High Grove Farm Journal – May 2025

Jun 03, 2025 (Westby, WI)

“It’ll calm down eventually,” Drew says with a grin, always tackling tasks with a positive attitude.

We’ve been haying for three weekends in a row and I am starting to feel the strain of it, but Drew just keeps going strong! His love for the farm drives his unstoppable enthusiasm and it spreads to us. Spring field work and haying are all consuming, with us spread out between rented ground and the home farm, it leaves little room for extras that come this time of the year. Drew hasn’t been able to attend the many family get togethers this spring, while keeping his hand to the plow, quite literally.

The willingness of our children to pitch in extra the last few weeks has been wonderful.

We are a family run operation and we juggle everything ourselves, fitting in extra tasks between daily farm chores. We don’t have hired hands or extended family that work the farm with us and while that level of required time commitment can be grinding, it truly has streamlined our chores. On the days that the children help and we have all hands on deck, I am reminded how thankful I am that we get to work together and spend so much time talking.

As summer approaches, we look forward to long peaceful nights sitting on the front porch, going swimming in the creek and having some family adventures off the farm!

We’ve welcomed many new calves this month and added some new cows to the milking herd. The grazing season is off to a fantastic start! Our cows are thriving using the new lanes to the pastures that we installed last year, which are paying off big time and we enjoy walking them as much as the cows do.

As the weather heats up, we’re gearing up to adjust our routine – grazing at night when needed and bringing the cows in during the day to keep them cool.

Thank you for visiting the farm!

– Jessica Rogers is a Westby Creamery farmer-owner who is sharing glimpses of farm life with us.