Clean Farm Families
Clean Farm Families
Farmers Working Together to Improve Soil Health and Water Quality throughout Ozaukee County
The Ozaukee County Clean Farm Families, working as part of the Milwaukee River Watershed Conservation Partnership, is providing a platform for producers and landowners to share ideas, concerns, priorities, and lessons learned about agricultural conservation efforts within Ozaukee County.
Clean Farm Families promotes best soil and water conservation practices by working directly with area producers, Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentive Program, and the Ozaukee County Land and Water Management Department.
Educating landowners and producers about cover crops, conservation tillage, low-disturbance manure injection, and other conservation practices allows for a better understanding of soil and water quality benefits, and ways in which these practices may improve a farmer’s bottom-line. Engaging the community to promote local agriculture, educate the public about farming in Southeast Wisconsin, and the highlight the effort farmers are taking to collaborate with partners to protect our waters.
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The Clean Farm Families Board of Directors
CFF Board: (Front Row From Left To Right) Dave Brunnquell of Century Acres, Chairman Mike Paulus of Paulus Dairy, Neal Maciejewski, Brian Vorpagel of Country Visions Coop and Bob Roden of Roden Echo Valley.
(Back Row From Left To Right) Joe Roden, Adam Melichar of Melichar Broad Acres, Marvin Kolbach of Kolbach Farms, Ken Falk of Farmers’ Implement and Vice Chairman Matt Winker of Redline Dairy Farm.
"The leadership and involvement of each Clean Farm Family member has been huge for the benefit of soil health in Southeast Wisconsin. Farmers are the best demonstrators of soil health practices and have the experience and proof to back them up."
-Andy Holschbach
Member Spotlight
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows in town of Fredonia and run 2,000 acres of cropland. Paulus Dairy began no-tilling and using a winter rye forage since 2019 and can already see the soil health benefits. Mike is always interested in learning about more practices that can improve the health and economy of his farm. Mike is also Chairman of the Clean Farm Families.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Mike Paulus
Brian is a full time agronomist at Country Visions Cooperative and works with many Ozaukee County farms in preparing their crop plans each year. This has allowed him to help promote conservation practices to his clients on what might work best for them He is also a hobby farmer with 15 acres in a wheat/soybean rotation who practices no-till and cover crops on his own farm.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Brian Vorpagel
Ken comes from his family dairy farm, Riverback Farms, and is currently the vice-president of the Washington County Farm Bureau. Ken helped the Clean Farm Families in the purchase of the 60 foot pull-type airseeder available to rent and is instrumental in helping farmers calibrate their equipment for accurate cover crop mix seedings.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Ken Falk
Matt & Sarah Winker are 4th Generation Dairy Farmers and 1st Generation ranchers. They raise red Devon beef cattle, Dorper and Katahdin Sheep, and care for nearly 100 Dairy Cows on Red Line Ranch in Belgium. They rotationally graze the beef cattle and sheep, have been no-tilling since 2014, have reduced their inputs, and removed pesticides and fertilizers in their pastures.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Matt Winker
Neal and family raise 60 beef cattle and cash crop 600 acres in Grafton. He is a full time Commodity Manager at Cerco Group, is an experienced grain marketer, and is active in Farm Bureau. Because of Neal's busy schedule, he started using no-till as a time saver and continues to look at incorporating cover crops wherever he can on his farm.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Neal Maciejewski
Joe and his family house 125 cows and raise crops in Saukville. He is president of the Livestock Association and is very active at his church. He comes to the Clean Farm Families with ideas to be sustainable for future generation farmers.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Joe Roden
Adam and his family operate a 1,600 cow dairy farm in Port Washington. The Melichars continue to experiment with no-till and cover crops, but have found most success in planting rye cover crop in the fall as this allows them to apply spring manure before planting corn. They also have a u-drain system that diverts clean water off their feed pad while only collecting feed leachate.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Adam Melichar
Marvin is a retired farmer, although he still cash crops with his son on 400 acres. Together they plant corn, soybean and wheat plots each year that give amazing data back to those seed vendors that we can all learn from. Marvin has experimented in no-tilling his corn and utilizing oats cover crops over the years.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Marvin Kolbach
Dave Brunnquell of Century Acres INC. is a 3rd generation grain farmer located in the Town of Saukville. He brings an economic viewpoint to the Clean Farm Families when it comes to inputs at the Soil Health Demo plot. Century Acres offers custom applications, is a state certified grain warehouse, and is a merchandiser of poultry for eggs.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Dave Brunnquell
Bob and son, Rick, and family operate a 950 cow dairy and raise 2,800 acres of corn, wheat, soybeans, and alfalfa in West Bend They practice no-till and cover crops, and host many events to demonstrate their effectiveness. Roden Barnyard Adventures also holds Farm Camps and school tours for youth to come and experience a day on the farm.
Mike and family milk 1,700 cows
Bob Roden
