in Tech21:16 Future in Connecticut

Transition Talks from the Farm Forward ConferenceAt the Farm Forward Conference, Uplevel Dairy Podcast host Peggy Coffeen interviews Steve Bodart of AgriGrowth Solutions about the financial side of family farm transition. Bodart explains his accrual-based financial consulting approach that connects production decisions to financial outcomes, benchmarks performance, and evaluates what both outgoing and incoming generations need and can afford. He emphasizes financial transparency so everyone hears the same message at the same time, and says succession is a journey requiring room for growth, disciplined debt payments, and honest discussions about cost of production, capital spending, and competitiveness.Steve notes failures often stem from resisting change and poor communication without a facilitator. He advocates involving owners and capable mid-managers and giving younger generations responsibility for financial projects, such as analyzing how a transition barn can improve profitability.AgriGrowth Solutions is a team of financial consultants with strong dairy backgrounds which represent and work for the best interests of dairy producers. The AGS team guides clients through their business’ financial position and assists in planning for their continued and future success.Contact Steve Bodart, AgriGrowth Solutions: SteveBodart@agrigrowthsolutions.comVisit: https://agrigrowthsolutions.com/01:10 Meet Steve Bodart01:50 What Steve Does03:21 Financial Transparency05:56 Planning for Growth07:00 Building a Win Win Plan09:42 Who Belongs in Meetings11:20 Why Transitions Fail14:44 Bringing Next Gen In17:23 Real World Project Example

At the Farm Forward Conference, Uplevel Dairy Podcast host Peggy Coffeen interviews Tommy Oesch of Swisslane Farms in Michigan about his multi-generational family farm transition from junior partner to senior leader and preparing for the next generation. Tommy describes the farm’s origins with his Swiss immigrant great-grandfather, early succession planning begun in 2004–2005, requirements for the next generation to work off-farm, and his and his brother’s years in outside careers before returning in 2011 to build a 500-cow robotic dairy. He explains growth through leasing opportunities instead of building, reaching about 5,600 cows across multiple sites, buying out the senior generation, and shifting their income from salary to equity payments to support leadership transition. He highlights hard conversations, including selling real estate to cover debt during Michigan’s 2015–2019 processing challenges, the need for intra-generation alignment through weekly meetings, and wishing they had brought in professional help earlier.Make sure to tune in all week as we drop recap episodes from the conference right here on the podcast!02:02 Meet Tommy Oesch02:49 Swisslane Origin Story05:06 Off Farm Lessons06:36 Back to Dairy Growth07:40 Leadership Buyout Shift12:13 Hard Times Real Estate15:05 Generational Negotiations18:21 Aligning Weekly Meetings18:54 What We'd Change