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When he and Lloyd were partners, they would switch who had to milk each morning.“ One of us would get up at 1 a. m. to go milk and the other got to sleep in until 4 a. m.,” he said.“ Then we would farm all day and wake up and do it again the next day, but switch who got up early.”
In 2005, they began milking the cows three times a day, and decided that hiring help was a necessity.
“ We decided if we were going to have any kind of life at all, we were going to need help,” Kenny said.“ It’ s been a good life. No matter what, we have tried to put God first, then family, then work. Sometimes you get those things mixed up and you have to get them back in order.”
Kenny’ s wife Lesa grew up in Nashville. Her parents worked at Cummins and her grandparents owned Cox Drugs.
Now the farm’ s full time bookkeeper, Lesa said she loved raising her family on the farm.“ There are times when the work seems to never end, but there have been so many blessings,” she said.“ It has really been a good life. God has blessed us.” Kenny and Lesa have two children, Shannon Verhaeghe and Justin Wagler, and five grandchildren. Shannon is an ag education teacher in Plymouth and Justin owns a custom application business next door to the dairy farm.
In his limited free time, Kenny enjoys participating in tractor pulls with his son, Justin. They have been pulling together for 27 years, and have twice won the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling National championship.
Kenny said if there is one thing he could change it would be the misconception people have about the negative impacts farming has on the environment.
“ People think that the dairy industry has this major negative impact on greenhouse gasses,” he said.“ According to Frank Mitloehner, Ph. D., professor and air quality specialist in the Department of Animal Science at the University of California, Davis, the dairy industry contributes just two percent of all greenhouse gasses in the U. S. The majority of the gasses come from transportation, power production, and the cement industry.” •
20 Our Brown County • May / June 2022
Kenny on the farm at age 10, with his horse Ginger.