As they work to find their place in agriculture and the dairy industry while also transitioning into ownership of their family’s Polk County dairy farm, Sawyer and Jillian Tietz have big dreams and goals for their sustainable dairy.
The Tietzes won the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation’s 35 Under 35 Sustainable Future award for their innovative approach to sustainability.
“We thought maybe our plans were too out of this world, but then we applied for this and actually won,” Jillian said. “Maybe we’re not completely crazy for thinking like this. We have big dreams, but we’re realistic, too. We’ll be happy if we achieve half our dreams.”
In planning for a sustainable future, the Tietzes have capitalized on bringing global ideas to a level that works on their family farm where they milk 140 cows with Jillian’s parents, Neil and Janice Jensen, near Comstock.
“There are a million ways to farm,” Sawyer said. “People who are more old-school might think we’re silly, but we really just want to create a future that is bright for us, for the environment and for agriculture.”
After being nominated for the award, the Tietzes needed to develop their own definition of sustainable agriculture.
“To us, sustainability means being good stewards of the land to ensure we have healthy and productive crops to raise healthy and productive cows,” Sawyer said. “In return, that will create a happy and healthy farm environment that is necessary for working with and trying to educate both future consumers and future agriculturalists.”
The Tietzes approach sustainability from three different directions — the environment, economics and a social aspect.
In their quest for a sustainable dairy, the Tietzes are hoping technology will serve as their foundation.
“Labor is a big problem with farming, and we think robotics are a good direction for us to take the farm to cut back on labor costs,” Jillian said. “We want to be sustainable with the two of us running the farm, with maybe one employee.”
The Tietzes are interested in processing their own milk to exercise more control over the marketing of their milk. They plan to start with butter.
“We milk Guernsey cows, we want to capitalize on the value of that milk,” Jillian said.
Sawyer will begin working towards the required butter-making certifications this spring, taking classes through the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
“There are pros and cons to making butter,” he said. “There is less initial investment required in machinery and butter is more shelf-stable, giving us more options for marketing. In terms of licensure and learning the process, butter-making has more qualifications than some other processing avenues.”
As the Tietzes have pondered how they can build their sustainable dairy, they said they have learned the sky is the limit. They have a goal of building a closed input loop for their farm, rather than purchasing inputs.
The Tietzes want to help change the narrative that animal agriculture is detrimental to the environment.
“We want to not only dispel that myth but prove the reverse — that animal agriculture and a healthy environment go hand-in-hand,” Sawyer said. “We want to see a future for small family farms, to see the land be productive and healthy, to see animals do well and for people to have access to high-quality nutrition.”
Small Farm, Big Dreams was written by Danielle Nauman and originally appeared in Dairy Star on January 25. It was repurposed for Gather Wisconsin with permission from the author.
Sawyer and Jillian Tietz are featured as a part of Gather Wisconsin’s Leaders of the Land® segment, which features Wisconsin farmers moving agriculture forward through their commitment to sustainability.