Following in Uncle Rollie's footsteps

LAKE CITY — One of the legacies the late Raland “Rollie” Bauer passed to his niece and nephew, Kylie and Carter Mann, is a passion for agriculture and a desire to excel in FFA.

“I was his sidekick,” Kylie said. “He got me to love animals.”

Rollie, who had been the president of the Faribault FFA chapter when he was in FFA, died in 2019 at the age of 47.

Kylie, who received her State FFA Degree in 2025, is a graduate of Lake City Public Schools. She currently is attending Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, and playing Division I softball. Carter is a junior at Lake City. Both have been active in FFA, pursuing Supervised Agricultural Experiences and owning and showing animals.

The Manns, who are the children of Mary Mann, have 18 purebred, registered Nubian goats, and Carter is the owner of a young Angus beef heifer and a bull calf. The Manns, who live in Lake City, keep their animals at the farm owned by Mary’s parents near Faribault.

To honor Rollie’s memory, Mary’s parents, Paul and Bonnie Bauer, started an FFA scholarship which has been awarded for five years. The two $1,000 scholarships are available to Lake City FFA students pursuing any form of post-secondary education including technical and trade schools.

“There’s a lot of good kids in FFA that work hard that maybe aren’t seen for other scholarships,” Mary said.

For Kylie and Carter, one of the impacts Rollie made on them is the animals he brought into their lives.

“Rollie always said that they could have whatever animal that they wanted,” Mary said. “Rollie was good at coming home with a variety of animals for them.”

Over the years, the Manns have had horses, ponies, donkeys, sheep, goats, cows, pigs, chickens and rabbits.

“He knew animals would instill a work ethic in them,” Mary said.

Kylie got her first goat for her fifth birthday; however, after her parents’ divorce, they no longer had housing for the goat, so it was sold. The next summer, Rollie got her more goats and kept them at his farm. Their grandma, Bonnie Bauer, has also assisted the Manns in the care of all the animals.

The goats have been the basis of most of Kylie’s projects in FFA.

“I showed pigs and cows and rabbits, (but) the goats really just stuck with me because of their personality,” Kylie said.

Kylie, who is a three-time chapter officer, focused many of her SAEs on market wether nutrition and how to safely and quickly put on muscle. She did a goat production entrepreneurship proficiency in eighth grade and later won at state in the same category in 2024, which was one of the highlights of her FFA career.

Kylie said she credits Nikki Flaan, who was her FFA adviser through her sophomore year, for helping her get started in FFA.

The goats have been shown in 4-H and FFA by Kylie, Carter and their four cousins. Kylie won grand champion overall with one of her goats at the Minnesota State Fair in 2024, and Carter won reserve champion in 2025.

Kylie also has started a business, Kylie’s Goat Milk Soap. The Manns dam raise their kids, but when there is extra milk, they save it. Kylie included the soap in her most recent entrepreneurship project. Each time she has made soap, it has sold out in 24 hours.

“I like being crafty with things that I already have,” Kylie said. “It has been a big hit in Lake City.”

Carter also has done an SAE focused on the goats. His project was creating kidding huts out of 50-gallon drums with heat lamps to prevent hypothermia.

Many of Carter’s FFA competitions have centered around the farm work he does. He helps with fieldwork for his Bauer relatives, and he is employed on two dairy farms, owned by Tony Betcher and Matt Berktold.

“I just like to compete in the (FFA) competitions and go to all the meetings and help out with activities,” he said.

Carter has completed SAEs in crop production, dairy, poultry and general livestock.

“A lot of my FFA stuff came from around here,” Carter said. “That’s what I like to do, to help them with harvest and planting.”

Looking to the future, Carter is hoping to get into Angus cattle through the two Angus calves Betcher sold him. He plans to breed the heifer to start his herd.

This summer, Kylie will be working toward getting her American FFA Degree, just like her uncle Rollie received and her grandpa Paul.

“I knew that’s what I wanted to do after following Rollie’s footsteps,” she said.