A Year in the Life of a Farmer: Generations of Mitchells farm, milk cows near Winnebago

Follow the Mitchell family throughout the entire year. Each month, look for updates about the family members and the decisions they make on their farm.

WINNEBAGO, Ill. — Multiple generations of Mitchell farmers have managed crops and livestock on land located near Winnebago.

“Our family has been here since the mid-1800s, and we are the sixth generation to farm and the seventh generation of landowners,” said John Mitchell, who together with his brother, Aaron Mitchell, are partners in Mitchell Dairy and Grain LLC.

“We have two great, great, great grandfathers that were veterans of the Civil War. One of them was the first land purchaser in the township of Winnebago, and he bought the land from the Galena Land Office,” Aaron said.

“Our grandparents bought this farm in 1960,” John said.

That’s when the family transitioned from a diversified operation to dairy farmers with 18 stanchions in the original barn. Not long after that, a double four herringbone milking parlor was built.

“It was the first milking parlor in the county,” Aaron said.

For many years the dairymen milked about 100 cows. The family built a new milking parlor in 2004, initiating the growth of the operation.

“It was a double eight herringbone parlor, and it was designed for expansion, so now it is a double 12,” John said.

Just two months after John returned to the farm after graduating from the University of Illinois, his dad, Mike, and brother, Kyle, died in a manure and gas accident.

“Both Aaron and I have degrees in animal science from the U of I,” John said.

Expansion continued at the farm in 2009 with a new calf barn, commodity shed and bunker silos.

“In 2014, we started building our new free stall barn, and we were milking about 180 cows as we prepared to expand,” John said.

Aaron completed his degree at the U of I in 2014.

“That year we formed the LLC,” said John of the company, which included John, Aaron and their dad’s cousin, Tim Mitchell. “We grew corn, soybeans, alfalfa, wheat and a rye cover crop that we harvested for silage.”

Cows moved into the free stall barn in May of the following year, and the dairymen have milked from 350 to 420 cows since then.

“We are milking about 400 right now,” said John about the registered Holstein herd.

“In the ‘80s, dad took the herd from all grade to registered,” Aaron said. “And he brought in some registered cows, as well.”

During the expansion phase, the dairymen purchased five herds, as well as different groups from personal sales.

“At this point most of the cows we’re calving now were born here,” John said.

The operation also includes about 230 acres of alfalfa, which is all harvested as silage.

“We determined a few years ago that in our neck of the woods making dry hay is unreliable,” Aaron said. “Over the last three to four years, hay prices have been high, so we rarely have dry hay in the dairy ration. However, we do bale some waterways for heifer feed.”

“In March 2020, Tim split off on his own with his son, Steven, and they are doing the cropping,” John said. “We rely a lot on Tim and Steven for the agronomics of raising and harvesting our forages.”

Areas Of Expertise

Each of the brothers focuses on different areas of the dairy operation. John does the majority of feeding the animals, works with the nutritionist on dairy rations, handles the health work of the fresh cows, manages the maintenance and repairs and completes bookwork.

Aaron works with the young stock, manages the milking parlor, handles payroll, works with the veterinarian and completes the AI breeding of the herd.

“John and I work with our Semex rep to do sire selection,” Aaron said. “He uses SemexWorks and we get different options of bulls to use. We’re breeding about 50% of our milking herd to beef bulls and the rest with sexed semen.”

The operation employees nine full-time and four part-time workers. Most of the full-time employees work in the milking parlor and the part-time employees do relief milking, calf and heifer care, as well as scraping and maintenance.

“One of our full-time guys that does scraping and maintenance has been here almost 30 years,” John said. “And we have five people who have been with us three-plus years, so we have found good people and we’ve been able to keep them.”

Milk Money

The Mitchells market their milk to Prairie Farms, which has a plant in Rockford, just seven miles from the farm. The current rolling herd average is at 28,139 pounds of milk, 1,147 fat and 878 protein.

“We have been one of the Holstein association’s Progressive Genetics Herd winners for the past 23 years,” John said. “That means we rank as one of the top 500 herds for the total performance index, which is the official ranking of Holsteins. Last year we were the No. 3 herd in Illinois.”

The dairymen use the TPI as their breeding goal.

“We have developed a client index at Semex based off the TPI formula,” Aaron said. “We tweak it to be heavier on milk components since we’re in a production limit for selling our milk.”

“Our milk check is based on pounds of fat, protein and other solids,” John said. “Since we’re limited on milk production, not components, we focus on components.”

Advocates For Ag

John and Aaron have been quite active in both the Illinois Junior Holstein Association and the Illinois Holstein Association.

“I’m an Illinois Junior Holstein adviser and a dairy bowl coach for 10 years,” John said. “And I was on the state Holstein board for seven years.”

“I’ve served two terms on the National Junior Holstein Advisory Committee as a junior member and a senior adviser,” Aaron said. “And I’ve been on the state Holstein board for six years.”

Last month, Aaron was elected chairman of the Illinois Farm Bureau State Young Leader Committee.

“This is my fourth year on the committee and my second year as the governmental affairs and commodities subcommittee chair,” said Aaron, who is married to Ashley.

John is vice president of the Winnebago-Boone Farm Bureau and the chairman of the legislative committee. John and his wife, Katie, are the parents of 11-month-old daughter, Cora.