Page 4 Stories of the Heartland • Sunday, September 21, 2025 hometownsource. com / heartland /
Strong in Tradition...
Driven by Dedication
A milk tanker truck that holds 75,000 pounds of milk is pictured in front of the blue silo and dairy barn on the Orbeck family farm in Paynesville.
Cynthia Parsons / Stories of the Heartland
From dawn milking to late-night fieldwork, three generations in Paynesville carry on a 100-year legacy of care for cattle, crops, and community.
BY CYNTHIA PARSONS STORIES OF THEW HEARTLAND
The Orbeck family’ s dairy farm in Paynesville is a portrait of tradition and teamwork. Each day, the rhythm of chores and crop work moves in harmony, guided by generations of experience and a shared devotion to the land. What shines through is the family’ s love for farming, their respect for their animals, and their commitment to keeping a centuryold legacy alive.
Today, the third generation of Orbecks tends to 100 dairy cows— 20 dry cows grazing the fields and 80 milkers housed in a stanchion barn. The family also cultivates 750 acres of corn, soybeans, oats, rye and alfalfa, balancing livestock care with a diverse rotation of crops.
John Henry and Elizabeth( Fischbach) Orbeck started the farm 100 years ago this year. Their son, Clarence Orbeck, married Gladys( Mackedanz) Orbeck in 1950. John helped his son Clarence build a new house. After living with his parents for a year, Clarence bought the farm from his father in 1951, and soon after he and
Gladys moved into their newly built home. Clarence and Gladys went on to have 11 children: six girls and five boys.
Currently, the farm is run by Mike, one of the 11 children; his two brothers, Bob( the oldest sibling) and Kevin; and his mother, Gladys, now 92 years old. Gladys’ husband, Clarence, died in 1986. Several of the siblings are now land neighbors to the original farm they grew up on. Mike runs the cattle side of the farm, and Bob runs the agronomy( crop) side.
A dairy farmer since 1979, Mike took a seven-year break to work for a concrete company in the early 2000s. He returned to farming when he realized farming was in his blood and the farm life suited him better. Mike gets up daily at 5 a. m. He and his brother Kevin scrape the grates down in the barn. At 5:30 a. m., Mike milks the cows for two hours. After breakfast, he gets the cows out of the barn so he can scrape the alleys until 11 a. m. Then, he does whatever needs to be done on the farm.
Mike’ s sister, Betty( Orbeck) Schmidt, has been helping out in the barn for 25 years. At 5 a. m. she feeds the cows and gets a good workout cleaning and sweeping the cow mangers for two hours every morning.
“ Every cow is an employee and has to work hard for the employer. Likewise, farmers have to treat cows with respect, good food and good shelter. Our cattle are calm because we don’ t yell at them much. Stressed cows don’ t give as much milk,” Betty said.
She feeds 80 cows in the barn, the 20 cows in the fields, and the 15 heifers( young female calves).
“ I don’ t have to belong to a gym to work out. This is my gym,” she said.
“ Farmers have to be creative and mechanically inclined and able to fix something on the spot. If I was ever stranded on a deserted island and could only take two people with me, it would be a farmer and a doctor. Or two farmers, because they’ d know what to do,” Betty added.
After dinner( lunch), Mike cleans out the heifer barn. Once that is done, he handles any fieldwork that needs attention. Supper( dinner) is at 5 p. m., followed by two more hours of milking.
On the dairy side, Mike said farmers sign up with a processor. The Orbecks are with Land O’ Lakes, which