Oct. 31, 2006
Ed and Mary Peters have operated a farm just south of West Bend for the last 25 years, but have decided to move their rotational grazing dairy operation in order to continue farming.
Since 1981, they have leased the land from Ed’s parents, who still live on the property to run the Peters’ Starlite Farm. The dairy barn features 43 milking stalls, the plot has little room for expansion. Buying the plot from his parents and buying or renting new land for growing feed crops were not viable options.
“I could never buy it for farming. It’s not really enough acres and it’s getting hard to find rented land,” Ed Peters said. “There was a farm I rented that’s been sold and they’re going to be building homes on it.”
Peters said the shifting focus of the area to a more residential suburbia also factored into their decision. He said he still enjoys working the farm and believes it is a good place to raise his children.
So the Peters’ are packing up their six children and around 75 cattle and moving to Greenwood, about 40 miles east of Eau Claire. There on a 229-acre plot, they’ll reinstall their dairy farm in a community Peters says is still focused on agriculture.
“The community is real, rural America. It’s more farm oriented out there,” Peters said. “A lot of the little feed mills are out there, and it has the infrastructure for farming.”
Peters expects living in an area economically geared to agriculture will eliminate some of the daily inconveniences of farming in a rapidly developing area like West Bend.
“You get city people moving out into the country and they don’t necessarily like the smells and that sort of thing,” Peters said. “Even on roads, if you’re going on the road with machinery they get in the way and stuff. It’s just kind of dangerous trying to move around.”
It will be hard for his family leave the area and all the good people they have encountered. Peters said his family is especially grateful to the good people of Community Church of West Bend and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, who organized a brat fry fundraiser to help pay for the relocation costs. The event raised around $4,000, which Thrivent matched.
“I think everybody hates to see them leave, but yet again it’s good to see they’re starting a new goal and they will have their own land,” said Bill Hinckley, past and future president of Thrivent’s North Washington County Chapter. “We know that they’re going to do well because of what he did on the farm down here. It’s always been kind of like a picture postcard farm.”
Picturesque Starlite was on display this June when the Peters hosted the county’s 19th annual Breakfast on the Farm. The family and 250 volunteers served breakfast to more than 4,500 people.