Learning about the farm

GROVE CITY — In celebration of June Dairy Month and Kandiyohi County Dairy Days, KWLM Radio is sponsoring a day at the Jans family farm, CoJo Dairy, on Saturday, June 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The family is ready to show their nearly 70-year-old farm to visitors, including those for whom this will be a new perspective.

“Usually, when the Willmar kids come out, I ask them how many are from a farm,” said Greg Jans, one of the owners of CoJo Dairy. “There are a few, and then (I ask) how many are from a dairy farm; if there’s one out of all the kids who’s from a dairy farm, that’s pretty unusual. I would say 80% have never been on a dairy farm.”

Not only will June 13 be the first time the Jans family has hosted the Kandiyohi County Dairy Days tour, but it will also be the first time the event has been held in Meeker County.

“We’re a half-mile over the county line,” Greg said. “It’s getting fewer and farther between dairy farms.”

The Minnesota Junior Holstein Association will be serving barbecue pulled pork, chips and a pickle for a freewill offering. There will be free cookies, milk, ice cream treats, cheese and crackers provided.

Then, there will be tours around the farm, with students visiting various stations such as the milking parlor and the robotic calf barn. To get people from place to place, the farm has its “people mover,” a tractor-pulled trailer with bus seats.

“When the kids are out here, we have an educational station,” Greg said. “We tell them about how much milk a cow gives and what we do to take care of them.”

In the calf barn, visitors can pet the calves.

“The kids love the calves,” Greg said. “Another thing people get a kick out of is watching the cows get milked.”

KWLM will have a live broadcast of the event.

The Jans family moved from southwest Minnesota to their current farm in 1959, when Greg was about 5 years old. His parents started milking with a pair of cows that had been gifted to them when they were married, and soon, they milked eight cows in a traditional barn. In 1968, Greg’s father, Alvin Jans, built a single-story tiestall dairy barn for dairy cows, as they had increased the herd to 40, and in 1976, they added 40 more cows.

In 1995, Alvin wanted to retire, and Greg had to decide whether he wanted to keep milking or not — and he did.

“At that time, I built the parlor and the first freestall barn,” Greg said. “That was built for 200 cows; we had a double-6 parlor.”

Joseph Jans, Greg’s son, graduated from college and started working at CoJo Dairy in 2000; the dairy was named after the first two letters in his sister’s name, Codey, and the first two letters in his name. When Joseph came on board, the dairy added a 253-stall barn.

“We milked in it for quite a while, and we made the parlor into a double-12 then,” Greg said. “We built the original one so we could add on.”

The Jans family kept adding onto the farm, building new structures and updating existing ones. Today, they milk 1,000 cows and are in the process of building a maternity barn. Joe’s nephews, Taylor and Eric Fester, and his cousin, Seth Beckstand, also work on the farm. Greg has two grandsons who want to be involved someday, too.

Greg remembers when the Meeker County American Dairy Association and KLFD Radio out of Litchfield would host breakfast on the farm, and the Jans family hosted it in their tiestall barn several times.

“They served pancakes and eggs,” Greg said. “My father-in-law made the pancakes.”

CoJo Dairy holds other tours and events throughout the year. Recently, they hosted nearly 200 fifth graders from the Willmar and Litchfield school districts in a May 13 tour.

Later in July, CoJo Dairy will host a group of graduated high school seniors from across the U.S. The Jans also hosted them last year.

The students are part of a group that travels around the country looking into different career options, Greg said.

“Usually, they don’t go to the same city twice,” he said.

The Jans welcome everyone to the Kandiyohi County Dairy Days tour, especially young people who might not have been on a farm before.

“It’s a whole new learning experience for them,” Greg said. “As they become adults and some have leadership roles, they can remember back when they were on the dairy farm, and if you give them a good experience, they’ll look at a dairy as a good experience.”