Thousands are anticipated to flock to the Jerad and Stacey Fleming farm west of Westby this Saturday for the Vernon County Dairy Breakfast.
While the dairy breakfast has been months in the making, final touches of tents and equipment will start getting put up Thursday morning.
“We’ve been very busy,” said Stacey. “But I guess we work well under pressure. We’ll be ready.”
Visitors to this weekend’s dairy breakfast can expect a variety of activities for kids, including a pedal pull, barrel wagon rides, educational displays, a petting zoo, live music, and, of course, breakfast.
Cost for the breakfast is a free will donation or $10 for the addition of steak. On the menu are pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese curds, cottage cheese, milk, juice, and coffee. The meal runs from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. with opening ceremony at 9 a.m.
Parking is available near the farm in a hayfield off Old Line Road, and also at the sales barn with shuttle service on US Highway 14/61, two miles west towards Coon Valley. Address for the farm is S2095 Volden Road, but Volden Road will be closed. Visitors coming from US Highway 14/61 will need to take Vang or Cut-A-Cross roads to access parking area.
FARM & FAMILY
Fleming Farms is owned and operated by the Fleming family of Stacey and Jerad and their four children: Hallie, Jackson, Bennett, and Brielle. The eldest two, Hallie and Jackson, have graduated from college and are off the farm, but Stacey says they all grew up lending a hand in the day-to-day operations.
“Brielle is a great help and Bennett’s got a job off the farm this summer too but he helps as much as he can,” said Stacey.
The first generation farm’s story begins when Jerad and Stacey started dating in high school. After graduating from Westby High School in 2001, Jerad worked in construction while Stacey studied elementary and early childhood education at Viterbo University. They were married in 2004.
Jerad grew up on a dairy farm but never thought he would carry on the tradition.
“I had no intentions of farming, especially dairy farming, after high school,” said Jerad. “We were married a few years after high school and it was the lifestyle we wanted to raise our kids in.”
Jerad and Stacey’s first farm was in Newry where they milked 30 cows on 16 acres for about seven years. Since then, they’ve increased their milking herd to 110. They moved to their current farm in 2012, and it took about two years to fully convert the roughly 500 acre farm to organic.
“It’s a three year process,” said Jerad. “The last time they had sprayed or done anything else was a year before we got here, so we had two years to go.”
The Fleming’s cows visit the old barn twice a day, which once held stanchions but has been a double 12 milking parlor since 2022. When they’re not being milked, the 110-head herd of Holsteins take shelter in a freestall barn.
“They have access to pasture all day, all night,” said Jerad.
Fleming Farms produces around 7,000 pounds of raw milk per day for Westby Creamery Cooperative, where their organic milk is turned into sour cream, cottage cheese, and yogurt.
Jerad is one of seven members and serves vice president on the Board of Directors for the co-op and has been an assistant football coach for the Westby Norsemen, with this next season being his 20th. Stacey just finished up her 20th year of teaching preschool and kindergarten in the Westby Area School District.
