By Norma Dittman
Fulda Free Press staff writer
Matt and Polly Timmer, along with sons, Jacob, age 13, and Aiden, age 7, Ellsworth, were named as the Nobles County Farm Family of the Year. They will be attending the Minneosta Farm Family of the Year recognition event to be held at Farm Fest on August 9th.
The Timmer family operates a 100-cow dairy, with milking times scheduled for 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day.
Matt’s dad and mom, Arnold and Doris, purchased their farm in 1979. They purchased their first cows and started milking in 1982. During the following ten years, they increased their milking herd to 65 head.
Matt graduated from Ellsworth High School in 1998. He began growing his dairy herd by leasing a herd of cows from a neighbor who lived three miles down the road. “I rented the neighbor’s facilities from him. Then in 2001, Dad and I became 50-50 percent partners and moved the cows onto the home place,” Matt stated.
With the combination of Arnold’s herd and Matt’s herd, a decision was made to build a new free stall barn and parlor that would house 125 cows. The milking facility is a double-eight herringbone parlor. “We raise our own stock, focusing on the heifers and selling the bull calves almost immediately,” Matt commented. Pure-bred stock are registered under the herd name Mat-Ar-Dor Holsteins. The Timmers use artificial insemination and flushing on the farm, but their in-vitro fertilization is done at Trans-Ova Genetics, Sioux Center, Iowa. At Trans-Ova, gender-selected semen helps to guarantee female calves.
“Each cow has an activity sensor in her ear that connects to a computer. That basically tells me what the cow does every day…if they are eating, not eating, not feeling good. I know if a cow is sick before I see it,” Matt shared. “It saves a lot of expense. The program is from the Netherlands, and a semen company in the United States started distributing it. It has been really nice having it.”
In March of 2016, Arnold and Doris retired, and Matt and Polly took over the entire dairy operation.
“Mom and dad still live on the home place. They are still quite involved with the operation. Mom is our calf feeder and she really enjoys that. Dad is my gopher. He gets tires fixed, changes oil, runs parts, mixes feed and helps to get ready for shows. We appreciate them both very much,” Matt said.
Polly helps every morning and evening for the twelve-hour milking rotation. She is also basically in charge of feeding the heifers.
Jacob and Aiden are involved on a daily basis as they do chores and prepare for shows. “You can catch them washing or leading just about every day,” Matt commented. “There are also two nephews, Cody Kramer and Andrew Zylstra, who are here all summer long working with the show stock. They like showing and they step in if I have to go to meetings. They have been here long enough that they can handle just about everything. All the people in my back pocket, including the nutritionist and veterinarian, really help to make this all work.”
The Timmer family show their cattle in state and district shows in Minnesota. Jacob and Aiden are members of the Nobles County Grand Prairie Rockets 4-H Club. Jacob will be showing dairy animals during this year’s fair. They also show at a few other county fairs and youth shows, as well. “They have been showing animals since they were three years old. In fact,” Matt said, chuckling, “there are sixteen grandkids in the family and every one has shown calves somewhere. There are many times that I arrive at a show with twenty cows and ten kids. The kids have a lot of fun and they look forward to it every year.”
Polly is on the Nobles County 4-H Advisory Board and will be leading a Bible study at their church on Wednesday evenings during the fall.
Matt is on the Minnesota Holstein Association Board of Directors and acts as the Show Committee Chair, and the Sales Committee Co-Chair.
He is on the Minnesota Red and White Holstein Board and is the acting treasurer.
He is also the president for the Southwest Minnesota District Club, and serves on the Nobles County Fair Board.
Holsteins are not the only breed on the Timmer farm, as they also operate a boarding business that houses some commercial and registered stock for other people. “There are some Jerseys here, mostly purebred stock and show animals,” Matt stated.
As busy as their lives are on the farm, the family was preparing for a much-looked forward-to youth show that was to be held Saturday and Sunday, July 28th and 29th. They were planning to begin at the Nobles County Fair on Monday. “We enjoy showing the animals, and we have a lot of fun,” Matt commented.
