A place to call home

The following article appeared in the March 2019 issue of the North Country Beef Producer magazine. It is being reprinted with permission from Tom Burford, Editor.

Written by Linda Andersen

Old fashioned cordiality is alive and well at the Miller Farm located in Pennington County, near Goodridge. Upon calling about my upcoming visit and interview, I was invited to arrive a little early and join the family for a meatball dinner. Time restraints prohibited my accepting, but it felt good to know that hospitality is still a part of rural life.

Meet the Millers – a welcoming family who seemed to enjoy showing a visitor around even on a cold, snowy January day. Founder of the farm is Jack Miller, who purchased the farm in 1984. He had grown up on a farm just one mile away, but had worked for operators of a pig farm at his current location. During his senior year in high school he lived in a trailer house on the property and managed the operation.

Jack’s wife, Jayne (Morrissey), grew up on a dairy farm by neighboring Gatzke. She “hated” the farm life and ventured to New York City. After ten years of city life, however, she returned to her roots and married someone who she said is “just like” her father. She takes care of most of the yard work on the farm and, according to Jack, “She makes our house a home.”

Jack and Jayne’s son, Lucas, has been a partner in the farm since he was in high school. 

“He was raking hay when he was eight,” said Jack of his son.

Lucas amended the eight to seven, saying the raking began a week before his eighth birthday.

Lucas is married to Tori (Davidson) who is employed in nearby Thief River Falls.

Raymond Moe, age 11, is the newest addition to the farm operation. He is the grandson of Jack and Jayne and the son of their daughter Jaclyn and her husband, Jason Moe. (The Millers also have two other daughters, Kari (Robert) Sundberg and Chloe (Chase) Bakke.

Asked what he likes about the farm, Raymond responded, “Everything – the cows, machinery.” He plans to be a farmer when he grows up and has already helped out by raking hay and hauling bales.

Implementing good conservation practices on their 1,360 acres of owned and rented land is important to the Millers. They have created windbreaks by planting hundreds of trees. In addition, they have been involved with the USDA’s EQUIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) which helped fund water lines for rotational grazing. “It’s good to have fresh water. It’s good when the cow doesn’t have to travel for water and tramp down the forage,” explained Jack. He mentioned that the local Thief River Falls office of NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) had been very “helpful” with the project.

“We try and have a four way rotation,” added Jack, noting that the crop rotation involves alternating with alfalfa or hay, wheat, soybeans, and then oats. 

“We leave a certain amount of acreage for wildlife until nesting season is over,” explained the Millers in describing another conservation practice they employ. This nesting area allows them to see and enjoy ruffed grouse, Hungarian partridge, fawns, and geese. They said the geese seem “somewhat tame” and the Millers think that some of them return year after year.

People have taken note of the Millers’ conservation practices. In 2017 the Pennington Soil and Water Conservation District named them the “Outstanding Conservationists” for the county.

Jack’s love for raising cattle is apparent. “I’ve always liked to be around cattle…It’s not that much work to me…Come calving time, I just can hardly keep myself out of the barn,” he stated.

“We run 150 bred cows together,” explained Lucas. Most of their cows are an Angus cross, though they own a few registered Angus cows. They raise their own bulls from the registered cattle. They AI breed their heifers to Angus bulls.

They mention that they’ve had success in purchasing bulls from Keith Gebhardt of Achin’ Back Acres, near Leonard, Minn., and from Ernie and Linda Johnson of Circle J Angus, near Newfolden, Minn.

Calving begins around February 1 on the Miller Farm and continues through April. They sell their calves when they are about one year old at the Bagley Livestock Exchange, which is about 63 miles away.

They purchased a “Real Tuff” chute from Dahlberg Livestock Equipment of Clearbrook, Minn., which they said has made working cattle easier, quicker, and safer.

Asked about the challenges of raising cattle, Lucas succinctly mentioned “drought.” 

Jayne responded, “You can’t plan anything ever.” She went on to say that they’d soon be calving, then would start spring work, followed by haying. She said they have “one week in December” when they can “just breathe.”

Jack mentioned the challenge of “keeping everything healthy.” And, how do they attempt to do that? Jack said good hay and a vaccination program are important.

Lucas added that having “salt mineral” available to the cattle is valuable in keeping them well.

The Millers had predator problems a number of years ago, but their securing of Rio, the Great Pyrenees dog, solved that problem. “He keeps the coyotes and timber wolves away,” reported Jack.

“He runs the perimeters all night,” said Jayne, while admitting that Rio does “bark a lot.”

Asked about advice the Millers would give to other farmers, their answers were brief, but helpful. “Start small. Keep your own seed stock,” said Jack.

“Quality over quantity,” responded Lucas.

“Be patient…faith first – then everything will fall in place,” said Jayne.

They commented on a couple of practices on their farm. “We really try to utilize our manure,” stated Lucas, adding that he spreads this natural fertilizer on all their crop land.

“We shred a lot of grass hay for our dry cows,” said Jack.

The Millers are satisfied with their farm life. Asked what they enjoy about farming, Lucas said it’s “hard to pick one thing,” but added that his “favorite job” is cutting hay in the summer and smelling the fresh cut alfalfa.

Jayne responded, “I like the family part. I like to see my husband, son, and grandson work together. I like being able to share meals together. We get to spend time together.”

Jack said he likes to “have a place where anyone can call home.”

“With fresh steak and meatballs,” interjected Lucas.