459. Go to Breakfast on the Farm

Growing up I would see articles about Breakfast on the Farm but we never went. Breakfast on the Farm is literally that... having breakfast on someone's farm. They are held on various weekend dates through June in honor of National Dairy Month. Most counties in Wisconsin have a breakfast on the farm or similar event in June. Wisconsin isn't the Dairy State for no reason. We sure do love our dairy farms.

Last year, I decided I was going to breakfast on the farm this year. I figured Stacy would like to bring Riley to one. After coordinating schedules, we opted for the Manitowoc County Breakfast on the Farm. Originally I figured I would just go to the Outagamie County one but turns out this one was closer and easier for Stacy to get to.

We decided to meet at the farm in Brillion. I gave Stacy directions to the parking since it was offsite. Tractors and wagons took us from our cars down the road to Haelfrisch Dairy Farms. It was raining while I was waiting for Stacy but by the time they got there it stopped.

For $7 ($4 for children), we had breakfast. Breakfast consisted of ham and cheese eggs, yogurt, cheese, sausage links, donut holes, bread, and milk of course. There was also ice cream cups for dessert. While we ate under a tent, a polka band kept us company. All the food was delicious. I could have had more sausage links. Everything was cooked right on site.

Riley especially enjoyed climbing on the farm machinery.

Besides farm machinery, there were games and a bouncy cow along with fire trucks for the kids. There were also baby animals to look at and pet.

Since we wanted to go in the barn, we got in line for the farm tour. Haelfrisch dairy is not a large farm by any means. Our tour consisted of learning about the manure pit and manure spreading process which honestly I can say is very interesting. There's more to cow poop than meets the eye.

We also learned about the cows diet and what they eat. It turns out cows are very picky and will push away bad grain and silage to get to the good stuff. A nutritionist monitors it very closely to make sure they are getting enough nutrients.

Inside the barn we saw the herd. There are only about 200 cows. Most of the were eating and really didn't want to be petted. We also saw the old barn which was now fitted to be the milking parlor.

I was a bit concerned about going to the breakfast on the farm because I heard it is usually crazy. Either Manitowoc County Breakfast on the Farm isn't as bad as Outagamie County or the weather kept people away. It was a nice morning to spend a few hours on a farm and seeing where my milk might come from. If you never been to breakfast on the farm, I would suggest finding one in your area and going one year. It is a reasonable family event. I think I will try to go as often as possible.