Moellers are Kiwanis Farm Family of the Year

CRESCO - Each year during the Crestwood FFA banquet, Cresco Kiwanis Club announces the Farm Family of the Year. Kenny and Debbie Moellers have been given the distinction in 2022.

Although, the couple is very quick to share the honor with their kids and others who helped them along the way.

Currently, Moellers Farms has three farms, located half-a-mile apart south of Cresco. There is one dairy farm and two for beef. The family milks 800 dairy cows, raises 5,000 steers from five days old to finish and have many good employees on their payroll.

But their dairy operation didn’t start out that big . . . or even with cows! “In September 1975, I bought five sows from Louie Urban, a farmer by Protivin, and two Chester White gilts from Jerry Wilson,” said Kenny. He then rented a farrowing house from the Henkes Brothers.

In 1977, the Moellers purchased a farm from Arnie Kratz and an adjacent dairy farm in 1980 from Matt Riha, and the dairy legacy began.

Childhood

Kenny learned his work ethic while growing up on a Ridgeway farm, that his two brothers still farm. He also had six sisters.

“My dad gave me some good advice. He said you can always farm . . . get an education first.” And that’s what he did.

Debbie grew up in Cresco and has one sister. They met a few months before he left for ISU, when she was a senior.

“When we were planning the wedding, Kenny told me, ‘I’m going to vet school. But I might want to farm, just a little, some day,’” she laughed.

As it turns out, that was one of the biggest white lies ever told! In spite of that, they have been married 51 years!

Hard-working family

One thing you can say about the Moellers family is they are not afraid of hard work.

Kenny and Debbie both graduated from Iowa State. He became a veterinarian, and she received an elementary education degree with a music endorsement.

Kenny graduated in May 1975 and started working at Cresco Vet Clinic. In his spare time, he started raising hogs, and then cows. 

“I fed all the calves — we had 60-plus huts — before I taught school. I also did substitute teaching,” said Debbie. She was a music teacher for eight years at Protivin’s Holy Trinity, three years at Notre Dame and half a year as a substitute music teacher at Howard-Winneshiek.

She had to quit, though. “Bookwork took over my life,” Debbie smiled. Now she plays for Notre Dame church services, weddings and funerals.

All four of their boys also worked on the farm. “They worked hard on this operation since they were six-years old,” Kenny said. They helped wherever they were needed. They learned hands-on farming, and all were in FFA. 

Nathan was president of Crestwood FFA before he passed away.

Korey lives in Kansas City, graduated from UNI and helps out the family business remotely. He works with Performance Beef and is able to track all the cattle and is in contact with all the custom feed lots.

Ryan and family live across the road from his parents. He oversees the day-to-day dairy operation.

Jeremy and family live in the house they grew up in. He is in charge of equipment, the shop and crops (which everyone helps with).

Both Ryan and Jeremy went to the NICC dairy program.

“We grow corn and alfalfa, all of which is used as feed. A lot of it is chopped. We use corn silage, haylage and by-products for feed,” Kenny explained.

When he was ready to retire from veterinary medicine in 2007, Moellerses decided to build a new house. They made the drawings, with help from Ridgeway Lumber, the Bordwells and the Ondrashek Bros. crew. The family also did a lot of the work themselves.

 

Holy Cow! Facts

Technology can drive a person nuts when it isn’t working, but it is also amazing in the dairy industry.

“We built our first free-stall and parlor in 1990,” said Kenny. “We have done upgrades as time went by. Also, all dairy farmers have made advancements in how we handle manure and the environment.”

• Cows are milked three times a day. 

• Milking takes place 22 out of 24 hours a day. The hired help take care of the milking.

• Records are kept on individual milk weights. Each cow has an ID which is read when they walk into the parlor, and the milk is weighed right away.

• In two minutes, the milk goes from the cow to a semi.

• In less than two minutes, the milk goes from 98ºF to 37ºF.

• The Moellers use one-and-a-half semis a day.

• With technology, Kenny says dairy farmers today get double the output of what farmers got 45 years ago.

• The cows are housed in free stalls that are eight-and-a-half feet long by 48 inches wide, and sand-bedded. Three times a day, the sand (along with manure) is scraped into a flume, cleaned and reclaimed as bedding.

• Moellers have a double 16 parallel parlor, milking 32 cows at one time. This is a parlor where cows come in and make a right angle to be milked.

 

For fun

It’s not all work and no play for the couple. Debbie noted, “We have belonged to a card club since 1976. We’re a close-knit group that also travel together sometimes. We also like going on VIP bank trips. When possible, we enjoy going to an Iowa State football game.” 

But one of their favorite activities is sharing their home for get-togethers with family, which includes their sons and wives, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild, with another on the way.

The Moellers have found a way to incorporate family and dairy and beef farming into a cohesive business. 

Kiwanis Club made a great choice when naming them Farm Family of the Year.