About this episode

Peggy Coffeen interviews Will McKinley about the reasons farm transitions fail and how to prevent them.

Today on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, Peggy Coffeen interviews attorney Will McKinley of Menn Law in a three-part follow-up to the Farm Forward conference, focusing on why farm transitions fail and how to prevent it. McKinley cites two primary failure causes: economic infeasibility and psychology/communication breakdowns, including control issues and lack of confidence in successors; he shares examples where debt forced likely land sales and where strict post-death “guardrails” led a son to leave and the dairy to shut down. He emphasizes earlier planning, strong financial advisors, and tools like trusts with independent trustees. Discussing non-family key employees, he warns ownership success is about 50/50, urges transparency, cautions against rushed promises and mingling assets like cattle or equipment, and suggests alternatives such as higher compensation or limited real-estate partnerships. Make sure to tune in tomorrow and Thursday for parts two and three. Contact Will McKinley at Menn Law: William-McKinley@mennlaw.com (920) 731-6631 https://mennlaw.com/ Do you have a question on succession and farm transition you would like to hear Will answer on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast…

People in this episode

Host: Peggy Coffeen

Guest: Will McKinley

Topics covered

• farm transitions
• failure causes
• financial planning
• communication breakdowns
• ownership success
• trusts
• non-family employees

Keywords

• farm transitions
• failure causes
• financial advisors
• trusts
• communication
• ownership
• planning

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Menn Law, Uplevel Dairy Podcast

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• 361 | The Biggest Mistake Families Make with Land with Will McKinley · July 15, 2026 · 23 min
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• 358 | Making a $4 Million Impact: Dairy Cares of Wisconsin · July 7, 2026 · 22 min
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